As the hunter and equitation rings begin to fill with competitors for the 2024 season, our focus should not be in the rearview mirror but on the road ahead. Like the Tesla, our sport is not ready to self-drive. We cannot be passengers in an industry-driven vehicle as it hurtles toward an uncertain future. Real issues challenge our sport, and the hourglass of opportunity to face them is emptying. The Chronicle of the Horse Yearbook Issue is traditionally a time to recap the year’s events. This year, let us not reminisce in an armchair overstuffed with complacency, but turn toward the future and dare ourselves to act. 

Equestrian sport dates back to ancient Greece when dressage was used to train war horses, and chariot races were primetime events at the Olympics. We are steeped in tradition and fiercely cling to it whenever challenged. As a sport, tradition gives us a sense of belonging and identity, provides us with a connection to our past, and promises a more predictable future. We are all firmly anchored in “the way we have always done it,” but the weight of this culture of convention is our biggest detriment. It is time to pry ourselves away from a mindset of traditionalism and think about the future of our sport. 

We can pick from a menu of issues and scoop a Thanksgiving-sized portion of challenges onto our plates, with leftovers. Focusing on a few of the more pressing ones, the list includes horse welfare, sportsmanship, amateur status, and lack of sport growth. 

The 21^st Century Amateur

It is an unimpeachable fact that the current cost of purchasing, owning, and/ or competing a horse is staggering. The many factors contributing to astronomical expenses are easily traced: dwindling supply and increased expense of open land for farms; rising prices of hay, straw and feed; employee shortages; competition fees; increased purchase prices of horses as related to supply and demand. The list continues, and we have priced ourselves out of reach of most. Can a reassessment of the definition of amateur ease the squeeze of horse ownership? 

Over the last few years, there has been vitriolic discussion of changing the amateur rules in the hunter/jumper disciplines toward a more realistic definition. The U.S. Equestrian Federation convened an Amateur Task Force; the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association convened an Amateur Task Force. There was much task-forcing on the subject. 

While all agree that there should be a very distinct line of demarcation between professional and amateur, the subtle shifting of that line has been a painful process. In 2022, USEF rules expanded the permitted activities of amateurs within all disciplines to include: 

• Barn duties: Amateurs may now accept remuneration for certain hands-on barn duties at home and on showgrounds, including grooming, clipping, longeing, braiding and tack cleaning. 

• Social media influencers: The rule now defines social media brand ambassadors and social media influencers and permits amateurs to accept remuneration for engaging in those activities. With this rule, amateurs may be paid for limited activities within the industry. 

However, the third part of this rule was not passed by the hunter/jumper/equitation segment of the sport: 

• Teaching basic lessons: Amateurs in the American Saddlebred, saddle seat equitation, Morgan, Arabian, Andalusian/Lusitano, National Show Horse, Paso Fino, and western divisions are now able to teach basic riding lessons to beginner, non-competing riders in a part-time capacity under the supervision of a USEF member with professional status. 

A circle was drawn around teaching beginner lessons and our membership drew a slash through it. There was anger and clutching of pearls at the thought of an amateur standing in the middle of a ring teaching “basic riding lessons.” Many claimed that people would cheat, that the rule was unenforceable, that it went against traditional rules about amateurs. Perhaps this is the best part of the rule—that it goes against the way it has always been. 

Is it time to acknowledge that not all amateurs have pearls to clutch? That many are trying to stay in the sport by working off their board, showing or lesson expenses? If access to horse sport is a goal, rethinking old norms is necessary. Surely we can reevaluate the purpose of delineating amateur status in the competition ring and assess whether this rule is a threat to fair play. 

On Horse Welfare

For most of us, a discussion of horse welfare does not center on rescuing horses from kill pens or calling local authorities about mistreated horses at nearby farms but on competition practices. This subject is the festering sore at the core of horse sport. From racing to dressage to eventing to endurance to show jumping to show hunters, what would we do to win? What does it take to rise to the highest levels of equestrian sport? It certainly takes money and talent and luck. It takes a perfect combination of animal, rider, trainer and support staff. It takes elite events for head-to-head competition, year-end championships and awards. It takes the desire to succeed at any cost. Or does it? 

