OPINION
I DON’T believe that animal lovers concerned about our sport should or will just leave us alone. So when I was fortunate enough to compete Habouche at the Compiègne CDI in France and learnt that a critic of modern dressage, who is active on social media, was in attendance, I decided to track her down.
Closed minds will close doors – if we don’t listen, people will only shout louder. So I approached tentatively, and opened the conversation.
“Hello, are you riding or er... supporting?” I asked.
“You won’t like me,” she replied, explaining that she was a vet, there to film the riders so she could raise concerns about horse welfare if she felt it justified. Interestingly, she viewed herself as a custodian of the sport, rather than a threat to it and we had a spirited but good-humoured debate.
This story is from the May 25, 2023 edition of Horse & Hound.
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This story is from the May 25, 2023 edition of Horse & Hound.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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