Equestrian factsheet
Equestrian is the 6th most popular activity for women
March 2011
The number of
women who take
part at least once
a week
% of women who take
part at least once a
week
0.3 Mil
1 in 2 female
horse-riders
receive tuition
1.41
%
71% of female horseriders are satisfied with
their experience
There are 8 women
for every 1 man
taking part
90,000
women would like to
do more
98% of female
horse-riders
are White
All data are taken from the Active People Survey 4 (2009-10) and are based on those English adults (16 and over) who said they had taken part in the sport at least once in the last week (moderate
intensity) unless stated otherwise. 'Equestrian activities’ includes horse riding, dressage, pony trekking, show jumping, three day eventing, trotting and polocrosse. The term ‘horse riders’ includes all
equestrian activities mentioned above. The participation numbers in this factsheet may vary slightly from figures published by Sport England who reconcile demographic breakdowns to the overall adult
population (16 years and over) of England. There may also be slight differences due to rounding.
Women who take part in equestrian
Trends in women’s equestrian participation
Women’s participation in the top ten
sports/activities
8.30%
Gym (2)
Athletics (3)
3.45%
Dance exer., keep fit &
aerobics (4)
3.42%
Cycling (5)
Equestrian (6)
Taken part at least once a week
9.17%
Swimming (1)
304,000
women take
part in
equestrian
every week
2.31%
1.41%
Badminton (7)
0.93%
Tennis (8)
0.84%
Football (9)
0.70%
Netball (10)
0.65%
APS2 (2007-08)
1.40%
APS3 (2008-09)
1.39%
APS4 (2009-10)
1.41%
Taken part at least once in the last four weeks
APS2 (2007-08)
1.71%
APS3 (2008-09)
1.70%
APS4 (2009-10)
1.72%
Base: All female respondents (APS2 – 113,056, APS3 – 114,051, APS4 –
113,055)
Base: All female respondents
Proportion of people who take part in
equestrian activities by gender
Women
Participation in equestrian
Men
1.72%
1.41%
Equestrian is the 6th most popular activity for
women and the top outdoor pursuits activity
•
Around 304,000 women took part in equestrian
activities at least once a week in 2009-10
•
It is one of just seven sports that has more female
than male participants – almost nine times as
many women as men take part in equestrian
activities at least once a week
•
Female participation rates have stayed reasonably
constant over the past three years
•
Equestrian loses around half its participants
between the ages of 16 and 22, with the largest
drop at age 18.
0.23%
0.17%
Taken part at least once a
week (moderate intensity)
•
Taken part at least once in
the last four weeks
Base: All respondents (women = 113,055, men = 76,091)
Focus on drop off: proportion of women who
take part in equestrian activities by age (once
in last four weeks)
4%
Proportion of women who take part in
equestrian activities by age
3.8%
16-19
2.2%
20-24
25-29
2%
Drop at 18 years
1.2%
1.5%
30-34
1.8%
35-44
1.3%
45-64
0%
16 19 23 30 33 38 42 45 48 51
Base: All respondents. Read data with caution as sample size are small for
some ages (21, 25-27, 29, 34, 36, 41 & 53 years).
Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation
65+*
Women
0.1%
Base: All female respondents. * Read data with caution due to small number of
respondents
Equestrian: March 2011
Profile of women who take part in equestrian
activities by ethnicity
2%
Profile of women who take part in equestrian
activities by limiting disability
11%
8%
18%
With
Limiting
Disability
BME*
White
98%
89%
92%
82%
Without
Limiting
Disability
Female
horseriders
All women
Female
horseriders
Base: All female respondents. *BME = Black and minority Ethnic. Read data
with caution due to small number of respondents
Proportion of women who take part in
equestrian activities by working status
1.2%
Unemployed
Economic.
inactive retired
Base: All female respondents. A limiting disability includes longstanding illness,
disability or infirmity.
•
Female horse-riders are predominately White
•
Only 8% of women with some form of limiting
disability take part in equestrian – this is much
lower than the general female population
•
Female students are most likely to take part in
equestrian, followed by employed women
•
46% of female horse-riders live in households with
high incomes
•
The proportion of female horse-riders is highest in
the South West. Not surprisingly that London –
with its lack of open spaces – has the lowest
participation rates – with four times fewer women
taking part.
1.8%
Employed
Women
0.4%
3.1%
Student
All women
Base: All female respondents.
