Profiles of British Equestrian Olympians: Evaluating historical, socio-cultural and sporting influences and how they could inform equestrianism in the future

Horse riding is a unique context for a human-animal study. It is both a leisure activity and the only Olympic sport where athletes compete against one another without having to declare their sex. Horse riding relies on rider and horse establishing a partnership based on communication and trust. Rider and horse both utilise their own generalised rider-horse relationships, based on their previous experiences of rider-horse interactions, to navigate new situations and enable communication. To improve wellbeing, establishing evidence-based principles to support rider and horse in establishing and maintaining functional generalised rider-horse relationships, and enable individualised rider-horse relationships to form, is vital for the future. Twenty-first century UK equestrian Olympians, coaches and decision-makers were profiled utilising five publications, to inform sample selection and study design in future research. The complex interaction of historical, socio-cultural and sporting influences on these people and how they may affect future generations as role-models are explored. Contrary to historical stereotypes, UK equestrian Olympians display many features indicating that equestrian sport is unusually inclusive, including a similar proportion of men and women riders over a wide range of ages and physicality who typically do not own the horses they partner. UK riders are supported by coaches and decision-makers, whose profiles suggest that sex-integration has moved beyond ‘tokenism’ towards a true sex-integrated sport. There is evidence of unequal progression through levels for UK men and women riders and coaches and separate sub-cultures for riding disciplines. Rider ethnicity, responses to commercialisation, and socio-economic background, require further research to inform actions to improve equality in the future. These findings can inform policy and research studies in the future to enable horse riding and equestrian sport to optimise the unique human-animal relationship at its heart to address government, sporting body and society’s strategic priorities