Access, Taste, and the Formation of Sporting Identity:
Equestrian participation is strongly shaped by access, often gatekept by taste, class, and race. Entry into the sport often requires:
- access to land or stables
- significant financial resources
- family connections within the sport.
Image Making constructs ideas of taste → Taste shapes sporting identity → Sporting identity shapes who participates
Many interview participants that are current riders described their first encounters with horse riding through rural environments. Several riders mentioned growing up on farms or having access to fields. Others illustrated advantageous financial positions . Sporting identity in this case communicate that the sport belongs to a narrow identity group.
One interview participant, Amber, described playing a horse-riding app because riding lessons felt geographically and financially inaccessible while living in an urban environment.
Environment , marketing, and situational factors plays an important role in shaping this process: The identities offered within the sporting environments determine who imagines themselves within the sport.
This introduces ideas around the potential digital environments in allowing young people to participate in a sporting identity before physical participation becomes possible.