When Care Conflicts With Performance

There is concern amongst the public, equestrians, animal welfare organisations, and horse-sport governing bodies regarding the welfare of performance horses 🐎⚠️, but equestrian culture appears slow to change.

The present study seeks to increase our understanding of human factors underlying the persistence of welfare-compromising management and training practices within the performance horse world 🧠📚. Individual, semi-structured interviews focused on equestrians’ attitudes were conducted with 22 equestrians from classical equestrian disciplines in the US, Canada, and the UK 🌍.

Five main themes were identified: perception of welfare issues; conflicting conceptions of a good life; objectification of the horse; instrumentalisation of horse care; and enculturation 🔍.

Participants perceived and were concerned about horse welfare, but expressed dissonance-reducing strategies, including trivialisation, reframing and justification 🤔. Participants shared conflicting conceptions of a good life and described how equestrian activities may infringe upon horse welfare.

Objectification of horses was among the attitudinal factors identified that may permit persistence of harmful practices, while the instrumentalisation of care theme showed how management practices often focused on performance and the horse’s job more than care about the horse 🏆➡️🐴.

Finally, enculturation (the process of adopting attitudes and behaviours of a culture) in equestrianism may be fundamental to maintaining practices and attitudes that compromise horse welfare 🧩.

These findings provide an enhanced understanding of why horse welfare issues persist in classical equestrian disciplines and may inform future human behaviour change strategies to promote improved horse welfare ✅📈.

This was an exploratory qualitative study meant to provide a foundation for future studies and not intended to be generalised across broader equestrian populations ⚖️.

You can access this paper here.

How Early Is Too Early? Training Young Horses and Welfare Concerns

The early career start of racehorses, the pretraining of two-year-old Warmblood stallions for licensing, and individual housing of young horses raise animal welfare concerns 🐎⚠️.

This study assessed pretraining practices and trainers’ opinions on housing of young horses, minimum age to commence training and pretraining injuries 🧠📋.

Qualitative interviews with trainers of Warmblood stallions and Thoroughbred and Trotter racehorses (n = 10 each) were conducted 🗣️.

Pretraining of Thoroughbreds and Trotters began at 18 months, whereas licensing preparation of Warmblood stallions began at 29–30 months. For horses not achieving the expected results, procedures for Warmblood stallions differed from racehorses. Warmblood stallions not meeting expectations were often castrated and trained as riding horses, whereas Thoroughbreds and Trotters remained in training, but intensity was reduced.

Warmblood trainers did not report injuries requiring pretraining interruption. Thoroughbred and Trotter trainers suggested tendon damage as an occasional problem 🦵.

Group housing was not utilized because of the risk of injury due to agonistic behavior, especially among stallions, difficulty of individual feeding and disruption when horses were removed and returned. Straw bedding was used in 28 out of 30 yards and horses were fed 8–10 kg of hay/day 🌾. Except for three yards, horses were provided contact with neighbors through bars in stall walls.

Trainers largely fulfilled legal welfare requirements but horses had limited free movement and social interaction. None of the trainers agreed with the suggestion of a minimum age of 30 months for training ⚖️.

The study used semi-structured interviews, which are useful for exploring views but are limited by small sample sizes and researcher influence. Responses became predictable, suggesting sufficient interviews, but awareness of welfare debates may have shaped answers. Yard visits helped verify consistency between reported practices and observations 👀✅.

You can access this paper here.

How Horses Spend Their Time — and Why It Matters

The time-activity budget is a key indicator of animal welfare ⏱️🐎. This meta-analysis integrated 14 studies (1979–2020) with 364 horses under wild, natural-living, and stabled conditions to evaluate feeding, resting, standing, and locomotion

The study aimed to categorize daily behavioural patterns in equines, with emphasis on feeding behaviour 🌱.

Feeding was greater

• in free-ranging (56 %) than stabled horses (38 %),
• in grouped (54 %) vs. isolated (39 %),
• in females (64 %) vs. males (48 %),
• and in grazing (56 %) vs. hay-fed horses (39 %).

