Work to Ride student Gianna Velasquez on Pistachio at the Bucks County Jumper Derby. Founder Lezlie Hiner says she enters students only in events decided by the clock or number of goals, not where ribbons are based on the subjective interpretation of a judge. Credit Lezlie Hiner.
The nation is grappling with the challenging questions of addressing racial injustice in the United States and the equestrian world is no exception.
The conversation is lighting up on social media and websites, dominating message boards and opinion pages.
Equestrian sports have long been the bastion of wealth and privilege, largely excluding people of color.
In 2000, 95 percent of the members of the U.S. Equestrian Federation (USEF), the national governing body for most equestrian sports, identified as white.
Today, as the demographics of equestrian sports begin to reflect the growing population of people of color, the voices of the Black Lives Matter movement are resounding loudly, touching even the rarefied confines of the equine world.
Young riders and veteran horsemen and women, white and Black, are speaking out about racial injustice on the pages of the Chronicle of the Horse.
Sophie Gochman, who is white and an accomplished junior rider wrote: “For too long, the horse show world has chosen to ignore the extreme social injustice embedded in American policy and tradition. We are an insular community with a gross amount of wealth and white privilege, and thus we choose the path of ignorance.”
In her opinion piece, Tyler St. Bernard, who is biracial and an A show circuit rider raised in Bucks County PA, wrote that “the barn should be a neutral place for politics.”
But, she continued, “the right for Black Americans to live safely surpasses politics; it is a human right. It is important that these discussions happen in white spaces like the barn because it is important to address the biases we have in the sport and the difficulties that our fellow riders face. Instead of hiding behind horses, let’s use them to further our discussion and be seen as a sport whose participants are actively working to make their spaces more accessible and friendly to people of color.”
David Loman, who is African American, a long-time trainer, former Maryland show stable operator and a USEF licensed judging official, cautioned that members of the equestrian community should not “isolate themselves from the issues around race.”
“If we do, then we are the problem. Most of the people in the horse show world will never be affected by this issue, but racism (direct or indirect) is a communicable disease, and eventually this sickness will infect us all, so we should all confront it,” he wrote in the magazine.
Loman urged the sport to use the power of economic, social and political connections to affect change, to educate its members, diversify images of riders and recruit and train young riders of color.
The calls for change are being heard within the equine sports establishment, as more people of color are joining its ranks.
A survey by the USEF in 2019 found that its white membership had dropped to 89 percent, with more members identifying themselves as men and women of color.
Officials with the USEF said they have been working over the past two years to ensure that their marketing reflects a more diverse sport, recognizing that the sport’s future relies on expanding the ranks of its membership.
“If we want the sport to continue, we have to make sure people of all races and all walks of life feel welcome,” said Ashley Swift, USEF Affiliate and Communications Specialist who has been leading specifically on the front of Diversity and Inclusion for a number of years. “It’s a moral and an economic thing.”
At the end of June USEF’s Diversity & Inclusion Plan and the organization’s Commitment Statement was approved by the board of directors. Next steps, according to a USEF press release, include required training in diversity and inclusion for staff, committee members and licensed officials, developing a racial justice resource guide, looking for partnerships with organizations that support diversity and inclusion and creating visible change in diversity representation through marketing.
Other leading equine sport groups too say they are aware of the challenges to diversify a sport that that is cost-prohibitive for people of all backgrounds and are working to address them.
The United States Pony Clubs, Inc. has an explicit non-discrimination policy and has always structured programming to stress inclusion and education, said Shelley Mann, communications director.
“We continually work to expand diversity among members not based on ethnicity, rather based on equestrian education through working and engaging with others and the ability and desire to safely care for their equine partners,” said Mann.
“Our mission is to deliver quality equine education to any and every potential equestrian in a safe and effective manner,” she said. “In an attempt to deliver horse care resources at a grass roots level, we have partnered some of our educational programming with several inner-city nonprofit organizations with similar missions and diverse members.”
Rob Burke, chief executive officer of United States Eventing Association, said while his organization has worked to expand its membership, work needs to be done to actively broaden the scope of its participants.
“The image that we have projected over the years to the public has not necessarily been an image of diversity,” he said. “We can do much better and we recognize that.”
One Pennsylvania equine facility could be a global model; it was literally built on inclusivity. Since 1994 Lezlie Hiner has run the Work to Ride program in Fairmont Park, Philadelphia, connecting children from some of the city’s toughest neighborhoods with horses.
Hundreds of students have passed through Hiner’s Chamounix stable doors, many of them going on to become members of its internationally acclaimed polo team, which has competed across the globe. Several of her top riders have won college scholarships.
Hiner, who fundraises and generates income from public riding lessons to support Work to Ride, said she has long specifically entered her riders only in events judged by the clock or the number of goals, not where ribbons are based on the subjective interpretation of a judge.
“Not the competitions where you have to have the right boots or the best jacket,” she said. “So, we don’t have the best horses. The kids have fun.”
Once, years ago, Hiner recalled, an 11-year-old student rode a perfect hunter course and didn’t get pinned. Hiner urged the girl to ask the judge what she could have done differently. The judge apologized and told the girl, “I forgot about you.”
“Was that because she was a kid of color? I don’t know,” said Hiner.
Loman points out that the African American community is an “untapped market for our industry” and that equestrian sports organizations could do more to encourage new riders and bring people of color into the ranks of horse professionals in and out of the ring, whether as trainers, veterinarians, farriers, course designers, judges or show stewards.
The USEF said it is looking beyond marketing and internal changes to reach non-traditional groups, whether by race, socioeconomic status, veterans or the disabled, through performance-based grant funding opportunities. Swift said other ideas under consideration are need-based higher education grants and training with prominent coaches.
“We want to set people up for success so that they might give back to the industry,” she said. “It’s a marathon not a sprint. We want to be as effective as possible. We want to continue pushing the needle on this and reach as many people as possible.”