Equine Cultures in Transition Conference presentation by Julie Fiedler, Central Queensland University. Supported by Horse SA

1. Sports horse welfare
and social licence to
operate
Informing communication strategies
Julie Fiedler
Assoc. Professor Kate Ames,
Assoc. Professor Matthew Thomas
Equestrian cultures in transition
Leeds Beckett University, UK
19-21 June, 2018
Sport horse welfare & social licence to operate: Equestrian Cultures in
Transition 2018
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SouthAfricanWarMemorialSculptorCaptainAdrianJonesImageJFiedler

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The emerging issue
Sports are increasingly becoming globalized
and commercialized, including sports where
humans partner with horses as part of the
business model.
Internet access provides cost effective 24/7
access to media platforms which allow more
people than ever to witness human-horse
interactions in real or delayed time and with it,
comes increased scrutiny.
The phenomenon exposes sports to a new,
potentially naive audience, who may not be
familiar with equine cultural traditions and
practices.
3de photo
AustralianInternational3DE.PhotoJFiedler

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The emerging issue
• As consciousness about horse welfare is raised in wider society,
the public starts to question human motives, money, cultural
relevance and transparency of sport business practices.
• The public may question the role of the horse on a ‘field of play’
constructed by humans, particularly if welfare is perceived to be
at risk.
• In extreme cases, public trust becomes eroded to such a level
that the sport is at risk of third parties or the public determining
its ongoing viability.
Simpsonandhisdonkey.SculptorRobertHannaford.ImageJFiedler

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The emerging issue
Social licence to operate: The public (social) acceptance
(licence) of the organisation to undertake its activity (operate).
The public question if the sport should even be happening in
today’s society (legitimacy), if it has enough public support, or
‘licence’, for the continued operation (consent), and if the sport
is to continue, will the organisation really meet the welfare
requirements of horses?(trust).
Legitimacy, consent and trust are the pre-requisites of an
effective ‘social licence to operate’(Morrison, 2014).
Social licence to operate (SLO) is a complex, contested, multi-
layered dialogue operating along a continuum, and at multiple
levels, with many valid smaller SLOs at given points.
KingEdwardVII.SculptorSirEdgarBertramMackennal.ImageJFiedler

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Failure by organisations to participate, or acting too slowly, in an SLO public-
sport discourse can lead to alienation and disparity amongst sporting
participants, fans and advocates.
Therefore horse sport organisations may look to engage in the discourse, in
order to safeguard cultural, sport & business practices amongst diverse
stakeholders and a naive audience.
By participating, the organisation is investing into long-term cost savings and
reducing risk to ongoing operations.
However, social licence to operate is the responsibility for all who care for
horses, not just the overarching administration structure.
The emerging issue
AustraliaDayParade,CityofAdelaide.ImageJFiedler

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Sport horse welfare
and social licence
to operate
The research is investigating:
1. What are the attitudes of horse
organisation members, about
horse welfare?
2. How can the attitudes inform
design of a social licence to
operate communication
framework?
A mixed-method research project
a) literature review
b) survey c) semi-structured
interviews (to be completed).
BarossaLightHorseHistoricalSocietyridepasttheSouthAfricanWarMemorial,outsideParliamentHouse,Adelaide.ImageJFiedler.

7. Retired
racehorses stay in
system or exit,
including for FEI
sport.
Sport horse welfare & social licence to operate: Equestrian Cultures in
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International horse sport structures
What is known?
Federation Equestre International (FEI)
OLYMPICS
133 National Federations
Does not oversee major international sports
of racing or polo
No global horse racing rule book
Regional authorities and rulebooks e.g. British Horse Racing
Authority. International agreements aim for consistency in
many areas e.g. biosecurity
‘Closed loop’ system occurs in countries
e.g. Australia. Racing and breeding are
under the same peak body Racing
Australia (Thoroughbred) or Australian
Harness Racing (Standardbred).
Consistent application of rules, policies,
identification in horse breed-race cycle.
Horses of any suited breed partner
with humans in sport.
Horse breeders not necessarily
sport members.
Horses socially constructed as ‘non-human athletes’:
Consequences for anti-doping and other sports
regulatory matters
Rulebooks(‘TheSport’)Sporthorses
Images:JFiedler

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The evolving position of animal welfare (inc. horses)
TwoyoungridersontheCityofAdelaideRidingTrail.ImageJFiedler.
What is known?
First proposed by Prof. Roger Brambell in 1964
A minimum standards approach.
1. Freedom from hunger and thirst
2. Freedom from discomfort
3. Freedom from pain, injury or disease
4. Freedom to express normal behaviour
5. Freedom from fear and distress
In 2016, Professor David Mellor proposed a new model
for animal welfare “The Five Domains” so that those
caring for an animal had aspirational goals, the result
being an animal in a positive ‘affected’ state.
Physical/Functional Domains
Survival related – Nutrition, Environment, Health
Situation related- Behaviour
Affective Experience Domain
Mental state
= Welfare status
Mellor, D. J. (2012). Animal emotions, behaviour and the promotion of
positive welfare states. Animal emotions, behaviour and the promotion of positive welfare states, 60(1), 1-8.

