| TRAINING |
“IT’S A STRUGGLE...” THE MENTAL WELLBEING OF TRAINERS & HOW TO SUPPORT THEM Training racehorses is a stressful occupation. There’s nothing wrong with that – until there is. In today’s world, mental health is front of stage in conversations about occupational health.
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hough horse racing might often appear to lag behind more progressive parts of society, attention is increasingly being focused on its participants’ capacity to withstand the stresses of a busy, challenging life where performance is in the public eye. In Britain and Ireland, jockeys have been the first sector to benefit from support structures instigated by their trade associations and governing bodies. They have been encouraged to speak publicly about the causes of depression, anxiety and substance dependence, and in this way have begun to erode the stigma that stifles potentially healing conversations. A pathway has been opened for trainers to follow. Three racing nations have spearheaded the research on trainers’ mental health. The first studies were conducted in Australia in 2008 by Speed and Anderson on behalf of Racing Victoria. It’s findings that “two-thirds of trainers never or rarely had one day off per week”, and “Trainers also face increased
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pressure from owners (e.g. pressure to win competitive races), shoulder the burden of responsibility for keeping horses healthy and sound, as well as financial difficulties” will strike a chord with trainers across all racing jurisdictions and sets the precedent for other research. In July 2018, again in Australia, research on “Sleep and psychological wellbeing of racehorse industry workers” surveyed Australian trainers and found “Trainers reported significantly higher depression and anxiety scores compared with other racing industry workers, racehorse owners, and the general population. They had less sleeping hours and higher daytime dysfunction due to fatigue.” Simone Seer’s University of Liverpool MBA dissertation of September 2018 “Occupational Stressors for Racehorse Trainers in Great Britain and their Impact on Health and Wellbeing” (supported by Racing Welfare) used qualitative research via unstructured interviews from which themes were analysed to identify patterns and differences between trainers’ experiences.