Spring Newsletter 2023

F&I Association – looking to an ethical and sustainable equestrian future

Well, the dark nights are just beginning to draw out and the slightly milder weather has given us a tiny glimmer of hope that the winter will go away at some point, although I am not in any way being naive as I have experienced snow both at the first few British Eventing events but also a “white birthday” for my birthday mid-March!

I hope you have all had a wonderful start to 2023. For those who could attend, our thought-provoking Annual Course where we had two great coaches we could observe, created lots of discussion on techniques and approaches, with a nice wide range of horses and riders. This format seems to work very well, and you all seem to value that you can move about and choose what you wish to observe. And, as always, some great discussions and networking naturally happens during and between these sessions. As chairman, I was exposed to some differing opinions on what members had observed, and that’s great and generates a very healthy debate – and exactly what I would expect from the large group of high-level practitioners that we have within our membership, especially as we are going through this challenging period within the “social licence to operate” campaign, and we should always reflect on our behaviours and actions.

The study groups were extremely popular yet again, and we are listening to the feedback from our members that more people would like to attend these. We now have plenty of offers from our Fellows who are happy to facilitate more of these excellent group sessions next year.

The lunchtime activities were hugely successful and again have created a fantastic snowball effect of generating further discussion – and in particular have increased awareness of “social licence to operate” (SLO). This has allowed us to push for a positive action plan for moving forward. Big thanks to our own Danny Anholt FBHS for steering this!

We will be keen to run further lunchtime activities at the next Annual Course, as they add such value to the overall experience, and we are already thinking about the subject matter for next January. Do let us know if you have topics you would like to explore.

The lunchtime Fellowship session was also very well received, and for me it really says something when experienced Fellows themselves also wanted to listen in on these great small-group activities. A massive thank you to David Sheerin, Lisa Morris, Kylie Roddy and Jayne Smart for their openness in sharing their experiences as well as their top tips for being prepared for the Fellowship assessment. Many thanks to Danny Anholt for organising this event too!

So what’s new ?

Well, I’ve sat writing this spring newsletter while attending “The Horse Inside Out Conference”, two days of excellent back-to-back presentations with leading researchers in many different areas of equestrianism, all providing research and statistical evidence to back up their findings, and all trying to help to educate us all on what could be affecting our horses’ well-being and performance.

One thing that I felt came through so many times with all the presenters over the two days is the dealing with owners’ descriptions of a “naughty horse” or horses that have “performance limitations” and/or “performance deterioration”. This conference is a great example of how research is clearly identifying more times than not that there is usually something wrong with that horse, often not obvious things that a regular vet could pick up on, or your annual equine dentist could see. This is not in anyway undermining those professionals – it is just the advancement of diagnostic techniques and seeing more specialist vets, dentists, physiotherapists, farriers, etc.

The information at this conference has identified time and time again that evidence-based research is the way forward in protecting our “public relationship” with the horse and especially to protect us in our pathway to justify that we are using horses in an ethical, sustainable way. The conference is not cheap but it’s one of the best. It’s very little to do with Gillian painting horses now, which is what I think many people think – she simply gathers an amazing set of leading practitioners to present their areas of expertise and make it relevant to a wide range of professionals on the front line of the equine industry. I am always amazed that more coaches do not attend this event.

I will just give you one example of really interesting research I’ve heard today: with head-shakers investigated in one study, it was discovered that 80% had an undiagnosed tooth problem! We heard about the work of Dr Chris Pearce’s clinical dental health check, which involves a considerably more advanced diagnostic approach to checking the horse’s teeth and mouth structure compared to our regular teeth-rasping appointments. (Dr Pearce highlighted that there was no disrespect to those regular practitioners at all, it’s just thinking about an additional more detailed check up every few years, especially if the horse is demonstrating any pain ethogram symptoms or has an issue that is proving difficult to diagnose.) Look up Dr Chris Pearce and his work on “evidence for dental disease as a cause of poor performance in ridden horses and bitting injuries.” He has also worked with the BHS to produce the “No pain, check again” incentive. I will leave that thought with you.

As we have identified via the F&I annual course, and subsequent zoom discussion, we now need to move forward in our positive campaign of both “Equine Safeguarding” and “Ethnical sustainability in equestrian practice” – my own slogan that I wish to use from now on, to try and avoid the negative effect of continuing to use the “social licence to operate” description, which puts the elephant in the room before we even start.