Profile of people who take part in equestrian
activities by household income
28%
45%
32%
30%
40%
24%
Female horse
riders
South West
High
(£41,600+)
46%
Medium
(£20,800£41,599)
Low (under
£20,799)*
All women
36%
35%
35%
20%
Male horse
riders
29%
All men
Base: All respondents. * Read data with caution due to small number of male
respondents
Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation
Proportion of women who take part in
equestrian activities by Sport England region
2.2%
South East
1.9%
Yorkshire
1.7%
East Midlands
1.6%
East
1.5%
North East
1.2%
West Midlands
1.1%
North West
1.1%
London
0.5%
Base: All respondents
Equestrian: March 2011
Organised participation
Club membership
• Around one in ten women take part in equestrian
activities as part of a sports club
• Women make up around 90% of all club
members – only netball has a larger profile of
female members (97.2%).
Women who take part in equestrian activities
as a member of a sports club
All
10.2%
16-34
9.8%
35-54
10.2%
Employed
10.5%
Student
14.3%
Base: All female respondents who took part in equestrian activities at least once
in the last four weeks. See Note 1
Taken part in
organised
competition
• While a relatively small proportion of women
take part in horse riding as a member of a
sports club, a larger proportion takes part in
competition – with students being the most
likely to compete.
Women who take part in organised
competition?
All
28.9%
34.0%
16-34
35-54
55+
25.5%
20.9%
29.6%
Employed
Economically Inactive - retired
19.8%
35.7%
Students
Base: All female respondents who took part in equestrian activities at least once
in the last four weeks. See Note 2
Received tuition
or coaching
Women who receive tuition in equestrian
activities
49.0%
All
51.8%
16-34
5th
•
Female horse-riders are
most likely of all
sportswomen to receive tuition
•
As equestrian is a highly skilled activity, it is
understandable that lots of female riders receive
formal coaching. Almost half of all women receive
tuition or coaching, with students and young
women being most likely older riders – perhaps
who are already skilled having trained when
younger - are less likely to receive formal tuition.
48.2%
35-54
55+
40.1%
Employed
Economically inactive-ritired
Students
46.4%
35.5%
57.1%
Base: All female respondents who took part in equestrian activities at least once
in the last four weeks. See Note 3
Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation
Equestrian: March 2011
Latent demand for equestrian
Latent demand: what sports would women like to do more of?
8.35%
1.93%
1.39%
1.19%
1.00%
0.42%
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Base: All female respondents
0.39%
0.32%
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0.20%
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ise
Female
horse-riders
rank 5th out
of 42 sports
for overall
satisfaction
with their horse-riding
experience
• Demand for more equestrian is relatively high –
there are only five other sports that rank higher
• 90,000 women would like to do more than they
currently do.
Satisfaction with experience of equestrian
Satisfaction of female horse-riders compared with all women who do sport
Satisfaction of horse riders compared with average
for all women who do sport/activity
Release and diversion (70%)
62%
Exertion and
fitnesssatisfied
(66%)
Less
than all
sportswomen
3.0%
More
satisfied than all
sportswomen
-1.0%
Ease of participating (57%)
5.0%
People and staff (55%)
5.0%
85%
All women
68% 68% 63% 62%
57% 56% 53% 52%
44%
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Social (56%)
9.0%
Officials (51%)
Value for money (51%) -6.0%
at
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ra
14.0%
10.0%
Ov
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Ov
e
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ll
s
Coaching (49%)
at
4.0%
Facilities (50%)
Own performance (44%)
12.0%
71%
Female horse-riders
Source: Sport England’s Satisfaction with the quality of the sporting experience survey (2009).
Source:
Sport
England’s
Satisfaction
withsatisfaction
the qualityasof8-10
theon
sporting
experience
survey
Base:
Female
respondents
(16+)
who rated their
a 1 to 10
scale. Figures
in (2010). Base: Female respondents (16+). Percentage figure is for those who rated
brackets
are satisfaction
See Note
their satisfaction
as percentages
8-10 on a 1for
toall10sportswomen.
scale. See Note
4 4
Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation
Equestrian: March 2011
Notes
1 Club membership is based on those who have been a member of a sports club to participate in equestrian
activities in the past four weeks.
2 Organised competition is defined as ‘having taken part in any organised competition in equestrian activities in
the last 12 months’.
3 Received tuition is defined as ‘having received tuition from an instructor or coach to improve your
performance in equestrian activities in the last 12 months’.
4 Survey respondents were asked to rate their perceived satisfaction for 75 questions across ten themes.
To convert overall percentages to numbers use the following figures:
Survey
Male 16+
Female 16+
APS 2
20,170,100
21,266,200
APS 3
20,368,300
21,408,400
APS 4
20,548,100
21,557,300
Source: Office for National Statistics England Mid-year Population Estimates, 2007, 2008 and 2009
Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation
3rd Floor, Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, London WC1B 4SE Tel: 020 7273 1740 Email: [email protected] www.wsff.org.uk
Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No. 3075681. Registered charity No. 1060267
Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation
Equestrian: March 2011