An essential feature in equestrian sport is diversity. Many people are coming forward and speaking about the challenges faced by them and how they overcame it. For instance,  18-year-old Jordan Allen, the only African-American to compete for the Gamecocks on their equestrian team. She showed nothing is impossible. Allen managed to pay for the costly lessons and shows while working outside of school. All this made her the role model for  people of all backgrounds and colours.
There are many organisations working towards promoting diversity. One of the most popular among them is the City Ranch Inc., founded in 2007 and dedicated to providing accessible and affordable horseback riding to the greater Baltimore community and surrounding counties. Another organisation is The Crew Urban Youth Equestrians, founded to provide opportunity to the urban youth of colour, aged 7-17, in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. Their motto is that it is the right of every child who has an interest in horses to experience them and not be stopped by any obstacles. Their different programmes aim at developing emotional self awareness and regulation in young people, opening up new possibilities, give them a sense of community, and empowering them to become all they were born to be.
Katie Ebbage Equestrians offers horse-centred education focused on enhancing the well being and performance of equestrian athletes from all disciplines, with a focus on the next generation of equestrians. Their aim is to remove barriers to entry for everyone to have access to horses. They piloted summer horse camps in partnership with the Willamette Racism Response Network in 2021 which aimed at providing an accessible and inclusive introduction to horsemanship for local young people.
A funding organisation has also been set up to promote diversity, called the USEF Opportunity Fund, dedicated to supporting grassroots organisations with a mission to increase among the under-represented and/or underserved communities’ access to horses, horse sports and equine-based learning opportunities.
With more organisations being set up every year to advocate and promote diversity, heterogeneity in equestrian sport is poised to increase.