Resting was higher

• in young, small, grouped, and grazing horses

Standing was more common

• in stabled, isolated, adult, larger, and hay-fed animals

Locomotion increased

• in free-ranging, grouped, and grazing horses
   

Management promoting foraging, social interaction, and locomotion enhances equine welfare

The study is limited by its small dataset, differences in behavioural measurement methods, and missing environmental details, which may introduce variability and restrict interpretation ⚖️. Its heavy focus on Northern Hemisphere research also limits how well the findings apply to global horse populations and management systems 🌍.

You can access this paper here.

Why Social Contact Matters for Breeding Stallions

The obligation to ensure the welfare of domestic horses is evident 🐎⚖️. Social bonds are an essential part of the daily life of feral horses.

In human-controlled conditions, stallions usually live alone in a barren environment of individual boxes or paddocks, with contact to conspecifics limited to visuals. Still, many stallions do not have regular access to paddocks and pastures 🚧.

This provokes frustration and stress, which has been shown to contribute to the development of stereotypies, self-mutilations, abnormal sexual behaviour and reproductive problems ⚠️.

This review highlights how domestic environments may negatively diverge from the natural conditions necessary for the healthy behavioural development of stallions. We address stallions' welfare and reproductive problems that may arise from their lack of social contact.

These issues are discussed along the stages of a stallion's life under free-ranging conditions 🌿.

We postulate that today's breeding stallions must be enabled to enjoy the positive aspects of a bachelor stallion's life. This should include adequate consideration of the stallions' reproductive behaviour, including contact with a sexually receptive mare 🤍.

This will not only improve animal welfare but also ensure optimal semen quality and fertility ✅.

You can access this paper here.

Can Humans Replace the Herd?

It is assumed that horses have a strong herd instinct that cannot be suppressed by any form of social support from humans 🐎👥.

The aim of this study was to assess the behaviour and heart rate parameters of horses that received various forms of human support during short-term social isolation 💓.

The research material consisted of 12 clinically healthy recreational Warmblood mares and geldings. The test was carried out four times 🔁.

The research test consisted of two parts, which began in the presence of accompanying horses and under conditions of social isolation, with and without support provided by a human (types of contact: tactile, vocal, tactile and vocal).

Behavioural observations were carried out on a five-point scale, and the heart rate parameters were measured 📊.

It was concluded that social support provided by humans in tactile, vocal, or tactile and vocal forms during the isolation of horses from the herd does not have very significant effects, especially in mares. The geldings respond much more favourably than the mares.

In addition, at this point in the research, it can be suggested that vocal support may have the best effects 🗣️. The more emotionally balanced the horses are, the more pronounced these effects should be ✅.

The study did not include stallions, young horses, different environments, or human influences on upbringing and training, so it is unknown how these unexamined factors might have affected the results ⚖️.

You can access this paper here.

Do Horses Grieve the Loss of a Companion?

As a social species, it would be anticipated that horses may display altered behaviours toward dying or dead conspecifics 🐎💔. However, there is remarkably little literature on this subject.

The aim of this study was to identify behavioural changes in horses who have experienced the loss of a companion equid. An online survey was used to collect data on the housing and management of the equids, information on the surviving and deceased equid (including relationship), the passing of the deceased equid, and the type and duration of immediate and sustained behavioural changes in the surviving horse.

The survey was completed for 325 surviving horses. Horse owners reported multiple changes in behaviour in the surviving horse within 24 h of the companion’s death; most often related to arousal, behaviour directed towards other equids and people, alertness to stimuli and vocalisation.

Multiple logistic regression models indicate that horses who had shared an affectionate relationship, rather than simply tolerated each other, were more likely to change their excitement to interact with others or at feeding time and behaviour towards humans. These behavioural changes often persisted for 6 months after the death of their companion ⏳.

Horses who had witnessed the death of their companion were more likely to show alterations in time spent sleeping and feeding within 24 h of death, compared to before companion death. These surviving horses were also more likely to have a change in excitement towards interacting with others and/or around feeding time and vigilance 👀.

Whether or not the surviving horse had spent time with the dead body did not affect its behaviour in the first 24 h of loss. However, within 6 months after the death of the companion, horses who could spend time with the body had no change in vocalisation and excitement to interact with others and/or to feed time. Conversely, horses who could not spend time with the body were more likely to show a change in arousal and vigilance.

