A woman’s work

It has been said by stable staff in the industry that women are far more caring and nurturing and therefore they make better stable hands.

“Women have these natural instincts to nurture and care, they seem to give their horses more attention and horses respond very well to this,” said Amy Dickins, stable hand for Clive Cox.

Some within the industry believe women make better stable hands because they reveal their feelings towards their horses more, as stable hand for trainer Barry Hills, Darren Smith said, “The girls in our yard especially, they love their horses, they treat them very good and seem to build relationships within them.

“It doesn’t mean us men do not care for our horses, there are some men who are very good at their job, however women seem better at this work,” he added.

Racehorse owner, Brian Savage said, “I like having girls to look after my horses because they really do a good job and spoil them.”

I have witnessed this myself. From visiting various racing yards you can always tell which horses are looked after by women. The horse’s beds are always neater, they are always cleaner and the horses are well groomed.

In the stable hand sector of the racing industry women are out doing the men in terms of numbers. National statistics state that in 2007 females accounted for 1,683 of the stable workforce and males were behind on 1,625.

These statistics reveal women’s success in this area of the industry, opposed to race riding, and many women reported that they were more than happy to stay as stable hands and not develop further in the industry to ride as jockeys.

Amy suggests that because female stable hands find their job extremely fulfilling, this is one reason why many do not want to progress further in the industry. “There are not a lot of career opportunities for someone that does not want to ride as a jockey but we do the job purely for the love of it and for the love of horses,” she expressed.

This wish to not climb the career ranks from a stable hand may seem surprising for some. Darren said: “It’s not exactly a nice lifestyle, the hours are long, the pay wouldn’t be that great, and there’s not much for girls that don’t make it further in racing. They can be stable hands and that but it’s not really a nice life.”

Most racing yards have mixture of both male and female employees, however Champion trainer Paul Nicholls has nearly an entire staff workforce made up of females, which I believe could be holding the key to his success.

They can be as good!

They can be as good!

If 100 years ago you were in a pub and you told a group of men that someone by the name of Ellen MacArthur would break the record for single-handed circumnavigation of the world. Or that someone called Paula Radcliffe would have ran the marathon in record speed. I expect they would have spluttered into their double brandies.
The sportswoman is still quite a few years behind the sportsman because of history and traditions. Women were not encouraged to spend hours playing football, rugby or golf. Sport for a woman was deemed unladylike. There were medical and aesthetic reasons all proposed against their participation.
So when women eventually tried to break into sports that were considered more dangerous such as motor racing, skiing and horseracing it is unsurprising that their arrival was not welcomed.
However if a woman is capable of childbirth which is extremely painful and dangerous then surely she can make a decision about whether or not she wants to risk a fall or a crash in sport?
In three-day-eventing the situation seems far more advanced with women actually leading the field. Maybe its because women don’t have to rely on the chauvinistic men stuck still in the dark ages to give them the opportunities to ride decent horses.
Eventing can be seen to be just as dangerous, tough and exhausting yet women have been accepted in this sport. Pippa Funnell and Zara Phillips are but a few who have succeeded at the highest level. So when will horseracing finally give women the chances and opportunities they deserve, so a name like Lisa or Sophie can be up their with the greats?

Where are the women??

I know there is the obvious arguments that women face against them being good jockeys, the ones rooted in their strength and physical capabilities. However I don’t agree that it is just strength that is needed in race riding, there are so many other elements that make up a person’s riding ability. You need technical ability, you need a good style, a good position in the saddle, you need to be a good horseman/woman to connect with your mount and so on. Women if they cannot be on par with the male jockeys on strength, they can be on par with them in regards to all these other elements. So why do we still see just a handle of successful female jockeys? I think it is largely due to the traditions and history which are deeply embedded in the sport. A lot of people inside the horseracing industry are old fashioned. Many trainers and owners, the decision makers in the whole booking of jockeys process, are pushing 50 years plus. They say a leopard doesn’t change its spots which I think is very apt here. If you allways had a negative view of female jockeys maybe from history, it is sometimes very hard to completely change that view. One jockey who I believe can change the old fashioned stereotypes of female riders is champion female jockey Hayley Turner. Hayley looks like a man when she’s riding and has proven that she is as good as any male jockey by the amount of winners that she has had. So is she just a complete exception to the rule? A one off phenomenon? Or are there more Hayley Turners out there but we cannot see them because of the barriers and prejudice they may face? Barriers which may either be rooted in the history and tradition of the sport or in the scientific arguments. These barriers which may prevent or deter female jockeys from reaching the top of the sport and being successful.