Earning a Breed: Social License PT2

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It's been almost a year since I posted a blog about a  social license. I wasn't thinking of posting a 2nd blog on  the topic but over the last few weeks, it seems that everything I have chosen to read, listen or watch, shares common ground via the fragility of social licenses for the equine community. Coincidence? It is a topic that is dominating the minds of many horsepeople. Are you familiar with Noëlle Floyd's Dear Horse World Podcast? 

If you have not tuned in, I recommend it. I listen to the podcast using the Spotify app. Last week, I was listening to Noëlle's interview with David O'Connor, an Olympic Gold medalist in the discipline of eventing, who now serves as Chief of Sport for the United States Equestrian Federation,  studying topics like social license and its affect on the sport horse world. David shared that while 90% of the American population have no interest in horses, these are the very same people who will exert an opinion, if they see something they don't like.  On the other hand, this group of people will accept what you do with horses, if they feel that the horses are being cared for and that you are not placing horses in situations where they don't have a life.

I'm a fan of Tik Maynard, a two-time winner of the Road to the Horse, an extremely popular colt starting competition, held at the Kentucky Horse Park each year. Tik's first book, In the Middle are the Horsemen, documents his experiences as a working student, including the time he spent with David & Karen O'Connor.  I'm not sure that I really know how many times I have read his book, maybe 10 times? 20 times? 50 times? I love it and get something from it, every time I read it. If you haven't yet read the book, I recommend it. Tik has now published his 2nd book, Starting in the Middle, and within it, he shares a conversation he had with David O'Connor, within the context of seeking a mentor's advice as to whether he should/should not participate in the Road to the Horse competition. I had heard David mention the Central Park allegory within Noëlle Floyd's podcast, and now  here I am also reading about it in Tik's book.

"If you can’t train a horse, and explain what it is you are doing, in the middle of Central Park, then you actually can’t do it anymore. Because now images are transferred around the world, a lot of times out of context, and it happens in a heartbeat.”

While listening to the podcast and reading Tik's new book, I kept thinking about our Arabian community, particularly the showing faction, which always seems to be under the most scrutiny,  and to tell you the truth, I'm not exactly sure when we allowed someone to convince us that a scared horse, is a beautiful thing. 

The Three Pitfalls of Social Licence, iedm.org

How will the 90% feel about the practices in the Arabian showring, including but not limited to people shaking bags and chasing horses into the ring, visibly trembling horses who flinch at every sudden movement, bulging eyes exposing the white sclera, horses passing loose manure repeatedly while in the ring.  It's enough for you to get sick and wonder about a humanity that can do such things to horses, while continuing to believe its a good thing.  We need to do something before the 90% shut us down like they have done for Circuses, the Orca shows at Sea World, fox hunting in England, among others. 

Late last week, Denise Hearst of The Swift Runner published her interview with long time Arabian horse lover Nayla Hayek of the Hanaya Stud. I recommend that you read what Nayla has to say. Nayla wears many roles in our community such as judge, owner, breeder, student, enthusiast. She loves Arabian horses and has for a very long time. Denise asked Nayla if there were showring issues which concerned her, to which Nayla replied, 

"Everyone who has spent more than five years in the so-called international show scene must be concerned with what is happening now. I resigned from judging some years ago because I no longer wanted to be part of this community. It is more a Las Vegas Casino show attitude which is growing, rather than an elegant presentation and judging of our excellent breed."

Do you find it significant that an Arabian horse lover like Nayla Hayek says she no longer wanted to be part of the community? I sure do. That's how serious this issue of social license has become. 

The "fall from grace" suffered by Charlotte Dujardin, who at one time was a much admired, respected, even beloved Olympic dressage rider, should convince any one of us over the consequences from losing a social license. None of us are immune nor will we be relieved from working hard to earn our social license each day.  It's real and it's not going away. David O'Connor, in closing, said that the reality of the world we live in is that the cell phone is not going away nor is the internet going away, these communication and information sources are only going to grow more significant in our daily lives. We really need to learn how to harness them, so they work for us, instead of against us, in order to protect our community from any action taken by the 90%.