People of color have long been under-represented in the world of equestrian sports with only 10.7% of its population being of Hispanic/Latino descent and 3.2% of African American. While equestrian-related marketers have historically portrayed equestrians as being primarily white in their advertising campaigns; today, more and more companies, like LeMieux are offering a more diverse representation of the equestrian world.
There are many voices belonging to people of color in the equestrian world pushing to increase representation in their field of expertise. One such voice comes from a young woman named Ariel Piper who is not only a young black equestrian in a predominantly white dominated sport but also had to overcome significant physical challenges to pursue her dream. From a young age, it had been Ariel’s life-long dream to become a horse trainer. Unfortunately, she was forced to rethink those plans at the age of 15, after suffering a concussion while retrieving her horse from the pasture. This debilitating accident left Ariel wondering if she would be able to continue to pursue her dream of a career in horses. Ariel’s story of triumph and recovery is one of inspiration.
Today, Ariel has found a new way to embrace the field she loves by working in marketing and as a model for equestrian supply stores such as The Hunt Club, an equestrian clothing store in Pittsburg. She also started her own marketing business: Dappled Equine Marketing. Ariel commented on her career change, “I wanted to share my story and interact with people who are in the same boat as me. Throughout the process, I felt like I had no POC to look up to at the top of the sport. I think that was one of the things that made the journey a bit harder - I felt like I had multiple things against me. But I’ve gotten messages from other people saying that my pushing through this accident made them feel like they could push through anything, too”
