With the recent controversy surrounding equestrian sports and the industry and the bad reputation that has been falsely engineered around a few abnormal incidents, I thought it was about time I shared my opinion on the topic. Not just my opinion of the goings on of the likes of Aintree or Epsom, but my opinion of where this type of behavior and backlash (most of which comes from people who have never encountered a horse, much less actually have any knowledge on them), will bring the equestrian sport and how it can, and already has, impacted it detrimentally and irreversibly.

I think the obvious place to start would be with the fuss made by protestors at the Grand National, which I undoubtedly feel played a part in the death of Hill Sixteen. What these protestors really do not seem to realise is that in all their attempts to be “do-gooders” they have put animals and humans lives at risk with the idiotic stunt they pulled. Any animal lover would never pull something so horrifically stupid.

They also do not seem to realise that aside from the enormous financial investment owners and trainers have put into these animals, comes the emotional aspect. These people spend every day with these animals, forming bonds and relationships with them, as cliché as it is to say. I wholeheartedly believe that they would never purposefully put these horses at risk, and we all know it is highly common for horses to be pulled from races, practically every race of the day will have at least one non-runner.

Not to forget the stable staff and jockeys who spend every waking moment with these horses. It is totally unfair to disregard the love and affection that they feel and show these horses. The media portrays Racing as either the height of luxury or the lowest realms of utter animal abuse. In reality it is not really either. Sure, heading out to the races for a day and getting dressed to the nines is hugely glamorous, but very few who are actually involved with these horses present themselves as such.

At the end of the day, these protestors have no knowledge of horses, they have no real evidence to support any of the ridiculous claims such as the fact that horses are forced to partake in such activities against their will. That should be

the first indication that they have never experienced horses in their lives. We all know horses are stubborn as mules and couldn’t be enticed or forced to do anything they didn’t want to for love nor money. If a horse really doesn’t want to do something, it simply wont!

Top jockey, AP McCoy sums up these ‘animal rights activists’ perfectly in his quote after the happenings at Aintree. “These people do not want it explained to them, they have their own minds made up and that is the sad thing about it, you know what I mean. I do not think we should be justifying anything to these people”

Take for example, Emily King, a seasoned professional sportswoman, who, despite being in a brilliant position at Badminton Horse Trials heading into cross country, pulled her horse up knowing that he just was not himself. “I was pushing and pushing but he just wasn’t giving me anything.”

We all underestimate how difficult that sort of decision is to make, especially in the heat of the moment and when there is so very much at stake, but Emily made a decision- the right decision, and her horse thanks her for it. It is our duty as horse people to mind our horses like babies, and 99% of us do that.

Contrary to popular expectation, I will not be skirting around the incident regarding Oliver Townend being pulled up on course at Badminton. I have been committed to publishing wholly truthful articles thus far and I will not stop now, as I feel it Is unrealistic to say that in the sea of horse lovers, within our communities there is not a bed egg or two, as there is in any walk of life. We cannot prevent this, we can only strive to weed such individuals out and put measures in place to ensure they should not ever re-offend. I am absolutely not going to slander him, because as a self-proclaimed mental health advocate that simply goes against my morals, but I will state facts.

I am not going to attempt to justify his actions for the sake of strengthening my own argument, because that makes me just as bad as he is. People like Oliver Townend are the people who give the equestrian industry and sport a bad reputation, and the fact that he is allowed to continue to do so is ridiculous. I’m definitely a believer in second chances but in genuine honesty, he has gone far past that point. It is totally unfair that because of the occasional bad egg, all of us equestrians who genuinely care for and love our horses, feel the effect of this. He should be given a suspension at the very least. The only way to go about maintaining the acceptance and growth of equestrian sport is to make sure that the likes of Oliver Townend are dealt with properly. It is not possible to sustain a future for equestrianism without striving to make it a better place, and although the animal rights activists are completely in the wrong with their actions, I do absolutely believe that changes have to be made in regards to some aspects of the sport in order to keep it running smoothly. What we must realise is that getting rid of equestrian sports will never abolish abuse because most animal abuse actually has very minimal correlation with competitions. Letting horses do what they were born to do, what they live and breathe to do, what they love to do, is not “abuse” or “cruelty.” Starving horses, beating horses, neglecting horses is abuse and cruelty. Nobody is speaking on that though, funnily enough.

What really bothers me though, is the fact that these competition horses, which are far more pampered than you or I, are being portrayed as victims of abuse when this is what they live to do. If you turned the likes of Honeysuckle out to the field for her whole life she would probably die of boredom. Granted, some horses do not take to the racing lifestyle, which is exactly why classes such as racehorse to riding horse were created, to give ex racers a specific category in which they can excel. How are these so-called animal rights enthusiasts so concerned about animals which are treated like kings and queens, but so ignorant of the thousands of horses, cats and dogs who are starving, abused, neglected, and hated? It fills me with rage because these so-called animal lovers still buy products which use animal testing. They buy dogs from breeders rather than adopting them from pounds where these animals are given a set number of days to live. They can ignore dogs being given 30 days to find a new owner before they face euthanasia, but letting horses do the job that fills them with immeasurable joy is “abuse”.

I am stunned beyond words.

I also feel that in our fury and upset regarding horses (and other animals) who are found in these conditions, we totally overlook the amazing charities which do brilliant work in rehabilitating and rehoming animals. Having adopted plenty of cats and dogs from the ISPCA and my amazing 143cm pony Millie, who brought me to the likes of Millstreet, The Dublin Horse Show, NIF, and brought rosettes, rugs and sashes home from every show, I feel we all need to support these charities more, and appreciate them for the simply brilliant work they do.

Without these charities, thousands of animals would still be living and dying in these dire conditions. We need to commend these wonderful people and focus on all the good they do, as it is people like these who save thousands of animals every year. Not so-called “animal rights activists.