BRITAIN’S Princess Anne was the guest of honour at the RDS on Thursday morning, where she addressed the 16th International HETI Congress of Equine Facilitated Programmes.

Involved with the Riding for Disabled UK since 1947, the Princess is the patron of the organisation and has also served as its president.

A lifelong equestrian enthusiast, Princess Anne remarked on what an appropriate venue the Royal Dublin Society was for the congress, especially as preparations for the Dublin Horse Show are well underway.

A triennial event, this is the first time that the HETI Congress has been held in Ireland. Keynote speakers over the course of the four-day event included William Micklem, Patricia Pendry, Martine Hausberger and Ed Bracher.

The HETI Congress looks at equine assisted learning and intervention in a variety of ways, from global research to personal experiences and product innovation. The theme of this year’s congress was ‘Striking the Balance’. The Princess Royal touched on the importance of this theme and explained how, for her, one of the most important balances to be struck is between the horse and rider. She told delegates:“Striking the balance between the horse and rider, what horses can do for us and what we can do for horses.”

This was also very much in keeping with the keynote address from earlier in the morning where Martine Hausberger discussed how she is researching the welfare of horses within equine assisted learning programmes.

GIANT STRIDES

Since the Princess Royal has been involved with the RDA UK, and subsequently the HETI Congress, she noted how there has been massive developments within the field. Princess Anne reminisced that, in the early days of the RDA UK, the only question was whether adults could also benefit from equine assisted learning in the same way as children could, today the research topics are almost unlimited.

She referred to the Congress as a platform for everyone to share their experience and knowledge. Over the course of the event, comprehensive research presentations were outlined.

The Princess Royal also encouraged everyone at the Congress to use the event to help influence an even larger circle of people and to continue to expand the field.

The Princess Royal put the growth of equine assisted interventions down to the hard-work which is taking place every day at grassroots level. Addressed the international audience, Princess Anne thanked people for coming and for their hard work in helping those with difficulties connect with horses.

RESEARCH

The Princess Royal reminded everyone that no matter how much research is carried out within the field of equine assisted learning, it ultimately all comes down to the relationship between horse and rider. She also emphasised that even if equine assisted intervention has been scientifically proven to help someone, they have to want to ride and that cannot be forced.

Ireland’s primary equine learning facility, Bray’s Festina Lente, had a large role to play in organising the Congress. The Princess Royal thanked everyone from Festina Lente, all of the volunteers and everyone else for organising and attending the HETI Congress.

The Princess Royal stayed for the majority of the day, listening to a number of presentations, including two very moving presentations from Adam Farrelly and Rachel Doak on their personal experiences of therapeutic riding.