Content:
Equestrian sports, and equestrian practice more generally, are becoming subject to increasing public scrutiny, with non-equine stakeholders questioning if traditional training and management practices are ethical and necessary. This has led broader animal welfare advocates to introduce the debate that equestrianism requires a social license to operate (SLO) in the modern era. This session introduces what SLO is and how it can be applied to equestrian activities, as well as considering who the key stakeholders in equestrianism’s SLO are, and debating why an SLO is needed for horse sports. We will discuss the assumptions versus the reality of how well SLO is embedded across the equine industry, and consider what the future of horse sports could or should look like.
Lecturer:
Dr Jane M Williams is an Associate Professor and Head of Research at Hartpury University. She is an experienced researcher, with a passion for enhancing equine performance and wellbeing through industry-informed, real-world research that generates change. Jane qualified as a Veterinary Nurse then gained her Masters in Equine Science before completing her doctorate exploring the application of surface electromyography as a tool to assess muscle adaptation during training in racehorses and sport horses. Her main areas of professional interest include scientific evaluation of equestrian performance, training and wellbeing, rider impacts on equitation, reliability assessment across equestrian science, and human-animal interaction. Jane co-edited and authored ‘Training for Equestrian Performance’, to showcase how science and research can be applied practically to improve performance for horses and their riders, and has published over 100 research articles as well as regularly presenting at international equine conferences. Jane works across the equine sector to promote the application of objective research and scientific practice to improve the welfare of horses, through her work with the Sporthorse Welfare Foundation and International Society for Equitation Science.