The British study focuses on improving the mental health of Jockeys after an injury

Lexington, Ky. (May 1, 2025) – Jockeys are among the most passionate and fearless people in the horse racing industry, but like any sport, injuries can happen.

Most athlete populations have hardly any problems finding literature on how emotion management, coping strategies and moral support affect the athletes after an injury. When it comes to the horse's industries, research into the psychological effects of injuries on jockeys lack

Kelley Renner is a doctoral student at the University of Kentucky, who completed her master in sports and sports psychology at the College of Education. Through their interest in working with Jockeys and the Horse racing industry, Renner began to examine the effects of an injury to this group of athletes.

This spring she presented her master's thesis: “The psychological effects on training drivers and professional jockeys after an injury”.

“I always have an interest in experience after injury and a passion for the horse industry, so I decided to combine the two,” said Renner. “One of my basic values ​​is compassion, and if I can help people with something, even if it is only 1%, I would like to try. Not many Horse racing viewers know and outs behind the scenes of what is really going on. So I wanted to raise awareness of this group of athletes.”

The goal of your thesis is to unpack this area that is underrepresented in research, in particular the psychological effects with which jockeys are exposed to after an injury.

Renner carried out semi -structured interviews with jockeys to collect information about certain emotions that are associated with post -injuries and strategies that are confronted with an injury, what kind of support system you have and what you go through during the return to the driving process.

From her analysis she created a model that tears the athlete's journey in terms of the mental effect. In traditional athletes, after the injury, there is a timeline when the injury of the recreation period occurs, and it is released to return to sport. She used this timeline as a guide for her model.

“Based on the topics in the traditional timeline for athletes injuries, I have aligned the emotions that were particularly involved in every level of injury,” said Renner. “So for every phase of the timeline I examined the emotions that the jockeys felt. In the recovery phase, the emotions can look different for jockey, for example, compared to conventional athletes.”

Some of the most common injuries that are Jockey's face, muscle cracks or tribes, shoulder injuries and broken bones.

“We know that many of them will try to hide their injuries,” said Michaela Keener, Ph.D., Faculty of the Equestrian Athletes initiative at the British College of Health Sciences and the committee member for Renner Thesis. “There is a lot of pressure for you to return to drive, even if you don't feel 100%. Runs are your livelihood, to support yourself and often.

In general, the horse racing business can be very strict and demanding. It is a competitive industry that can cause a lot of stress and fear among drivers that they can be replaced at any time.

“I am very crazy, crazy because they don't care. They replace them very soon. They have an accident and the next day will be another person over there. Nobody called. Nobody asks how they feel,” said one of the jockeys who took part in the interview.

Renner's analysis explains that many of these athletes come from outside the United States. Most of the time you have no support system nearby nearby that you can rely on. The jockeys told her that they had to fight something.

The athletes have a lot of powerful emotions, but with the lack of support, they feel that they don't talk to anyone about it.

During her interviews, Renner asked the Jockeys how they were finished after an injury, and unfortunately thoughts of suicide were mentioned.

“I had a participant admitted to try suicide, so it is important that people grasp the severity of the situation here,” said Renner. “That's why we have to research, stand up for the jockeys and provide resources.”

Although suicide is very extreme, it happens in the world of horse more than people would think.

“Sometimes people who go to Keeland and run the pretty racing horses just don't know what happens behind the scenes,” said Ashley Samson, Ph.D., Professor at the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion at College of Education and Chair for Renners Thesis. “We don't try to paint a terrible picture, but it's not always pretty, and that's the reality.”

Renner clearly found that this group was not necessarily afraid of rejuvenation, but mentioned that they were afraid that they could develop a concern about riding or racing.

“It's the fear of fear,” said Renner. “If you are afraid, you cannot talk about it, you have the feeling that you have to hide it. People are always told that if they are afraid of climbing the horse, you shouldn't get on this horse. But these athletes have a lot of pressure, so you have the feeling that you have it regardless of whether you have this gut feeling.”

You have the feeling that you have no choice and have to come to the horse to make a living. In their interviews, the Jockeys explained that they have no one to speak to when they feel these emotions.

The culture of the horse race has a stigma in expressing feelings of mental health. There is an unspoken rule that you don't talk about it, press them down and stand on the horse again.

Renner hopes that she can help her research break the stigma and ensure that jockeys and other members of the industry have all the resources they need when it comes to taking care of their mental health.

“It's a very difficult sport,” said another jockey who took part in the interview. “This sport can drain them mentally because they could be in heaven today, and tomorrow they will only run as good as their last run.”

Renner asked whether one of the jockeys had experience in maintaining their help for their mental health or intellectual performance. Three out of four said no, they never had it, but they all agreed that it would have been helpful if they had had someone to speak to.

“The focus is that we know that you want help,” said Renner. “You are ready for it. It is only the challenge of how we fight the stigma, the barriers and the information about it.”

So far, your data has only concentrated on four jockeys, but she is confident that she can help you even more if she is able to collect more research by larger groups of jockeys.

“With this research, Kelley is about to change the industry,” said Keener. “The Horseracing Integrity Safety Authority recently worked with the Jockeys' Guild to grant Jockeys 24-hour access to psychiatric services. Since these resources are hopefully more available, more people will also be willing to talk to Kelley about their experiences.”

Since the athletes are offered more resources, their hopes are to see a shift in the stigma to see the mental health of jockey.

“The public must be more aware of this athlete, they are often overlooked,” said Renner. “We cannot forget that these drivers are human, it is a real person who rides with the horse. They all have a passion for ride, it is what they like to do.”

Racers will continue to research for these athletes and work for their athletes if they conclude their master's degree and will remain in Great Britain to make their doctorate.