9. Social licence itself is evolving.
What is known?
Conceptualising the role of dialogue in social licence to operate
Mercer-Mapstone, Lucy, Rifkin, Will, Moffat, Kieren and Louis, Winnifred (2017) Conceptualising the role of
dialogue in social licence to operate. Resources Policy, 54 137-146. doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2017.09.007
Social licence started off as one of risk
management- with stakeholders seen as a risk that
needed to be managed.
Engagement was transactional based and took a
defensive style approach.
Social licence discourse is now moving towards a
collaborative, meaningful dialogue process with
stakeholders, in order to build a longer-term
relationships.
That is, “to ‘do with’ rather than ‘do to’
stakeholders”. (excerpt pg. 139)
‘Clydesdale’sculptorJoelZimmermann.ImageJFiedler
Sport horse welfare & social licence to operate: Equestrian Cultures in
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10. What is known?
The impact of disruptive technologies……..
Trust is now devolved. Once held
mainly by institutions, trust is now
transferred through the leveller of
the Internet and held by everyday
citizens.
Anyone online can crowdsource
information to ascertain legitimacy
before selecting to use, or give
consent, to a service, product or
cause.
The role of a horse as a servant,
comrade-in-arms or a worker is
still present – however….
Society is starting to ‘re-imagine’
the horse as a non-human
sporting athlete, recognising
sentience.
Horses socially constructed as ‘non-human athletes’: Consequences
for anti-doping and other sports regulatory matters Equestrian
Cultures in Global and Local Contexts Miriam Adelman, Kirrilly
Thompson
Animal welfare science, law etc.
is rapidly evolving e.g. ‘5
Freedoms > 5 Domains’
Mellor, D. J. (2012). Animal emotions, behaviour and the promotion of
positive welfare states. Animal emotions, behaviour and the promotion of
positive welfare states, 60(1), 1-8.
“The horse is the chief
stakeholder in the social
licence to operate”
Dr Roly Owers, CEO of World Horse Welfare in a
presentation ‘Equestrian sport and the concept of a social
license’ at the 2017 Federation Equestre International (FEI)
General Assembly.
‘Tom Roberts Go forward, dear’ back cover.
A McLean, N Stuart.
BarossaLightHorseHistorical
SocietyImageJulieFiedler
MorphettvilleRacecourseImageJFiedler
Sport horse welfare & social licence to operate: Equestrian Cultures in
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Institutional – hierarchical– structured - ‘closed’ integrating with Ad hoc- flat- unstructured – ‘open’
DIALOGUE
Internal
Stakeholders
Voices for the horse
External
Stakeholders
What is known?
Multidirectional
simultaneous
conversationsConstitution
Minutes of meetings
Polices & procedures
AGM
Voting
Audited finances
Member registration
Horse registration
Insurance
Legal frameworks
The impact of disruptive technologies……..
#hashtags join up strangers with common interests
An electronic
meeting place or
‘town square’
Institutional, elected & staff leaders - Social leadership
Real time listening co-
create new knowledge,
sharing

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This research project is investigating
horse sport participant attitudes
towards horse welfare. The findings will
help a horse sport organisation to
prepare communication framework to
participate in an SLO discourse.
Internal dialogue on contentious issues
is one way an organisation can bring
horse welfare into everyday business
practices.
Dialogue has three starting point
requirements 1) Equality 2) Empathy
3) Addressing assumptions
acknowledged by the group, and
introducing missing ones in a non-
judgmental manner^
^ The magic of dialogue. Daniel Yankelovich 1999 pg.46
SouthAustralianMountedPoliceinfrontofthefirststableyard,NorthTerrace.ImageJFiedler
Growing our knowledge

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Growing our knowledge
A Likert survey was selected as the
instrument to seek anonymous
information from participants
about their attitudes towards:-
• Members working with their
organisation
• The organisation working with
members
• Government regulations and
horse welfare
• Horse breeders
• Horse sport and science
Plus demographic and two general
questions
• Horse welfare means……
• Social licence to operate
means…
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Growing our knowledge
Each stakeholder question cluster was similar (sample):
1. I listen to and acknowledge horse welfare initiatives…
2. Overall, (stakeholder group) has similar views to my
own.
3. (Stakeholder group) leads horse welfare initiatives.
4. There are opportunities to work with (stakeholder
group) to develop knowledge about horse welfare.
5. (Stakeholder group) contributes to new knowledge about
horse welfare.
6. (Stakeholder group) makes information publicly available
to support understanding of how we deliver horse welfare
outcomes for our sport.
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The 37 question survey (n=107) was
completed by both female (n=64) and
male (n=19) participants.
The average age was 51.8 (S.D.=9.8) years.
There was an average of 18.8 (S.D.= 11.2)
years of involvement with horses.
While 22.2% (n=18) identified as gaining
income from the horse industry, 77.7%
(n=63) identified as being amateur.
PolointheCity.ImageJFiedler
Growing our knowledge

