Laura Tomlinson: ‘Online abuse tears the whole sport down’

Olympian Laura Tomlinson shares her views on why we need to be more compassionate online

I am delighted to say, following a brilliantly organised regional championships at Wellington, that we have three home-bred horses qualified for the winter dressage championships. Sarah Rogers and I will be contesting the prix st georges with Forest Hill and Full Moon II respectively and Sarah will also be riding Viva Lotta in the inter I. We are excited to see what the venue change brings, having been spoilt with Hartpury for many years. But I am sure that Addington will make for a cracking championships too.

I am excited for the 2024 season, but I must admit that it’s not without trepidation that I venture to some of these higher-level shows with spectators. There has been so much acrimony on social media and I feel for any rider who has been caught up in the mud-slinging.

Sadly, with the recent abuse cases that surfaced abroad, all competitive equestrians have now been tarred with the same brush.

The line between abuse and riding a horse in the wrong frame seems to have merged. Can any rider say that they have never had a horse get tight in the neck and behind the vertical in certain situations? Yet this seems to be the new standard for whether a rider is abusive or not.

Change is needed

Riders are judged on still shots or a minute of training, sometimes while clearly dealing with an issue, and brutally slandered online. It’s heartbreaking to see the online equestrian world tear the sport down with self-righteous comments. However, I can say, hand on heart, that the majority of riders at the elite level that I have seen in all my years – whether they ride with a different style to me, or with a more a commercial focus – all love and respect their horses.

If you ask 10 coaches how to warm up, rug, feed or do anything else to the same horse, you’ll get 10 different answers.

If we don’t learn to be more respectful towards one another and more understanding of each other’s problems, we will eliminate our sport. Horse abuse should not be tolerated in any way, while most elite horses work for only 40 minutes a day and are so loved.

I hope that both elite and amateur riders can continue to compete and work on and through their problems at shows to progress – whatever their level – without being shamed for a small moment that is often not at all representative of that combination as a whole.

Reward correct training

Meanwhile, it’s imperative that judges must go back to rewarding correctness according to the scales of training – even if this messes up the expected line-up. If a horse is going correctly and is expressive, then it is worth the really big marks. If a rider achieves the spectacular but has lost the correctness and the judges mark accordingly, then maybe the online masses will feel less need to abuse. Maybe also that rider can then continue to work on their issues until improvement is seen, without being called an abuser.

That follows on to the issues with horses that I am working with. Tension in competition environments that I thought I’d sorted at home continues to plague me with some horses. But I’ve found that groundwork has helped me understand my horses’ issues better. Those that I have acquired rather than bred often bring baggage that is harder to understand as I am not aware of the origins of the issues. The groundwork helps release tension and helps the horse understand how to cope with external pressures. The tricky step is translating in-hand progress to work under saddle and then, competition environments.

That’s my current project, to unlock the potential in some horses who can be superstars but need to process their tension better, which I am sure many an online expert would have plenty to say about.

● Do you feel trepidation ahead of competing in public? Write to us at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and country, for the chance for your letter to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine

• This exclusive column will also be available to read in Horse & Hound magazine, on sale Thursday 14 March

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