ALARMING examples of abuse and intimidation in equestrian sports were discussed openly at The Irish Field’s Dublin Horse Show business breakfast on Wednesday morning.

The topic of this year’s annual discussion among industry heavyweights was the importance of a code of conduct in equestrian sport and, despite those present representing a diverse range of disciplines and organisations, the message was clear: abuse will not be tolerated.

Introducing the topic was Irish Horse World editor Judith Faherty who, having spoken to many officials, presented some jarring accounts.

One female judge complained of being followed to her car and being asked ‘do you know who I am?’ by a disgruntled show entrant before being taunted about her clothing and having her knowledge questioned.

Another judge recalled being abused at a show he was attending in front of his family by an irate entrant from a previous show.

One organiser described an incident of sabotage where someone called to fraudulently withdraw a rival competitor and a scribe said they were once videoed at that task for 11 straight hours while listening to criticism from the person filming.

As Judith pointed out “it’s worrying because if we don’t have volunteers, we have no sport”.

Brendan McArdle pictured at The Irish Field's business breakfast briefing \ Claire Nash

A number of guests at the breakfast went on to describe a plethora of incidents where judges, coaches and other officials were criticised and abused in person and online with a level of aggression that made them fearful of even reporting it to avoid even further backlash.

Speaking on behalf of Showjumping Ireland (SJI) was Ronan Corrigan, who said there were three very clear codes of conduct for SJI officials, members and show organisers that have been working quite well.

He also said sanctions from public apologies and fines up to a one-year ban have been handed down for misbehaviour.

Ireland’s young rider show jumping team manager James Kernan spoke of a young rider who had been yellow carded at an international event and learned a valuable lesson for the future.

“He was climbing a fence he shouldn’t have and was caught, it was bad timing really, but now he knows he needs to behave or there will be repercussions.”

Asked whether he had ever been on the receiving end of abuse over his team selections, Kernan said he had thankfully not, in his seven years in the job.

Respect

Tiernan Gill spoke of a first-hand experience of being told what to do as a judge. “Sometimes you do get it and it’s appalling, but you have to remember judges are there free of charge and you have to respect everyone’s judgement.

“One time, I was told by a man with a horse in a loose jumping competition that his was the best three-year-old in Ireland, but when it jumped, I gave it zero because it jumped 20 foot over a cross-pole. When he asked me about it, I told him it wasn’t natural and he told me ‘by God, this is the last time you’ll come around here’.”

Tiernan Gill, chairman of the Irish Horse Board, at The Irish Field's business breakfast briefing \ Claire Nash

Speaking on behalf of the Irish Shows Association was David Devane, who voiced concern about judges not feeling safe to come forward and report abuse.

“It can be a problem at times, but it’s not a major problem, but sometimes disgruntled competitors will complain a bit more than they should. Now, if a judge was abused in any way or insulted in any way, we asked them to put their complaint into the Irish Shows Association to be investigated.

“We’ve had a few cases the last few years where a few exhibitors were suspended from competing for six months or a year. But one of the biggest problems we find is, while sometimes officials and judges will complain that somebody said this or that in order for us to do something about it, we need them to put it in writing but judges are very slow to do that, they’re hesitant. I suppose that can be understandable, too.”

Influence

Speaking from an eventing point of view was event organiser Michael McNally, who said a priority for him in a Code of Conduct would be that older riders be aware of the influence they have on younger riders.

“It is so important that the senior athletes realise they’re the hero, so to speak, to younger people and they’re all at the same events so they would be working and riding in the same warm up arena and would be within the ear shot of the senior athletes. So I think it’s so important for them to set an example for these young people, and to create an environment where parents are happy to bring their children to these competitions and compete. That’s how we will see growth in the sport.”

Horse Sport Ireland Acting Head of High Performance Sport, Bernard Jackman, said he has found that something has fundamentally changed over the past 10 years. “I noticed in Versailles (at the Paris Olympic Games) there seems to be a feeling of them and us amongst the riders and the stewards, but everybody has the same passion for sport. Everyone’s trying to promote the sport, to make competition the best. But if it’s them and us attitude, you’re fighting from the start. So I agree with having a Code of Conduct where the starting point is respect, collaboration, exchanging ideas, and also a little bit of empathy for the pressure the athletes are under, the pressure the coaches are under, and the pressure the officials are under.

