Hot on the heels of the excellent equine sleep webinar, the Conscious Coaching team hosted another thought-provoking webinar which asked us to look at our relationship with horses and their needs in a refreshing and important way.  The presenter was Natasha Andrews, a highly qualified equestrian who studied for her MSc in professional practice in sports coaching at the University of Gloucester alongside Kathryn Howard.  Natasha is also a barrister who specialises in safeguarding vulnerable adults and children, a UK CC level 4 coach and a veterinary physiotherapist.

She opened by talking about her qualifications and professional experience, and how the threads linked, from considering the complexities of human safeguarding to the requirements of the horse.  This was the topic of her final dissertation, and her findings were based on the perspective of a cohort of grassroots equine coaches and their approach to safeguarding the equine during training.

The Statistics

Those of us who have attended safeguarding courses have an awareness of the disturbing statistics around the abuse of power and inappropriate behaviour in sport.  Sports like athletics and gymnastics have made the headlines for these reasons, with coaches often being the perpetrators.  One survey reported that 75% of 6,000 athletes had experienced emotional abuse, 29% had experienced inappropriate sexual behaviour, 24% had experienced sexual abuse and 10% had engaged in self-harm.  Throughout sport there are vulnerable adults and children, and they, as well as all involved, must be safeguarded.  Most member bodies now have a strict safeguarding framework and there are mandatory courses that coaches, organisers and officials must attend.

Natasha asked us to consider what safeguarding entails and stated that it is a multifaceted area covering protection, prevention, empowerment, accountability and partnership.  Fundamentally, safeguarding is meant to minimise risk.  In equestrianism, there are more risks than in other sports because of the physical risks and the horse-human connection.

Two Athletes

Because Natasha’s research and findings were based on ridden coaches, she focused on the ‘two athletes’ situation which is unique.  Additionally in driving, we have the driver-athlete and potentially more equine athletes, which makes it different again.  Her term was the ‘horse and rider dyad.’  Therefore, there can be at least two vulnerable athletes, with the horse(s) being the more vulnerable because it is totally reliant on humans as caregivers.  As a result, an equestrian coach has an even higher duty of care.

Alongside this are the changing attitudes to the use of horses for pleasure and sport – the social license.  Natasha cited the findings of the 2025 World Horse Welfare survey which found from those surveyed, only 42% supported the continued use of horses if their welfare improved, while 22% supported a ban (link below).  She also mentioned the FEI ethics framework, ‘A Good Life for Horses’ (link below) – something we have covered here on The CC, particularly around the two FEI Driving Forums.

Ultimately, the public want higher standards of care and therefore the coaches, who are often the professionals in an equine based situation, have a duty to assess the welfare of the horses they encounter.  But where are those same coaches getting their information, training and support from to do this?

A Harmonious Relationship

Changing public perceptions can impact training methods because currently across equestrianism there is a move away from dominance-based methods.  So, it tends to fall to the coaches to promote a safe and happy environment for all involved, especially the horse.  From this, ethical training is required and equestrianism is different from most performance-based activities in that it is largely unregulated.  Coaches do not have to be qualified and can become trainers without the necessary processes that most, particularly those linked to member bodies, are required to have.

Natasha found that there was frustration amongst the coaches because for those who do follow the ‘correct’ paths, it is a significant investment in time and money, with little security or regulation afterwards.  Another irritation was the significance of ‘influencers’ who are self-promoting without the background of experience or qualifications.

Welfare Led Training

The coaches also reported that they would like more welfare led rather than goal led aspirations from their riders / clients but acknowledged that this is an industry wide issue.  Natasha questioned whether these findings would have been the same if she had chosen to research top performance coaches rather than those working with more grassroots level clients.

But there was more frustration around the expectations of the riders / clients because often quick fixes are wanted but are not always practical or realistic.  Coaches and riders may find they have clashing values, that the riders have a different mentality or do not have the experience or capability to reach their goals; perhaps the horse isn’t ready or capable either, has unsuitable or ill-fitting tack, isn’t fit or developed enough, or is too young or old.  At what point does a coach intervene over horse welfare; how ethical is it for the coach to walk away if there are problems; what happens when the rider moves onto a different coach because issues have arisen?  It’s a conundrum.

Cultural Shift

The overall sense was that there needs to be a cultural shift towards different ways of training horses, which can take at least a generation.  There is a duty of care from the coaches, but they also have to safeguard themselves.  What happens to the horse in the 23 hours when it’s not at work is also a consideration.

Overcoming the challenges to promoting a good life for the horse, especially during training, requires acknowledging difficult outlooks such as quick fixes, differing values, performance led rather than welfare led goals, lack of knowledge around welfare and a lack of rider awareness.  Additionally, there is the emotional impact of a situation to take into consideration, for both coach and rider.

In order to promote a good life for the horse in training, Natasha advocated taking a holistic approach to creating a safe learning environment.  This includes being able to interpret the horse’s ‘voice’ and an awareness that physical health translates to mental health, and that an equine’s body language and behaviours are mediums of communication.  Promoting and encouraging an evidence-based approach, adopting precautionary principles and understanding equine learning theory are also necessary.  On a practical note, Natasha stated that research suggests that time spent training in hand pays dividends when riding – the same could be said for driving.

Fundamentally, Natasha and the coaches she worked with are advocating a harmonious horse-human relationship.  She reminded us that to maximise this, we also need to have an awareness of how the horse’s brain works and how best we can give the horse a good life.

From Kathryn Howard –

There is a real push for formalising safeguarding the horse in coach education (in the same way that we do this regarding safeguarding the athlete). This is something that Natasha and I are currently working on.

It was a powerful piece of research and timely regarding my involvement with the redesign of the equestrian coaching certification.  Safeguarding of the horse officers now exist within the member bodies management.

Regarding the importance of rider education and the challenges posed by unregulated instructors… coming from a background in education safeguarding, I’m very aware of how difficult it can be to challenge authority, but we have to. Do you think there are cases where people disagree with an instructor’s approach to equine safeguarding but feel reluctant to speak up, because the instructor is assumed to be the authority?

For the FEI ‘A Good Life for Horses’ – Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission – A Good Life for Horses.pdf

For the World Horse Welfare annual survey – Exploring the results of our annual survey into the public acceptance of horse sport – World Horse Welfare