Wednesday, 27 September 2023
For National Inclusion Week, we’ve been speaking to people who are leading inclusivity within the equestrian industry. Georgina Urwin, who runs Summerfield Stables alongside Summerfield@Solihull near Birmingham, has been an advocate and worked hard to improve access to horses for so many young people who otherwise may not have had the chance to get involved.
Georgina strongly believes inclusivity does not stop at giving people one-off experiences, but supporting them to progress within the industry, whether that’s improving their riding to be able to compete at a higher level, or gain qualifications leading to a career. We wanted her take on inclusion…
What does inclusion mean to you?
Inclusion means to actively welcome all people regardless of race, religion, sexuality, disability, age, employment status, mental health etc. and to take steps to remove barriers that might prevent these people from accessing our sport.
There are more charities and organisations starting to work to improve inclusivity within equestrianism, but we also need to work more collaboratively because often people focus on improving just one aspect of diversity. What they forget is that diversity comes in so many forms and it’s not possible to only focus on one area of diversity because people are complex.
Organisations need the support, training and awareness of what diversity means in terms of including everyone, not just one group of people.
Talk about your experience of inclusion within the equestrian industry.
Georgina explains that we can be an inclusive industry, with the growth of Equine Assisted Therapy, the vast range of careers, and the variety of para disciplines, “As diversity starts to spread beyond riding schools this can help improve equine welfare as there can be more jobs available for the non-ridden horse. There is also now more thought given to the horse-human relationship and the benefits of spending time with horses.
However, there are still issues involving uncomfortable experiences for those in minority groups or those trying to encourage inclusion, “Many of our young people have experienced intimidating or derogatory comments from others within the equestrian sector. I feel really passionately about trying to get young people into mainstream equestrian spaces, but also, they need to be protected and have the support from our community. Often, these people come from non-equestrian families, so keeping them safe while ensuring they are able to learn about horses is very important.
"More recently, there has been a big effort to change this and now we are seeing much more support for inclusion across the different disciplines. There is still a huge amount of work to be done but it is good to see that attitudes are changing."
What would you want others in your position to know/ understand about inclusion?
I would like others in the equestrian world to educate themselves more on inclusion and to think about how their language and actions may sometimes exclude others. Examples like a horse riding proprietor telling the mother of a child with disabilities that her child was ' too challenging' or asking a Muslim woman if they were 'going to ride dressed like that' can be very hurtful and can exclude people from the equestrian community.
Why do we need to be more inclusive?
Horses have so much to offer people, it would be amazing to see more people be able to access the benefits.
Having horses within cities is really important. Yes, we have to mindful of welfare, but huge numbers of people who live in cities want to have access to horses. It would be beneficial to us if they understood more about equestrianism, and removing barriers would help reduce the opinion that we are an elitist sport.
Where do you see the future of equestrianism in terms of inclusivity?
It’s an exciting time for equestrianism, but not without its challenges, “Sometimes we don’t see outside of our bubble and if we stopped and reimagined how it could look by including a wider range of people who haven’t typically had access to horses in the UK, then we could actually see some really good examples of new thinking."
Georgina explains that there needs to be a more integrated approach to inclusion, “Equestrian centres and charities need to share good practice and build relationships, continuing with larger organisations- we want to see inclusion from grassroots right through to high level competition. Sometimes, we think of inclusion as a group of young people having a go in a lead-rein lesson and coming to see horses as a one-off, but many people have a passion to compete and progress in different disciplines.
"We need to act on the recommendations of the #HorseForAll study and take it seriously. What I would like to see is more support from all aspects of the equestrian industry towards diversity. We have to start small. Obviously, we want every equestrian centre to be inclusive, but the ones that are really pushing this inclusivity are charities and not businesses, they must have the support."