What does it take to win? What would you do to win? These two questions may run on parallel tracks. We can answer what it would take to win based on the horse we have, the means we have to produce it, and assessment for competition. What ring/track/arena is this horse appropriate for, or where can it be competitive? Is it elite, or is it more average? 

“Is it time to acknowledge that not all amateurs have pearls to clutch?” 

Now, answer the second question: What would you do to win? You feel the pressure of finances, the vice of owner/ rider expectations, the assessment of the high bar of competition in your environment. There are options that are within the parameters of drug testing and competition rules and alternatives that may be legal, but not ethical. What would you do to win? 

The answer for some is: anything—as long as they don’t get caught. While governing bodies attempt to keep up with performance-affecting substances, the pace of new drugs is swift. While governing bodies attempt to regulate behavior on competition grounds, they cannot be everything, everywhere, all at once. The strongest entity to regulate horse welfare is us, and the time to address it is now. Horse sport has grown in the consciousness of the non-involved public because of catastrophic events: deaths in horse racing, drug positives throughout equine-based sport, sexual abuse of minors and videos of abusive training methods. The most recent is the Helgstrand scandal, which follows many other exposés of horse abuse, like the CBS “60 Minutes” piece aired earlier in 2023. [Editor’s note: Helgstrand Dressage is owned by the Global Equestrian Group, which also owns The Chronicle of the Horse.] 

Social license to operate is the buzzword of late in the halls of governance and the media. Social license is made up of three components: credibility, legitimacy and trust. What happens when our right to use horses in sport is fundamentally questioned? What happens when abusive practices are our only public-facing stories? 

If the public withdraws its acceptance of equestrianism, horse sport will not continue to exist in its current state. Loss of a social license to operate typically starts with negative media, loss of public trust, and loss of political support. This trend may lead to increased regulation of the sport and potentially a complete ban, as parts of California are facing. In the U.S., the largest competition management companies are owned by capital investment companies who invested in the sport because of its positive financial potential. If the sport shrinks because of public opinion, increased regulation, and decreased participation, our landscape will be bleak, and investors will go elsewhere. 

Horse welfare is paramount to the survival of equestrian sport. As mercenary as it sounds, we have to protect our horses in order to protect ourselves as horsemen and women. It is incumbent upon us to report abuse and to self-regulate. As owners, riders, trainers and parents, we must look in the mirror and ask ourselves the question: What would I do to win? Or, in some cases, what is being done for me to win? 

We are all responsible for the care and treatment of our horses, even if we are not the ones with our hands on them all the time. We hear or witness incidents of abuse and look the other way. Horse welfare is everyone’s job. 

Where Has Sportsmanship Gone?

In 2023, the National Football League handed down a $100,000 fine to a coach and a $50,000 fine to a quarterback who publicly criticized officials after a loss. Twenty-two states have laws that deem assault or abuse of an official as a misdemeanor. In 2023, USEF passed a slate of rules that significantly increased the penalty guidelines for inappropriate behavior toward licensed officials. 

The question to be considered is: Where has sportsmanship gone? Our sport elevates its participants on many fronts, especially our youth—passion and empathy for our animals, responsibility, self-reliance, commitment—but one area that has not risen with the tide is behavior toward licensed officials. The fabric of our code of conduct has been riddled with bad behavior and public outbursts toward judges and stewards. Respecting officials in sport is integral to competition. 

Inherent to the job of officiating is a code of conduct. As judges, we are expected to be polite and professional. A licensed official cannot respond to a competitor’s public display of displeasure. Imagine confronting a trainer who is casting disparaging words at the in-gate by yelling back at him. What if a licensed official told you that your horse didn’t place higher because he lacks quality, or that your equitation rider needs a better trainer? The door of criticism does not swing both ways. Licensed officials are rightly censored while the public can misbehave with little repercussion. Protocol must reign on both sides for the system to work. Fairness and graciousness in winning and losing are the tenets on which all sports are founded. If we lose sight of sportsmanship, and the importance of being sportsmen and women, we lose all decorum and order. We have elevated the value of winning over the value of sportsmanship. 