These findings indicate that horses may express grief-related behaviours, but further independent empirical evidence is required 📚. The death of a companion can have negative consequences for the survivor’s welfare, and this study may help owners manage emotional welfare better during this difficult time ❤️.

This study relied on owner-reported behaviours rather than direct observations, which introduces possible recall bias and the influence of owners’ emotional responses on the surviving horses' behaviour, despite efforts to minimise these effects through careful participant selection, “not sure” response options, and item-specific questioning ⚖️.

You can access this paper here.

Can Sight, Touch, and Smell Really Detect Poor-Quality Hay?

Hay is a major part of a horse’s diet, but if it contains too much dust or is contaminated with harmful microorganisms like mould or bacteria, it can cause serious breathing problems 🐎🌾.

Horse owners and caretakers often check hay quality using sight, touch and smell, but it is unclear whether this simple method can detect hay that might be harmful.

In this study, researchers collected 50 hay samples from horse owners and examined them using both sensory examinations, as well as specific methods to measure dust levels and check for potentially harmful microorganisms.

The results showed that hay with an abnormal smell was more likely to produce high levels of dust, and hay with visible dirt or debris was more likely to contain potentially harmful bacteria or fungi.

This research highlights the value of basic sensory assessments as a rapid and low-cost means to monitor hay hygiene and protect horses’ respiratory health 💨.

Results should be interpreted cautiously given the modest sample size, subjectivity of sensory scoring, absence of clinical data, and limited explanatory power of the models ⚖️.

You can access this paper here.

Forced or Free? How Choice Shapes Horses’ Responses to Touch

This study explored how therapy horses respond to different kinds of touch—patting, stroking, and scratching—on different body areas when the interaction is either forced or chosen by the horse 🐎🤝.

Ten therapy horses were touched by experienced and less experienced participants in two conditions: (1) forced touch, where the horse was tethered and the person had to touch all areas in a fixed sequence, and (2) free-choice touch, where the horse was loose and the person only touched the horse if it approached.

Horses showed more signs of discomfort—such as oral behaviours, restlessness, and tail swishing—during forced touch, although they shook their heads less in this condition. Tail swishing also varied by body area, being least frequent when the hindquarters were touched.

In the free-choice condition, horses were much more likely to hold their heads low and less likely to keep their ears focused on the person, suggesting a calmer, more self-directed posture.

Heart rate was higher during free-choice touch, but heart rate variability showed that horses were more physiologically relaxed with less experienced handlers. Overall, the findings indicate that forced touch was not perceived positively, emphasising the importance of giving therapy horses choice and control during equine-assisted services ✅.

This study examined how horses responded differently when touch was forced versus when they could choose to engage, but it did not separate the effects of touch itself from the influence of choice. Because all testing occurred outdoors on short grass, the horses’ natural grazing behaviour may also have affected how often they stayed within reach, highlighting the need for future research to isolate the effects of touch and choice more clearly ⚖️.

You can access this paper here.

Do Stable Lights Affect How Horses Sleep?

Modern horse management often involves long periods indoors under artificial light, which may affect sleep and circadian rhythms 🐎💡.

This study compared the effects of a customised LED lighting system (blue-enriched light by day, dim red light at night) with standard fluorescent lighting on sleep, blink rate, and circadian gene activity in ten riding school horses.

Behaviour, blink rate, and hair samples were recorded over four weeks in a cross-over design 🔄.

Lighting type had no effect on total sleep, recumbency, wakefulness, or clock gene expression, though horses under LED light showed slightly more daytime wakefulness.

Dim red night lighting did not disrupt normal sleep or rhythms, suggesting tailored LED systems may support healthy day–night cycles in stabled horses 🌙.

However, results should be interpreted cautiously due to the small sample size, individual variation in sleep behaviour, and possible exposure to natural light during the control phase ⚖️.

You can read this paper here.

