Wild and feral horse populations in North America, Australia, and Europe require management to prevent welfare harms from overpopulation and habitat degradation.
Wild horse management presents a conflict between the welfare of individual animals and the ecological integrity of the landscapes they inhabit. Overpopulated ranges cannot sustain horse populations through winter without significant starvation mortality, creating welfare harms through inaction as well as through intervention. Roundup operations using helicopters cause acute fear, injury, and separation trauma, while long-term holding facilities confine horses in conditions that prevent natural behaviour. Fertility control vaccines offer a welfare-positive alternative that reduces population growth without roundup trauma, but require significant ongoing effort to administer across dispersed wild populations. The most welfare-positive management approach combines fertility control, habitat management, and minimal direct intervention while accepting that some population regulation is necessary.