Horses in sports beyond racing including show jumping, dressage, and polo face welfare challenges that receive less public scrutiny.
Performance horses face welfare harms that are harder to document than racing injuries because they occur in less regulated contexts. Rollkur in dressage has been filmed causing visible distress but remains practiced. Polo ponies are ridden hard repeatedly with short rest periods. Competition horses on demanding show circuits experience travel stress, irregular turnout, and high workloads. The absence of mandatory injury reporting outside racing creates significant monitoring gaps.