How I see it, our role as an organisation first is that we must support each other and ensure that we educate and safeguard ourselves and our professional behaviours, and check and challenge our own actions, habits and behaviours – and then we can communicate to others who look to us for advice and direction in their professional behaviour and development.

Next, I’m off up to Scotland – coaching, and also presenting again, at a conference for BHS Scotland with James Hick, Patrick Print, and Roly Owers. Then I will be travelling to Israel to deliver ‘coach the coach’ courses and again start to spread the word about the current threats to our industry. Let’s keep sharing best practice and keep looking ahead in a positive, proactive way.

I mentioned in my Annual Course summary that we would offer support to anyone who may wish to talk through their more personal challenges with not only a fully qualified and experienced practitioner but one who has complete empathy for the direct challenges of working and living within the equestrian sector. This individual has very kindly offered to waive all fees for an initial contact, assessment and first session, so it is as accessible as possible to all. If anyone would like to have a fully confidential initial chat with a discreet professional equine-based BHSI and F&I member practitioner, please do not hesitate to contact Victoria on Tel: 07834 705414 vgallantree@gmail.com

 

Please stay in touch – I feel very strongly about you the members, and that you do have a voice, and you can feel comfortable to ask anything as well as ask about specific events and offer any other suggestions for the F&I committee. So please feel open about discussing with us the direction of the F&I and its role and status within the bigger equestrian stage.

Massive thanks yet again to the hard-working committee, who are endlessly working on behalf of us all in the F&I Association. Again, a huge thank you to volunteer member Sam Champney-Warrener for looking after our Facebook page and for doing a very difficult job of trying to monitor the content that we allow onto the page – this is being done following requests from members that they do not want to see endless advertisements that are not directly associated with Fellowship training and/or relevant to the majority of F&I members. It’s not always easy to have a clear rule for what falls within that broad definition, so we as a committee are now trying to make some joint decisions on content. This is to try to be fair and make appropriate decisions, but also to protect Sam Champney-Warrener as she is only the Messenger and must not be subjected to any negative comments or questioning on what’s been allowed on the page and what is not. We are learning as we go – and if you have any issues, please direct them to me and not to the amazing volunteer committee team.

Future events:

We have a great line up of events, starting with this Tuesday 28th Feb with David Pincus, near Hereford, with the morning on the evolution of dressage, followed by an afternoon of in-hand work. What a super opportunity this is. The following day we have a zoom on the evening of Wednesday 1st March with Nick Turner, Eric Smiley, Kylie Roddy & David Doel discussing 4* & 5* events. Next we have a fantastic day organised again at Talland on Tuesday 7th March under the watchful eye of the formidable Pammy Hutton FBHS, a great opportunity to ride some super horses of all levels and be able to coach with feedback and generate discussion. This is a worthwhile experience for anyone but especially useful for anyone thinking of working towards their Fellowship. Then Friday 31st March we have an opportunity to observe and ride under the eye of our vastly experienced Eric Smiley FBHS. Next up is our Badminton course walk on Friday 5th May with top coach Nick Turner FBHS. Followed by the very popular training day with Judy Harvey FBHS, Tuesday 16th May, which always gets booked up very quickly – this is an opportunity to ride, and/or observe sessions, again allowing for informative discussion and sharing of great practice. Then we pop “across the water” to the Republic of Ireland for the famous “Irish day” on 23rd May – being privileged to visit not only the Godolphin’s Kildangan stud but also the RACE academy (racing academy and centre of education). This trip is one myself and a few other Scottish members are making a few days of! That brings us onto the much-loved summer-social of the year – Hickstead RIHS with the BHS on Saturday 29th July. And before we know it we will be meeting up again for the Burghley course walk with Eric Smiley FBHS on the 31st August.

Unfortunately, I cannot make all these days, but I will attend as many as physically possible, and I look forward to seeing you all at some point throughout the year. Please look carefully at the flyers – on your emails, on the website and on our facebook page – for all the details you need to know, and who to contact and book with for each of these events. So many educational days – and also important chances to catch up with each other and stay in touch.

Well, have a great spring season everyone, and remember:

“Spring is in the air …so sit tight and keep smiling and get your “oh S**t neck straps out”

Kind regards,

Your chairperson Sam York FBHS.