Horse Sport Ireland cancelled an event last week—citing “a number of late injury withdrawals.” Fair enough, if it were true. But the way they handled it? Quiet Facebook post. No proper notification. No direct contact. Comments disabled. Community silenced.

The update was on Wednesday.
The event’s that weekend.
And we’re being told it’s last-minute pull-outs?
Come on.

This isn’t about one event. It’s about a repeated pattern of shutting down engagement whenever something uncomfortable might get said. This is a national body, publicly funded, claiming to represent our industry—and yet when things get hard, they turn the comments off and vanish behind controlled messaging.

You cannot claim to lead an industry while muting its people.
You cannot demand public support and then hide from public scrutiny.
You cannot cherry-pick when the community is allowed to speak.

When things go well, they want applause. When things go wrong, they want silence. That’s not leadership. That’s management of optics—and it’s wearing thin. And for those saying they always have comments off.. NO THEY DON’T… just when they don’t want pushback… they could be called cowards… they could be!! Hiding when there are issues and wanting applause when doing their job… you are paid to do it… do it right, do it better, lead the industry the way it deserves or move aside…

We’ve had our debates with Horse Sport Ireland. We’ve challenged decisions. And we’ve seen up close the limits of how they engage when the pressure’s on. What’s clear now is this:

The culture needs to change.
The leadership needs to change.
The industry deserves better.

This sport is built by the people on the ground—riders, breeders, grassroots organisers, volunteers. The ones who show up, pay in, work hard, and rarely get heard. These are the people who deserve a say. Not behind closed doors. Not in handpicked meetings. Publicly. Transparently. Respectfully.

And if the current leadership structure can’t handle that? Then it’s time for a new one.

Someone has to say it. and to be fair, there is A LOT of grassroots equestrians saying it.

We have a series of articles dropping on this. Genuinely, shit sick of it… the disrespect shown to equestrians is unparalleled. Once we put up the post last Wednesday, they released a press release on the Thursday. They tend to do that.

What I will never understand is why the industry puts up with this shit… I get they are the governing body, they control funding and sponsorship… but basing it on that gives them far too much power and if you’re reading this… just apply logic… it is 100% true!!! There was (for a short period of time) pushback last year when they decided to change the constitution.

It is 11 months since I wrote this piece… and sadly, most of it has come through…

“Horse Sport Ireland, the governing body for equestrian sports here in Ireland, recently announced significant changes to its constitution. While ostensibly aimed at streamlining operations or enhancing governance, these alterations threaten to disenfranchise grassroots and amateur horse riders across the country.

The amendments, which have been ratified as of January 25th 2024, have sparked controversy within the equestrian community. Many fear that the changes will prioritise the interests of a select few (the quorum of 3 to make decisions on behalf of the industry is extremely worrying) at the expense of those who participate in equestrian sports for at all levels be it any discipline, recreation or on a non-professional basis.

One of the primary concerns raised by critics, and there is a lot of them, is the perceived shift in decision-making power away from Affiliates and Representative Bodies (as previously stated in the constitution) towards centralised authorities at HSI. This could result in less autonomy for grassroots organisations and reduced representation for amateur riders in the decision-making processes of Horse Sport Ireland.”

The issues are still here… events are still being cancelled, the industry is on its knees in many ways…. and the problems are really industry wide… the frustration is there… the Instagram post we did last week got over 100 likes; we got 40+ message from equestrians… saying we need to do more and asking us to make more noise and be more vocal. Not sure any other media brand wants to push back on HSI, but we, for one, are done with their shit. So this is the start of it. If you have problems and issues, send them our way; we will happily cover them and shine a light on what is really happening.

Expect more coverage on what is happening and what is being sent to us by equestrians the length and breadth of Ireland.

Until Next Time,

Shane