While racehorse welfare receives significant public attention, millions of horses in sport, leisure, and working roles face welfare challenges that receive less scrutiny.
Horse welfare in non-racing equestrian contexts is shaped by husbandry, training methods, equipment, and management. Horses evolved for near-constant movement in herd social groups; confinement in stables without adequate social contact and movement causes well-documented stereotypic behaviours and psychological harm. Training methods that use pain or fear to achieve compliance cause welfare harm that persists throughout the horse relationship. Positive welfare approaches including appropriate turnout, social housing, and force-free training methods produce horses with measurably better welfare indicators.