'Considered talk, not rushed rules'

Make changes carefully or risk the consequences, says Mark Phillips

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WITH social licence in the news, horse welfare is top of the agenda for horse sports.

There are many who think use of the horse is abuse of the horse and that horses should be fat and happy in a field. There isn’t much media coverage of the fact all sport horses have truly five-star love, care and attention, nor of the plight of those poor animals left neglected in paddocks.

The pinnacle of all sports attracts the greatest attention. The higher the level of performance, the smaller the margin of error, therefore the higher the skill needed by the rider. But let’s be clear that horses competing at these levels love it. There is no way that 100lb of rider can make 1,000lb of horse do something against its will.

In eventing, five-star competition was much discussed at the FEI risk management forum at Jardy (news, 9 and 16 February), with a focus on reducing horse falls.

We course-designers go to massive lengths to try to make fences as forgiving as possible for horses, using decoration to help them understand the question. But we cannot prevent a horse falling every now and again.