Life After Racing: What the Data Tell Us About Former Racehorses

Owner/keeper submissions for 8,256 horses were analysed 🐎📊 and extrapolated to a national estimate of ~33,600 former racehorses, of which ~80% are currently traceable.

While 98% of horses held passports 📘, only 64% were registered in the current owner’s name despite 90% awareness of the requirement.

Most horses were owned (91%), predominantly geldings (74%), aged 5–14 years, and used mainly for leisure, hacking, or unaffiliated competition 🏇.

Respondents expressed strong support for digital identification/e-passports 💻, but knowledge gaps and variable compliance were evident—particularly around change-of-ownership and notification of death.

These data provide a baseline to strengthen lifetime traceability, guide education and policy 📚, and evaluate aftercare outcomes over time.

However, as a single time-point, self-reported dataset with uneven response to sensitive items, results should be interpreted cautiously ⚖️ and validated with repeat censuses and complementary qualitative work.

You can read this paper here.

Are Riding Lesson Horses Really Worse Off?

Riding lesson horses have generally poorer welfare than other types of horses. 🐴 A survey was distributed to operators of Canadian riding lesson facilities to identify management trends that may influence the welfare of lesson horses, as well as to understand the demographics of the Canadian lesson herd and the people responsible for their care.

📋 The survey received 154 responses representing 13.2% (n = 1550) of the total estimated Canadian lesson herd. Tests determined relationships among quantitative responses and thematic content analysis analyzed qualitative responses. Responses suggested that Canadian lesson horses largely receive species-appropriate care with daily access to group turnout and regular attention from veterinarians and farriers.

🌱👩‍⚕️🦶 A high level of concern for the health and comfort of lesson horses was demonstrated through use of complementary and alternative veterinary medicine, dietary supplements, joint injections, and/or ulcer and pain-management medications.

💊🩺 Qualitative responses highlighted financial challenges and client expectations as significant obstacles to ensuring the welfare of lesson horses.

💰⚠️ This increased understanding of the landscape of the Canadian riding lesson industry provides new avenues for further research, suggesting that the reportedly poor welfare of lesson horses may not be related to management but other factors unique to the life of lesson horses.

🔍 This study is limited by typical survey biases—including self-selection, nonresponse, misinterpretation of questions, regional sampling imbalance, and low engagement from several provinces and territories—which may affect how representative the results are of the wider Canadian lesson industry. 📝⚠️

This is an open-access paper - you can read it here.

🔥 For the first time ever, AI has successfully decoded horse emotions from their faces.

Animal affective computing is an emerging new field, which has so far mainly focused on pain, while other emotional states remain uncharted territories, especially in horses. 🐴💭

This study is the first to develop AI models to automatically recognise horse emotional states from facial expressions using data collected in a controlled experiment.

🤖📹 They explore two types of pipelines: a deep learning one which takes as input video footage, and a machine learning one which takes as input EquiFACS annotations. The former outperforms the latter, with 76% accuracy in separating between four emotional states: baseline, positive anticipation, disappointment and frustration.

📊 Anticipation and frustration were difficult to separate, with only 61% accuracy. 😬

However, results should be interpreted cautiously given the study’s context-specific design, unmodelled individual factors (e.g., breed, age, sex), and limited generalisability beyond the experimental setup. There are also a limited number of EquiFACS Facial Action Units (FAU) that are needed to associate with a specific affective state, so the training of the AI system may have gaps or flaws. ⚠️🔍

This is an open-access paper - you can view it here.

Did you know rein type could almost double rein tension?

Rein tension can affect the comfort and performance of vaulting horses.

This study measured rein and lunge line tensions in 39 international-level horses cantering with different rein types permitted by FEI rules, including side reins with or without elastic, fully elastic reins, draw reins, and reins fixed to the noseband (see the paper for equipment classification). Rein type significantly influenced total tension, which ranged from 6.2–11.7 kg, with right-side tension consistently higher.

Greater tension was associated with increased mouth opening, a behavioural sign of discomfort.

Draw reins produced the lowest total tension and least mouth opening, though individual differences remained high.

These results highlight that rein type affects both tension and comfort, reinforcing the importance of appropriate rein selection for horse welfare.

