A racecourse vet has called for racing to radically change the way it deals with critics in light of the animal rights invasion of Aintree last April, which caused a 15-minute delay at the start of the Grand National.
Gemma Pearson, an expert in equine behavioral medicine who works at the Horse Trust, based at the Royal Edinburgh Veterinary School and a race day vet at Musselburgh – recently published an article with three fellow scientists on the stories surrounding the welfare of racehorses took place in the immediate aftermath of the 2023 race.
With the Becher Chase being run on a modified national course, Pearson’s paper warned Saturday that racing could go like circus animals or killer whales if it doesn’t get its head out of the sand while the attitude around it changes.
“I was watching the Grand National,” recalls 39-year-old Pearson, who can see both sides of the argument. “The protesters came and then the commentary – I just had my head in my hands.
“They believe they are doing the best in racing, but they can’t see that they are actually digging a hole for it by saying things like ‘you don’t realize how much these horses are loved back home’, or by belittling the protesters without addressing them. the reason they are there.”
As this relates to changing public attitudes, she came into contact with Tamzin Furtado, a specialist in human behavior change, Janet Douglas, the ‘queen’ of social license, and Inga Wolframm, who researches sustainable equestrian sports.
“We debated whether to publish something because it’s a hot potato,” she says. ‘I don’t want to upset people and it would be very tempting not to, but someone has to say it. We are blunt at some points. We focused on that commentary, the radio conversations and a few things online. It’s not all wrong, but parts of it are.”
Social license is not something that only exists around horses or was recently coined. It started decades ago in the mining industry. “A lot of research has been done on how to lose social license and how to keep it,” she points out.
“McDonald’s has done very well. Animal rights activists said McDonald’s didn’t care about the welfare of the beef going into their burgers, so they hired independent welfare scientists, looked at slaughterhouse regimes and processing facilities, audited it and put the results online so there was transparency.
“Instead of saying ‘no, we’re happy with the way our cattle are slaughtered’, they said ‘OK, we’ll bring in an independent expert to improve things’
“Racing must engage with its critics and not dismiss or belittle them. Listen to what they say. Not just the moderate critics, but even the more extreme ones. Listen to the things they are public about, think about them. When you live in the bubble of an industry, everything is so normal to you that you don’t think about it.
“And we also know from the science of human behavior change that if someone criticizes you, that is part of your personal identity, so you feel threatened. It’s not easy, but you have to ask yourself if there is any value in what they are saying.
‘Horses don’t want to live like kings, they want to live like horses’
Citing the difference between zoos and circuses, Pearson believes racing has some decisions to make. “Circuses can’t use animals now, but zoos can. In zoos, the changes in welfare have been incredible. They invested in independent welfare scientists, had them measure this and it is not necessarily that you are doing something wrong, but that it can be done better. Zoos have invested time and money in measuring welfare and striving for improvement.
“Circuses said ‘we are the experts, we know what we are doing’ and the public lost confidence in them. Social license is all about trust. If the public trusts you, they will continue to allow you to self-regulate.
“But if they don’t, they will lobby the government for legislation. Trust is key. You often hear: ‘If we give even an inch, they will too’. If you are proactive and willing to make changes, the public will no longer be interested in Animal Rising. Being brave is often the way forward.
“When people say ‘we’re concerned about horses getting hurt’ that’s a very valid concern, but tell them we have the Jump Racing Risk Model online, we’ve invested in it. The mortality rate used to be 0.3, now it is 0.2. Use the numbers. The reduction of a third in twenty years is a huge difference, but we will continue to reduce it. You’ll never get to zero, but people will trust that you care. You have to walk the walk. You can’t say you’ll do things and then not do them.
“Don’t say ‘horses live like kings.’ Horses don’t want to live like kings, they want to live like horses! We know that they like to be in the pasture with other horses. That’s why we defended Lucinda Russell in the newspaper. After Corach won Rambler, he went to Kelso. She was asked to take him somewhere else, but she said, “No, he’s in a field with other horses.”
“We have a lot of problems with groynes or wind sucking in yards. These are coping mechanisms for stress. We need to recognize that we can improve here. You’re probably making yourself sound a little weird when you say that racehorses have the best lives of all horses, because that’s probably not the case. But we know that if you want to change things, you have to give people a push in the right direction. The zoos were moving quietly in the right direction. If you were to say that all horses had to be in the pasture or in a barn 24/7, that wouldn’t happen.
“I am passionate about racing. If we do what zoos did, think carefully and tackle problems transparently, racing will survive. If we do what the circuses did and say we know better, ignore the critics and say it’s them who need education, then it won’t happen. If racing stakeholders think a little more about the principles of social licensing in what they say and if they are courageous and willing to make changes, racing has a very bright future.”