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To address the research question about sport participants’
attitude to horse welfare, we take a look at responses to open
question no.31 ‘Horse welfare means….’ (completed by 72.8%
of all survey respondents).
The ‘five freedoms’ were directly referred to twice, while no
respondent directly referred to the ‘five domains’ model.
Answers were then grouped: 87 % most closely aligned with the
‘Five Freedoms’ (i.e. meet minimum standards/basic care or
inconclusive descriptor), while the remaining 13% most closely
aligned with the ‘Five Domains’ (aspirational).
(1 answer contained text unrelated to the question)
Let’s talk about it

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To address the research question relating to informing a
communication framework seeking to address a social licence to
operate discourse, we take a look at responses to open question
no.32 ‘Social licence to operate means….’ (completed by 70 % of all
survey respondents).
41% of respondents indicated they had ‘no idea’, ‘unsure’, or a
similar a descriptive. In contrast 37% of respondents provided
answers aligning to a description of social licence discussed today.
Of the remaining responses, 12% aligned directly with a horse
welfare descriptor, while 5% referred to outside regulation & 1% to
the governing sport body.
Let’s talk about it

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DIALOGUE
Social licence
is?...
Horsewelfare
Is…?
Dialogue- internal stakeholders
Multidirectional
simultaneous
conversationsConstitution
Minutes of meetings
Polices & procedures
AGM
Voting
Audited finances
Member registration
Horse registration
Insurance
Legal frameworks
Use technology to integrate traditional & non-traditional leadership, coms etc
#hashtags join up strangers with common interests
An electronic
meeting place or
‘town square’
Real time listening co-
create new knowledge,
sharing
Voices for the horse

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The attitudes of horse sport participants to horse welfare will shape
an SLO communication framework.
The social licence vision is to maintain sustainability of the sport in
the eyes of the community (legitimacy).
One outcome is for the public to maintain trust in the sport’s ability
to manage risks to horse welfare.
Discussion
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Discussion
There are considerations…
Many sport organisations are small, and run mainly by
volunteers.
Public outrage facilitated by social media technologies can
quickly become overwhelming.
Yet, failing to strategically and systematically embed social
licence within day to day operations will have a negative
impact on the sport, resulting in financial loss and members
walking away.
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HorsesgrazingintheCityofAdelaideParklands(NantuWama).ImageJFiedler.
Discussion
Leaders and leadership to address an SLO will come from the
institutional and social sources, and from internal and external
stakeholders.
However, without participant understanding about what social
licence is and how it can be utilised to safeguard the future of
the sport - an organisational communication framework for an
SLO may not even start.
Entering an SLO public discourse is long term, dynamic and
features multiple opportunities for participation in dialogue and
the building new organisational knowledge.
It is a long-term ‘way of doing business’ as everyone who cares
for a horse contributes to the organisations social licence, not
just the overarching administration.

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Conclusion
The research is investigating:
1. What are the attitudes of horse organisation members about horse
welfare?
2. How can the attitudes inform design of a social licence to operate
communication framework?
An overview of social licence, the structure of horse sports, horse
welfare and the effect of disruptive technologies were discussed before
taking a look at initial survey results from two open questions.
Survey data indicated that horse sport organisations may need to
a) Build understanding of the benefits of SLO participation amongst
stakeholders
c) Create opportunities for dialogue, particularly where viewpoints are
unclear, assumed, polarised, or contested e.g. articulating a common
understanding of horse welfare.
As a result from sports entering an SLO public discourse, horses as the
central stakeholder will be the primary beneficiaries, while for
participants, the sport remains meaningful and relevant in
contemporary society.
AustralianInternational3DE.PhotoJFiedler

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Julie Fiedler
Student (Masters in Communication)
Central Queensland University
E julie.fiedler@cqumail.com
Assoc. Professor Kate Ames
Senior Lecturer Professional Communication
School of Education and the Arts
Central Queensland University, Australia
E k.ames@cqu.edu.au
Assoc. Professor Matthew Thomas
Human Factors
Central Queensland University, Australia
matthew.thomas@cqu.edu.au
With acknowledgement to Horse SA www.horsesa.asn.au
ResearchGate: Sport horse welfare and social licence to operate:
Informing communication strategies
https://www.researchgate.net/project/Sport-Horse-Welfare-and-
Social-Licence-to-Operate-Informing-Communication-Strategies
‘Clydesdale’sculptorJoelZimmermann.ImageJFiedler