😫 People are tired of the equestrian sport of today
Many horse lovers are tired of the elitism in equestrian sports. Is it time to start over from scratch?
As I mentioned in my previous post, I listened to an episode about horses and equestrian sports from the national radio. A very well-produced episode, but when I tried to share it with friends, I got a backlash.
Like no one wanted to download and listen. Which actually says a lot. Because this wasn’t about laziness.
No, this is about the fact that dedicated, knowledgeable horse people currently have one thing more in common than just the horses, namely that they are tired.
Quite frankly they are sick and tired of the elitist equestrian world we live in today.
A world focused on the Olympics and driven around by sports washing, a world where animals are harmed and no one seems to take responsibility. At least not for the direction ¨the sport has taken.
One of the so-called experts in the podcast episode was right about that.
She mentioned a campaign from the International Equestrian Federation [FEI] which, like much else, have not seem to lead to much other than just about nothing.
Of course, I do not have all the answers to how equestrian sport can be moved forward in the right direction, but one thing is certain.
Many, quite a few actually, who sit on high places within local, national and the FEI lack of basic knowledge of the sport.
But not in the way one might think.
No, these are the people who may know everything about the elite, and how to train a horse and or rider to get there and even keep them there. At the same time they are missing out on any insight into the grassroots of the sport.
This also runs the other way around, which leads to a somewhat impossible equation to solve. Because today it is the elite and the money that rule.
The umbrella organisations are the ones who decide. At the same time, the sport has completely lost touch with the grassroots.
So the question is whether ordinary people like you and me are willing to continue to accept a system that prioritises money and stardom, over the well-being of animals and in many cases even the sport.
What do you think?