Horses used in therapeutic riding and equine-assisted therapy programs have welfare needs that require active monitoring.
Therapy horses provide genuine benefit to the humans they work with, but this work creates welfare demands that require active management. Exposure to unpredictable client movements, sounds, and behaviors can be stressful for animals whose natural response is flight. Insufficient rest between sessions, lack of equine social time, and inadequate turnout create chronic stress. Welfare-conscious therapy programs limit session numbers, monitor horse behavior carefully for fatigue or stress signals, ensure horses have social interaction and pasture time, and retire horses from therapy work when they begin showing signs of burnout. The wellbeing of the therapy horse enables effective therapy — these are aligned, not competing interests.