'We must engage with our critics'

Anna Ross on the importance of listening to those who criticise our sport

- Polly Bryan

OPINION

I DON’T believe that animal lovers concerned about our sport should or will just leave us alone. So when I was fortunate enough to compete Habouche at the Compiègne CDI in France and learnt that a critic of modern dressage, who is active on social media, was in attendance, I decided to track her down.

Closed minds will close doors – if we don’t listen, people will only shout louder. So I approached tentatively, and opened the conversation.

“Hello, are you riding or er... supporting?” I asked.

“You won’t like me,” she replied, explaining that she was a vet, there to film the riders so she could raise concerns about horse welfare if she felt it justified. Interestingly, she viewed herself as a custodian of the sport, rather than a threat to it and we had a spirited but good-humoured debate.