Draft horses continue to work in agriculture, forestry, and competition in many parts of the world, with welfare concerns spanning overwork, hoof care, and the specific demands of competition pulling events.
Draft horse welfare spans a wide spectrum from genuinely positive working lives in sustainable forestry to concerning competitive contexts where horses are pushed to their physical limits. Horse logging, when conducted with appropriate rest, varied work, and good hoof and harness care, can provide a positive welfare context for working horses. Competitive pulling, by contrast, involves extreme muscular effort on horses that may have been prepared with questionable methods and are driven to the point of collapse. Differentiating these contexts is important for welfare assessment. Across all draft horse contexts, hoof care and prevention of heritable skin conditions in susceptible breeds are critical welfare priorities.