Judges are frequently targets of intimidation and abuse, either in person or on social media channels. Usually, it is professionals who lead the defamation charges. Often, the abusers are prominent members of the sport, idolized and championed by our younger riders. Public hostility toward judges sets a terrible precedent for children, degrades the sport, and ultimately means fewer people are willing to judge. 

Disagreements and disputes about judging in subjective disciplines are inevitable. But the manner in which we respond to our disagreements can mirror respect and decent behavior instead of temper tantrums and intimidation. It is time to expect more of ourselves before people turn away from hunters and equitation and toward the objectivity of the jumper ring or shun the sport altogether. 

A Lack Of Sports Growth 

While membership numbers for both USHJA and USEF may show significant increases in the past few years, the reality is cloudy. Both organizations have offered free memberships that drive registration and elevate numbers. These are great marketing and sponsorship practices, but they are not representative of significant sport growth. Membership in both organizations has remained steady as we experience what one of our governance leaders calls “the leaky bucket.” 

The organizations have a relatively static number of members as the same number join as lapse. 

To assess the factors impeding sport growth, we need to consider the subjects previously discussed. Negative press, withdrawal of social license and withering conduct all color our sport. Price of participation and limited access to horses are integral to our problem. Sport growth is not about how many horses are filling the show circuit. A review of competition participants, especially at the elite level, paints a sanguine picture. Sport growth as it relates to this audience refers to people joining our competitive hunter, jumper and equitation community. Wikipedia estimates that in the United States each year approximately 30 million people ride horses, or one in nine people. Equestrianism is alive and well in the U.S., but the number of participants that choose to enter our realm of licensed competitions is not reflective of this fact. Further, the demographics of USEF members are emblematic of the tiny piece of the public that we engage in the sport. 

According to USEF, our membership looks like this: 

• 85% female 
• 66% have a college degree
• Average income of $185,000
• Average net worth of $955,000
• Own an average of four horses
• Compete at least six times per year
• Average home value is $600,000
• 22% own two or more homes
• Own three vehicles
• 40% own a farm; 66% of those are 10 acres or more 

As of 2021, less than 1% of USHJA members identified themselves as BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color). That is less than 1,000 people in our approximately 43,000-person organization. So, we are wealthy and white, expensive and exclusive—not a successful formula for increasing our share of America’s recreational dollar. How does hunter/jumper sport attract the general public? How do we engage the horse crazy kid who drags his or her family into our community like so many of us did? We need access to horses; we need programs to teach entry-level riders, and we need a better product to market. 

The sport is esoteric and imposing to outsiders. Horse shows are expensive, schedules are tedious and unreliable, and there is not much fun offered for the rest of the family. The breeds we ride have changed, footing and jumps have changed, size and length of competitions have changed, but the basics of a horse show are the same as ever. We are repackaging and rebranding the same product with a tepid result. We can, and we should, rethink our structures and traditions. If we continue to follow the same tracks, the circles in the sand, we will lead our sport into an ever-narrowing silo of irrelevance. 

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Sissy Wickes is a Princeton University (New Jersey) graduate, a lifelong rider and trainer, a U.S. Equestrian Federation R-rated judge, a freelance journalist and an autism advocate. Her resume includes extensive show hunter and jumper experience. She serves on the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association board of directors and the USEF National Breeds and Disciplines Council. She chairs the USEF Judging Task Force and sits on the USHJA Equitation Task Force, USHJA WCHR Task Force and USHJA Planning Committee, as well as the board of directors of the Retired Racehorse Project and Hill Top Preparatory School. 

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This article originally appeared in the January 2024, issue of The Chronicle of the Horse. You can subscribe and get online access to a digital version and then enjoy a year of The Chronicle of the Horse and our lifestyle publication, Untacked. If you’re just following COTH online, you’re missing so much great unique content. Each print issue of the Chronicle is full of in-depth competition news, fascinating features, probing looks at issues within the sports of hunter/jumper, eventing and dressage, and stunning photography.