Equestrian sports including dressage, jumping, and eventing impose physical and psychological demands on horses that require careful welfare oversight to prevent suffering.
Sport horses face welfare challenges at every level of competition: inadequate lameness detection, training methods that may cause pain, and competition pressures that incentivize use of compromised animals. The human-horse relationship in sport requires horses to tolerate discomfort they cannot consent to, placing special responsibility on riders and regulators to prioritize welfare above performance.