“Sometimes we don’t appreciate that and maybe in society in general, that respect is dropping. I think the way to fix it is more communication and more understanding of the pressure that we’re all under.”

Robert Fagan of Mullingar Equestrian Centre at The Irish Field's business breakfast briefing \ Claire Nash

Zero-tolerance

Robert Fagan of Mullingar Equestrian said they take a zero-tolerance approach to abuse. “We are, as a sport, and as a facility, very dependent on having judges and stewards and we protect them at all costs,” he said.

“But also it’s very important for us to have the best judges we can have and the best stewards. As a result of that, maybe we have less challenges. We’re also lucky enough that people want to come back to us week after week, so we don’t get that much, but if we do, we don’t tolerate it.”

Irish show jumping team manager, Michael Blake, said creating a culture where all members of Team Ireland are included was vitally important.

“I suppose someone told me once my job was to manage expectations - no matter how unrealistic some of the expectations are. But, you know, I echo what James (Kernan) said, in that the main teams would normally pick themselves and you have to go with what you think.

“I suppose the way we work is that we have a lot of events, and you might not get picked today, but you might get picked tomorrow. We’re trying to have a culture that we’re all members of Team Ireland. Obviously, some riders have events that they prefer to be on than others, and it’s my job to encourage them to be where we need them to be, not where they decide they want to be.

“The code of conduct for me is really, really important because everybody is giving up their time. The competitors need support from their organisations, the officials need support from their organisations.

“There’s loads of things that frustrate competitors and judges and stewards, and then the human comes out in them, and then the human takes over and something reactive happens that wouldn’t be in character. And I suppose we have to learn how to deal with that. So, a code of conduct with buy-in across the board is vital. If we don’t get this right, it’s going to go wrong.”

Flor Madden, chair of the Equestrian Committee at the RDS, agreed that mutual respect was vital.

“I suppose everything comes down to just two words - respect and gratitude. For competitors, of course, but also for us as show organisers. Our respect and our gratitude for people that bring their horses and put in the hours and hours of travel is important. It’s a double-edged sword. It’s a two-way process. And I think, you know, us as organisers, us involved in the industry, we need to show respect. If there’s an issue, we as organisers show respect to the person that’s making that complaint as well. I think that’s what’s going to bring the industry around. So, we do need to have codes of conduct in place, for us as much as for the competitors.”

Governance

Horse Sport Ireland CEO Denis Duggan said the examples of abuse discussed had “absolutely no place in the sport, regardless of whether you’re a man or a woman”.

“We started a governance review process about two to two and a half years ago, where each of the affiliates were supported to look at their own rules, their constitution, their structures so that’s been a piece of ongoing work. We (HSI) do have codes of conduct for athletes, for coaches, for participants and our safeguarding model is probably one that’s worth singling out from the perspective of garda vetting - we do that on behalf of all of the affiliates so if you’re a volunteer, steward or a coach you’re vetted by HSI through the affiliate.

“But equally, if there’s an issue, if there’s an allegation made against that individual, it’ll come back through HSI and, if there is an issue and somebody needs to be suspended, that model works really well.”

Lt Col Tom Freyne at The Irish Field's business breakfast briefing \ Claire Nash

Asked where we go from here, Lt Col Tom Freyne of the Army Equitation School said he was confident huge strides were being taken in the right direction.

“I know in my dealings with all the different organisations, a huge amount of work is going on the background to try and make sure that we have our structures in place, that we have our codes of conduct. This is very quickly coming down the road in the whole welfare area, and that’s where the spotlight is.

“So, I think this is probably the first step in getting our house in order for people looking from the outside in. I think that, once we start to get a realisation of that, then we can start to look after what is really a jewel in society.”

Those in attendance at the breakfast agreed there was a need and an appetite to peruse the idea of a nationwide overarching Code of Conduct with universal buy and reciprocal sanctions across the affiliates, and that the conversation begun this week would be continued.