06/08/2026
This!!!
Horse welfare: All day, every day.
EQUESTRIAN SPORTS AFTER COVID
William Micklem FBHS
Ten thoughts for a positive future.
Part 5 – THRIVING TOGETHER
Today is the final part of this short series of musings. I hope they have stimulated some positive thoughts. Our greatest hope and strength remains that those in the horse world all work together to survive and thrive. I think it is important to keep asking the ‘what if’ questions, and to experiment and not be afraid of asking for help.
My favourite thought and quote of the last 10 years is from Professor David Foster Wallace, the brilliant American author, who told a group of graduating University students that his own hope for the future was “to be just a little less arrogant. To have just a little more critical awareness about myself and my certainties. Because a huge percentage of what I tend to be automatically certain of is, it turns out, totally wrong and deluded.” Not a bad start off point for change and innovation in the equestrian world.
9) MORE FLEXIBLE STABLING & RIDING FACILITIES
There are obviously many exceptions but in general the way many horses are kept in single stables, often with minimum turnout with long periods of nothing to do or eat, is one of the aspects of equestrianism that is increasingly looked as an own goal and unacceptable to the wider public. At worse it produces obese horses with stable vices and depression, at best it is an open door to high costs, including labour and veterinary.
We all know that horses are best suited by living in groups, small or large, and to spend much of their time moving about eating low food value grass. We have to make some compromises but good flexible stable design will increasingly allow horses to live in small groups, and allow for ad lib feeding of low food value grass, hay or straw. Good design should also put an end to hours of time wasted mucking out individual stables and sweeping yards! Personally I haven’t used individual stables for over twenty years, but allow groups of three or four horses or ponies to live together when inside, and all have ad lib access to oat or barley straw if they have finished their hay allocation. This small group system can work with all levels of horses, as long as there is an introductory process. To cut costs and survive in coming years some stabling facilities in big sheds will have to consider removing internal walls, to allow for groups of horses and mechanical access, or at least replace some fixed walls with mobile hanging barriers. Introducing a track system for turnout can also make a huge positive difference. On the continent it is the direction the majority of livery stables have moved to and it works!
People say that they need the individual stables for feeding, but IF hard food is needed (because of hard work) and all the group are having similar feeds there is not usually a problem after a settling in period. If different quantities are required for different horses in the group it is possible to use either standing stalls or even individual nose bags, in the same way they do in many polo stables and they did in war time. This seems a strange idea until it is used, as it works well.
All this is good for the horse and in addition saves money, which is obviously a top priority. The same is true of good design of riding and training facilities. For example, rather than having separate facilities…small arena, bigger arena, cross country etc….I always try and get added value by designing for flexible use so that one riding area gives added value to another. Therefore, I often design a water complex at one end of an arena and a bank complex at the other end or just outside a long side, so that the arena becomes part of the all-weather surface for the jumping complexes. And it is always better value for money to create jump complexes that have numerous different connected routes and levels of difficulties, that share the same prepared surface. It’s all about great design.
My own young horse and novice children’s area is an oval, 25m x 20m, but slip rails at both sides and in the middle allow it to connect to a 60m x 25m arena to make a very large 80m arena when required. Depending on needs and land available it is also often possible to get better value and greater training flexibility by developing arenas along French and Italian lines, with all-weather tracks and circles mixed with partially all-weather or grassed areas. And so much the better for training if a slope can be included. Then, togetherwith planting a really beautiful and large riding area can be created at a similar cost to a standard all weather arena. (On one related facility issue, horse walkers are good for straightness as the horses cling to the inside of the track, bringing the shoulders slightly to the inside, but lunge arenas with outside fences or walls are bad for straightness, as the horse clings to the outside with the shoulder out. In the same way when riding a circle it is always better for straightness to ride round an imaginary line on your inside, rather than riding from letter to letter on the outside. The legendary international German dressage trainer Herbert Rehbein described this as ‘a golden key”. He was also keen to point out that most people misunderstand and mistranslate the meaning of both Losgelassenheit and Schwung – a subject for another article, but we need to question what has been accepted in the past as gospel.)
10) BELIEVE, SELL & THRIVE
There is a very real problem with many coaches, riders and I would dare to suggest some equestrian organisations, of false modesty…or probably better described as low expectations. This is a problem that leads to all sorts of difficulties for both our sport and our horses, especially a vicious circle of deteriorating standards as low quality work leads to lower quality work and greater discomfort for both rider and horse, as well as reducing income. What we need is the opposite, a virtuous circle of better quality work leading to an improved way of going and more comfort for horse and rider, leading in turn to even better quality work and an equestrian business that thrives.
All levels are important. Strength at the bottom produces strength at the top, which has been the focus of the majority of these posts, but it is also true that strength at the top produces strength at the bottom. This is why the higher-level training centres and higher-level coaches are so vital. Ireland and Britain should aim to attract many more student coaches from round the world, and become the equestrian coach training and testing Mecca for the world. Why not? In comparison with other countries we are unique in having all the cultural, historical, geographical, rural and language advantages for a complete equestrian coach education.
A dream? No, it’s a very real outcome if we all focus on achieving this, believing in both our special advantages and what a special sport we have. As I said at the start of these thoughts…. An association with horses is provably life enhancing, an activity that can be hugely beneficial, both mentally and physically. Whether seriously disabled or seriously able extraordinary things are possible in partnership with ponies and horses. It is simply an exceptional sport for all and sport for life, that no other sport can match in terms of scope and benefits.
However, our challenges are still huge and there is an urgency for action. Let’s help energise our NGBs and our coaches to ensure that every employee and every coach oozes this belief and enthusiasm. Let’s believe together and sell together, then there is every chance of thriving together.
11) ADDED VALUE
‘Delivering more than promised’ is usually an effective strategy for keeping happy clients in all spheres of life, and I always try to do this myself. The relationship between a rider and their horse is potentially the big added value, and also the unique added value, in equestrian sports. It is something we often fail to put into practise. Even in lesson one participants can begin their journey of becoming horse trainers and partners. Then the door to this added value and a special relationship is opened. At its’ simplest this is possible because the horse is a non- judgemental companion, that encourages calmness, gentleness and emotional control; a companion that encourages responsibility, discipline and persistence; and a companion that can give new freedom for damaged legs, bodies, and minds…. however slight or serious the damage. It is a door that is essential to open if our sport is to grow.
My added value for this series is thought number 11, SIMPLICITY. The sport is bedevilled by complexity. Too much often contradictory information. Too many often contradictory methods. Too many books, more than any other sport, and curriculums that are too long. This is off-putting to participants and more worryingly hugely difficult for the horse, who thrives on simplicity, and surprise, surprise, just as humans do! With simplicity progress can be accelerated and enjoyment levels increased for horses and riders. In addition as we have two participants in our sport, the rider and the horse, rather than just one as in most sports, the urgent need for simplicity is even more obvious as two participants equals double the information. In my opinion there is nothing that will improve and build the sport more quickly and successfully than greater simplicity, and that in my opinion is our greatest challenge and need.
Simplicity is also at the heart of coaches having the right strategies to use. Strategies that are about developing the right attitude of mind for learning and progress. My TEDx Talk, The GO! Rules, highlights a simple strategy for huge performance change, and Simplicity, joined by Positivity are the power twins in the talk. Two golden keys to power change.
Text for Photo :
The training facility I designed for ARDEO sport horses in Co Wicklow. On the right of the arena is the water and bank complex and on the left another bank complex. Plus there are connected tracks going up and down hill, with a variety of ditches and fences, directly connected to the main arena.
