Social Licence to Operate and the Equine Ethics & Wellbeing Commission

A bit of background… 

In 2022, the FEI instigated the creation of the Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission (EEWB) to independently consider issues of public and equestrian community concern that may affect ongoing social acceptance of the involvement of horses in sport.  

The 10-person Commission was chaired by Professor Dr Natalie Waran (NZL), an internationally respected equine behaviour and welfare expert who is Professor of One Welfare and Executive Dean at the Eastern Institute of Technology (Te Pūkenga) in New Zealand. Five members of the Commission were external to the FEI, and five were FEI nominated representatives. 

In 2022, the Commission collected data by the means of two surveys, and came up with six priority areas of focus to be implemented by the FEI.

This brings us to 2023 and to the Wheel of Change…

The Wheel of Change is based on six Enablers (6Es) to inform and monitor changes required to address equine welfare priority areas for use by different equestrian stakeholder groups. Within each Enabler there are six sliding bars, one for each of the six priority focus areas.  

For each stakeholder group these sliding bars indicate the current situation (the white dot) in relation to progress being made to inform and implement change. The length of the bar/line in each section illustrates the extent of the activity/projects taking place, and the level of progress made is illustrated by the position of the white dot on the bar as it moves towards the centre of the wheel). 

At the FEI General Assembly 2023 in Mexico City (MEX), the EEWB issued its Final Report, which outlined the objectives of the Commission, provided valuable research and included data from the Pulse Survey, which was created to consider any changes or similarities in perceptions between 2022 and 2023.  

One of the key messages that came out of this Report was that every person involved in equestrian sport needs to prioritise and optimise Horse Welfare and that everyone is responsible for the future of our sport. 

Horse welfare is a collective responsibility 

Find out more about the EEWB and its work here.