Horses transported for slaughter face particular welfare challenges due to their size, social sensitivity, and unfamiliarity with intensive transport conditions.
Horses evolved as flight animals with rapid physiological stress responses making them particularly vulnerable to transport welfare problems. Exhaustion, dehydration, injury from falls or aggression, and respiratory disease (shipping fever) are documented risks in long-distance horse transport. Pre-slaughter lairage conditions are also critical - unfamiliar horses mixed together experience aggression and hierarchical conflict. Welfare at slaughter requires species-appropriate stunning that is effective for horses, which are challenging to stun due to skull structure. Reducing journey times and improving lairage management are priority welfare improvements.