Big topic and very ‘of the moment this is not my attempt to jump on the bandwagon I could never do that, I would never want to treat the topic lightly. But I probably have a slightly different take on diversity in our sport and I would like to share that with you.
Look around you at a competition, what do you see? People similar to yourself? Or a rich tapestry of different people, types, colours, incomes. Chances are the warm up arena is full of white women and teenagers, maybe with a token man lurking. Not exactly a great cultural mix is it? And that is before we even touch on backgrounds financial or otherwise.
I grew up in a non horsey household, my parents didn’t ride and in fact the nearest connection to horses was my grandad who ran a betting shop! My parents weren’t exactly flush with money, very much terraced house, lower socio economic income. We also lived in Kent but not the countryside version the outer edges of London version and none of my friends at school went for lessons or had ponies.
I started my riding career doing re-enactments of races I had watched on telly, using the back of my grandma’s armchair as my horse. Against this backdrop I asked for riding lessons and went to the local riding school, the traditional once a week class lesson on those saints of ponies that somehow accept being kicked, pulled and asked to do things for the millionth time. I worked weekends at the riding school for extra lessons (I was 9 at the time). There were a few of us that swept the yard, took ponies to the field, tacked and untacked them and then got a free ride at the end of the day. It wasn’t glamorous, I spent my time covered in mud and hay and was pretty knackered by the end of the day.
There was a good mix of both boys and girls helping and a good age range and financial background. Some had their own ponies already, some would never get their own pony, some had money, some had both parents, others had divorced parents. The thing is we all mixed together and helped each other, shared our packed lunches and shared the ups and downs of riding. Background, age, size, ability, gender didn’t matter, we were just children having fun with ponies.
From my non horsey background I then went on to be given a pony for my birthday. It came about because my dad received a bonus at work that was enough to set me up with an 11.3 welsh pony that had been ridden and driven in a cart and consequently wasn’t that keen on cantering. That was when I was 10 by the time I was 12 I had my second pony and was selected for the British Pony dressage team for the Europeans.
This was all from my non horsey poor financial background. Could someone do that today? Could you go from zero to Pony team in 3 years? And with a low income background. I think it would be very hard and that is my point amongst the ramblings.
We talk a lot about ethnicity and lack of role models being a barrier to riding and it is, it absolutely is! But there is also the financial barrier and I do wonder if you are a child growing up in a suburb of a big city watching horse sport on the internet and television would you even know where to start? Would it occur to you that you could ride and if so how to access lessons? At this point does ethnicity come into it?
There is some great work being carried out by The Emile Faurie Foundation (www.emilefauriefoundation.org.uk) , Ride High (www.ridehigh.org) and of course the RDA ( www.rda.org.uk) to name a few, but these organisations need a wider base of support. It would be great if our sporting organisations could get behind the charities and give them a boost. The support doesn’t always have to be financial, although that would be helpful, what they need is access to the wider equestrian community in the form of marketing and the donations will follow.
After the riding lessons we need to figure out how to get the young people with talent into the horse industry so that they can follow their dreams. We need to give them role models that they can identify with whatever the background, colour, gender or disability. We have a long way to go and it will not be solved overnight but we need to tackle diversity for the sake of our sport.
PS – that is me with my pride and joy, my first pony Charlie Cheese-cake!!
Big topic and very ‘of the moment this is not my attempt to jump on the bandwagon I could never do that, I would never want to treat the topic lightly. But I probably have a slightly different take on diversity in our sport and I would like to share that with you.
Look around you at a competition, what do you see? People similar to yourself? Or a rich tapestry of different people, types, colours, incomes. Chances are the warm up arena is full of white women and teenagers, maybe with a token man lurking. Not exactly a great cultural mix is it? And that is before we even touch on backgrounds financial or otherwise.
I grew up in a non horsey household, my parents didn’t ride and in fact the nearest connection to horses was my grandad who ran a betting shop! My parents weren’t exactly flush with money, very much terraced house, lower socio economic income. We also lived in Kent but not the countryside version the outer edges of London version and none of my friends at school went for lessons or had ponies.
I started my riding career doing re-enactments of races I had watched on telly, using the back of my grandma’s armchair as my horse. Against this backdrop I asked for riding lessons and went to the local riding school, the traditional once a week class lesson on those saints of ponies that somehow accept being kicked, pulled and asked to do things for the millionth time. I worked weekends at the riding school for extra lessons (I was 9 at the time). There were a few of us that swept the yard, took ponies to the field, tacked and untacked them and then got a free ride at the end of the day. It wasn’t glamorous, I spent my time covered in mud and hay and was pretty knackered by the end of the day.
There was a good mix of both boys and girls helping and a good age range and financial background. Some had their own ponies already, some would never get their own pony, some had money, some had both parents, others had divorced parents. The thing is we all mixed together and helped each other, shared our packed lunches and shared the ups and downs of riding. Background, age, size, ability, gender didn’t matter, we were just children having fun with ponies.
From my non horsey background I then went on to be given a pony for my birthday. It came about because my dad received a bonus at work that was enough to set me up with an 11.3 welsh pony that had been ridden and driven in a cart and consequently wasn’t that keen on cantering. That was when I was 10 by the time I was 12 I had my second pony and was selected for the British Pony dressage team for the Europeans.
This was all from my non horsey poor financial background. Could someone do that today? Could you go from zero to Pony team in 3 years? And with a low income background. I think it would be very hard and that is my point amongst the ramblings.
We talk a lot about ethnicity and lack of role models being a barrier to riding and it is, it absolutely is! But there is also the financial barrier and I do wonder if you are a child growing up in a suburb of a big city watching horse sport on the internet and television would you even know where to start? Would it occur to you that you could ride and if so how to access lessons? At this point does ethnicity come into it?
There is some great work being carried out by The Emile Faurie Foundation (www.emilefauriefoundation.org.uk) , Ride High (www.ridehigh.org) and of course the RDA ( www.rda.org.uk) to name a few, but these organisations need a wider base of support. It would be great if our sporting organisations could get behind the charities and give them a boost. The support doesn’t always have to be financial, although that would be helpful, what they need is access to the wider equestrian community in the form of marketing and the donations will follow.
After the riding lessons we need to figure out how to get the young people with talent into the horse industry so that they can follow their dreams. We need to give them role models that they can identify with whatever the background, colour, gender or disability. We have a long way to go and it will not be solved overnight but we need to tackle diversity for the sake of our sport.
PS – that is me with my pride and joy, my first pony Charlie Cheese-cake!!