In his exclusive H&H column, Carl Hester shares his thoughts on the sport’s future, public trust and the power of authenticity after attending two quite different industry events
I recently attended a meeting organised jointly by the International Dressage Trainers Club and International Riders Club. Delegates attended from the Dressage Organisers and Dressage Officials clubs and the International Jumping Riders Club, as well as three judges from the Olympics.
During this meeting, stakeholders from all these areas of our sport came together to speak freely and openly about many topics. This was no doubt facilitated by the Chatham House rule imposed by Richard Davison, who moderated proceedings. Everyone had their chance to contribute, including in breakaway groups.
The overriding subject was how to rebuild the public’s trust in dressage. Equine wellbeing was also the top priority when it came to regulations for tack and equipment, such as permitted bits. Other topics covered included how to address the lack of viability and sponsorship suffered by the organisers of CDIs.
FEI dressage director Ronan Murphy was also in attendance and the unprecedented support shown toward him reflected the sense of collective responsibility shared by all stakeholders.
Undoubtedly Ronan has one of the most difficult jobs going. The fact that he is approachable to everyone is reassuring. While support for Ronan was high, I felt – as did others – that having considered the current state of affairs, the pressure would have been alleviated if more representatives from the FEI had been present, especially as things can get a bit lost in translation through emails.
The overall takeaway was that we are all responsible for the direction of our sport and we must learn to move outside of our bubble and perceive it through the eyes of different sections of society.
A great business at Wellington
I also attended a two-day event, organised by the Equestrian Management Agency and hosted by former British Horse Society chairman David Sheerin, at Wellington Riding, entitled “The business of being a rider”. It proved a highly successful innovation.
Tom McEwen and I both did demos and the event featured numerous panel discussions covering a wide range of topics, which an engaged audience responded to with excellent questions.
There were more than 20 special guests and specialists, who used their incredible levels of expertise and knowledge to inform riders on building and managing their own businesses at all stages.
I was delighted to be part of the panel to discuss Olympic experiences with Tom McEwen, Stuart Denard from the British Olympic Association’s (BOA) fundraising team and dressage rider Valentina Pistner – a future Olympic hopeful for Germany.
Many people don’t realise the role of the BOA. Their focus, working alongside sports’ national governing bodies, is on the delivery of the Games – and work is already well underway to deliver for Los Angeles 2028.
Did you know that private donors also contribute a lot of funding to our Olympic goals? I did, as some have visited the yard and many went to watch the eventing in Paris and loved it!
Catching up with David Sheerin I was fascinated to hear about the sessions I missed, including those on sponsorship with Robert Lemieux and Saracen Horse Feeds, as well as sessions on contracts, law, insurance, handling media scrutiny and that thorny subject of social media.
The overriding message the audience took away was simply this: be authentic. Don’t try to be perfect. We must stand by what we do, be confident but never arrogant and not overreact to negativity. This theme of authenticity resonated throughout both of the events.
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