Long-term studies of conformation-welfare relationships in horses are providing the evidence base for breeding decisions that improve population soundness across generations.
Long-term conformation-welfare outcome data is transforming breeding decisions from subjective aesthetic judgments to evidence-based selections that consider long-term soundness. The availability of breeding value estimates incorporating health traits allows individual stallion and mare selection to optimize for the welfare of future offspring alongside performance characteristics. The Icelandic horse example demonstrates that a breeding culture prioritizing functionality over appearance extremes produces populations with notably better welfare outcomes across their working lives. Extending this approach to other breeds requires the collection of longitudinal health data at population scale and the political will within breed organizations to weight soundness in selection criteria alongside the appearance traits that currently dominate show ring evaluation.