Chairman’s Report January 2025
Highlights for me this year are as always, this Annual Course, but also there have been lots of great events again this year.
The Scottish Coach Assembly has been a great addition to the events list this year, and I really hope it has demonstrated the potential and scope of F&I and what we could be capable of, working with our partners in the industry. I will be continuing to work closely with Jen Morris and the team on this particular event as well as supporting other members to run similar events in the future. The next Coach Assembly is on the 2nd /3rd Feb 2026 at SNEC Scotland.
Within the equine industry we are still seeing troubling times, and we are clearly becoming more and more accountable for our actions. F&I have moved in the right direction, for example engaging with practitioners such as Angelo Telatin FBHS who today has again delivered a highly relevant session on applied equine learning theory. But we also have to start to be really honest with ourselves about our own training methods and our behaviours and actions. Even during this annual course, we have had aspects that I feel needed more coach, rider and audience discussion, and I know that some people have felt uncomfortable to witness what some of the horses have been trying to tell us today.
Things need to move forward more, we must speak up and we must discuss how we as coaches handle training, coaching and riding issues and we must be accountable and support each other much more in how to handle and address these challenges and the behaviour changes we need to make.
Just as one small example of the direction we are now going within IGEQ (International Group for Equestrian Qualifications) is that at the latest conference in Finland in November we had an expert speaker on “Human Behaviour Change” who identified why even as equestrian professionals we struggle to change our ways, despite knowing what we should do, and knowing we really have to! These are the practical aspects that are really useful for us all to evolve and move forward with, therefore showing more impact and clarity.
I do feel that we (F&I) as a platform still need to do more to support each other, and other developing coaches, remember it only takes one inappropriate act, one comment, one video or photo taken out of context to pull the whole industry down. We must all lead by example. Also we must help the wider equine community to understand the most appropriate and effective way of safeguarding themselves and the industry through much more consistent approaches to using equine learning theory in practice, showing a greater respect for the horse at all times. Every action we do, every comment, every photo or video, please check and challenge yourselves before you do, react and speak and before you post or share your thoughts with anyone. We are all on the same side, so let’s unite and then be able to enjoy our amazing horses for a long time to come.
I now leave this role after 9 years, 3 years as chair, and I hope I have achieved my goals which were simply to ensure the members had a safe space to talk and discuss all things equine, and that we have moved forward in an open, democratic and transparent way.
Personally I don’t think we sell ourselves or our expertise as much as we could, and I think the F&I could do so much more, but it all takes a great deal of time, energy and finances to really move forward, and I know the new committee, with an injection of new energy and ideas, will move forward with great force.
I am so happy to see these two new members come on board and I’m really excited to see what happens next. Massive welcome to Anne Bondi and Emily Farleigh. Together with our new Chairman Liz Eaton, what a great team they will all be.
As for me, I like so many have been juggling many challenges for a few years now, combined with a further health scare and a crazy busy life. So I’m relieved to try and free up just a little bit more head space for, one myself, but also a few new and very exciting ventures that will again take up a lot of my time and energy. But I will always hold a great place in my heart for F&I and I look forward to many more years as a keen member and number one fan of the F&I world.
I hope to see you all in due course and as always I again ask you all to be kind to each other and look out for your F&I community. These are tough times within the industry and there are wide range of challenges that many of us are facing so a quick phone call or even a text to say “hi, how are you doing?” is always a good idea. And make sure you all attend as many events as possible as it’s so good to network, talk and spend time with like-minded people. As they say a problem shared is a problem halved.
Thank you all so much for all the lovely messages and gifts and it was very touching what some of you have said – it means a great deal.
So please all of you have an amazing 2025 and lets all stay in touch and as always F&I would love to hear and see your equestrian adventures and successes on Facebook. Let’s keep flooding social media with positive and respectful messages all about our wonderful friend and partner…. The Horse.
Sam x
Sam York FBHS