Equestrian sports including racing, showjumping, eventing, and dressage raise welfare questions about training methods, injury rates, and the use of horses for human entertainment.
Sport horse welfare is complex: horses can genuinely enjoy some forms of exercise and competition, but welfare problems from training methods, injury risk, and retirement provision are real. Racing fatalities from musculoskeletal injuries cause acute pain. Training methods that use excessive force, pain, or fear to produce obedience violate the horse's interest in psychological wellbeing. Rollkur causes visible distress indicators in dressage horses. Retirement welfare — what happens to horses when their competitive career ends — is a significant issue given that racehorses retire young and live for decades.