Show jumping involves horses performing at the limits of athletic ability, with welfare concerns about training methods, overriding injuries, and the use of hyperflexion and other controversial techniques.
Equestrian competitive sport involves animals with prey-species neurobiology being trained and ridden in ways that fundamentally suppress their natural stress responses. The highest-welfare competitive equestrian contexts involve positive reinforcement training, careful monitoring of horses for pain and lameness, retirement from competition at the first sign of injury, and rejection of training methods that cause pain or extreme disorientation. The economic value of elite horses creates perverse incentives to compete injured animals and use training shortcuts that achieve performance through pain rather than willingness.