Working horses face welfare challenges rooted in overwork, unsuitable workloads, inadequate recovery, and failure to recognise pain during performance. Welfare-centred equestrian practice prioritises matching workload to physical capacity, recognising subtle pain signals, and supporting recovery.
The welfare of working horses is complex because horses are willing athletes who often do not obviously refuse work even when in pain — a product of their evolution as prey animals that mask vulnerability. This means pain during ridden work is systematically under-detected. Behaviours dismissed as resistance — tail swishing, ear pinning, mouth opening, reluctance to go forward — are frequently pain responses. The responsibility lies with riders, trainers, and owners to use validated pain assessment tools, seek veterinary evaluation before attributing behaviour to attitude, and maintain honest conversations about a horse's capacity for the work being asked. Internationally, millions of draught horses work without veterinary care, in ill-fitting harness, under heavy loads with no rest periods — a welfare crisis at massive scale.