The Palace of Versailles, the historic home of French kings and their majestic hunting mounts, will soon host the world’s top equine competitors. While Olympic horses aren’t vying for gold themselves, they can still be content in their riding partnerships and with their work, agreed board members of the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), which oversees international level equestrian events. The FEI is making efforts to ensure the horses in these sports are happy, benefit from the horse-human bond, and maintain a good quality of life.

In fact, the theme of “a good life for horses” is a major focus in Versailles this year, said Ingmar de Vos, FEI president during his opening address at the 2024 FEI Sports Forum, held April 29-30 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

A Focus on Equine Well-Being in International Equestrian Sport

Ensuring a good life starts with understanding that horses have positive and negative emotions, as well as specific physical and behavioral needs, said Göran Åkerström, DVM, FEI veterinary director. “This is about acknowledging and respecting the natural needs of horses within the context of international equestrian sport,” he said.

The momentum for this effort began after the 2020 Olympics, held in 2021 in Tokyo, due to public emphasis on horse welfare and the future of the sport. In response, FEI board members and equitation science experts formed the Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission (EEWC) in May 2022.

The EEWC unveiled their initial findings and recommendations at the FEI 2023 Sports Forum, in Lausanne, and gave its final report at the November 2023 FEI General Assembly, in Mexico City. Based on that report the FEI board drew up an action plan, which it unanimously approved. It also established a $1.12 million equine welfare fund to ensure the immediate launch of the plan as soon as delegates vote to adopt it during the FEI’s 2024 General Assembly, to be held in Muscat, Oman, in November.

Guardianship Over Partnership

While this plan won’t come to light in time for the equestrian events at this year’s Olympic Games, which begin July 26, the FEI nonetheless emphasizes good equine welfare and promotes a sense of duty among national federations and stakeholders, said Sabrina Ibáñez, FEI secretary general.

“The FEI, as well as all the participants here (at the FEI 2024 Sports Forum)—whether in person or online—share a collective understanding and a commitment to ensuring that everyone involved in sport horses recognizes and upholds their responsibility for horse welfare,” said Ibáñez.

Åkerström encouraged participants to shift from seeing themselves as their horses’ partners to considering themselves in the more responsible role as their guardians.

Mikael Rentsch, FEI legal director, reminded delegates of the recently approved FEI Equestrian Charter, a contract designed to engage equine industry participants in prioritizing horse welfare and committing to ongoing education about equine behavior and welfare.

Encouraging Accountability in Equine Welfare

The FEI’s welfare action plan merits congratulations, said Natalie Waran, PhD, professor of One Welfare and executive dean at the Eastern Institute of Technology (Te Pūkenga) in New Zealand, who headed the EEWC as an external consultant.

Even so, she urges the FEI to seek external scrutiny while implementing the plan and to justify any decisions not to adopt the EEWC’s recommendations. “Safeguarding the future of equestrian sports through addressing the recommendations related to key focus areas identified through the commission’s work will support achievement of the highest standards of equine welfare in equestrian sport globally,” Waran said.

During the Olympics and beyond, that’s the very goal of the FEI, said Ibáñez at the Forum. “We need to ensure that we, the FEI, be a leader. That we be trusted. That we be transparent. That we be proactive. And that we be accountable.”