However, as some horses were unfamiliar with certain rein types and surface conditions varied slightly, further research is needed to confirm these findings under standardised conditions.

This is an open access paper - you can view it here.

Stereotypic behaviours, such as crib-biting and weaving, can be seen in horses kept under restrictive management, but their physiological basis remains unclear. 🐴

This study investigated whether stress-related salivary biomarkers differ between Thoroughbreds with and without stereotypies.

🧪 Saliva was collected at rest from three groups: ten high-level competition horses without stereotypies, eleven high-level competition horses showing stereotypies, and five non-competing leisure horses with stereotypies. Cortisol concentrations were highest in competing non-stereotypic horses, suggesting that intense training may elevate stress hormone levels.

📈 In contrast, alpha-amylase (sAA) activity was significantly higher in non-competing stereotypic horses, indicating heightened sympathetic nervous system activation.

⚡ Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activity did not differ between groups. These findings suggest that both competition level and stereotypic behaviour influence physiological stress responses, supporting saliva biomarkers as valuable non-invasive welfare indicators in horses.

🧬 The small sample size and lack of repeated measures mean this finding should be interpreted cautiously. ⚠️

This is an open-access paper, you can view it here.

🐎 Equestrians offer a pivotal avenue of rehoming for Thoroughbred horses that retire from the racing industry.

However, behavioural attributes considered advantageous in racehorses may be inappropriate in equestrian mounts. Understanding the behaviour of off-the-track Thoroughbreds (OTTTBs) is critical to the welfare and safety of horses and handlers. 🧠💛

This study explored behavioural characteristics in OTTTBs compared with other ridden horses, using owner-observed information from the Equine Behaviour Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ) database. Behaviours associated with boldness, compliance, rideability, trainability, and responsiveness to acceleration and deceleration signals were analysed. 📊

OTTTBs demonstrated more boldness, with lower compliance and responsiveness to deceleration signals, than other horse breeds in this study. ⚡🐴 These findings illustrate both the equestrian potential of OTTTBs and the behavioural challenges they can present. The study highlights the importance of further research into the relative influences of breed and life experiences on behaviour in OTTTBs, to enable training and management practices to be evidence-based for enhanced equine welfare. 🔍📚

Results should be interpreted cautiously given the potential for self-reporting and sampling biases, as well as the inability to infer causality between temperament, experience, and behaviour within the scope of this study. ⚠️

You can find this article here.

🐴 Feeding strategies must meet horses’ needs without compromising welfare, especially in group housing where limited hay can cause aggression and injury.

🌾 This study compared three feeding regimes in 18 mares: traditional (three 2-hour daytime meals), portioned (six 1-hour meals across 24 h), and ad libitum slow-feeding with hay nets.

🧠 Horses using slow-feeders showed activity time budgets resembling natural conditions, while portioned feeding appeared more frustrating, showing no reduction in agonistic behaviours and reduced lying time by approximately 11 min/day compared with other systems.

💚 Traditional and slow-feeding regimes supported calmer interactions.

⚖️ Portioning into smaller, frequent meals did not reduce stress, while slow-feeding emerged as a more suitable, welfare-friendly strategy that warrants further investigation.

📊 As the study was short-term and limited to mares in small groups, further research is needed to confirm these findings under varied conditions.

You can find this article here.

🐴 Horses can regulate their own exercise intensity, influenced by social and motivational factors.

🎥 This study tested whether seeing another horse trotting would increase effort.

🐎 Seven horses completed a 2×2 crossover trial after treadmill familiarisation, viewing either a trotting horse video or a racetrack image without horses.

❤️ When shown the trotting horse, heart rate, plasma lactate, and alert behaviours (ears forward, raised head angle) increased significantly compared to control conditions.

🧠 The visual stimulus was well tolerated and activated anaerobic lactic pathways, suggesting horses perceived and adapted to a social environment.

👀 These results indicate that social visual cues can safely encourage forward movement, offering a welfare-friendly alternative to whip use.

⚖️ However, because treadmill speed could not be freely regulated and researchers were not blinded to conditions, further studies are needed to confirm these findings and assess how horses self-regulate movement in social contexts.

You can find this article here.