Therapeutic riding programs provide benefits to human participants but create welfare obligations for horses. Evidence-based welfare standards protect horses in these programs.
Therapeutic horses provide genuine benefit to human participants, but this benefit creates real welfare obligations that are not always adequately met. Horses in busy therapeutic programs may carry multiple riders daily in sessions involving unusual demands - unbalanced riders, unpredictable movements, and therapeutic equipment that can be frightening. Accumulated over weeks and months, this work causes both physical fatigue and potential psychological stress. Horses that are chronically stressed by their therapeutic work may show subtle stress indicators that busy program staff miss. Best practice includes regular welfare assessments, rotation schedules that prevent overwork, clear retirement criteria, and behavioral training that gives horses positive associations with their work.