Resources

Animal Welfare and Conservation

Equine Welfare

(0) The scale

Brooke's population analysis and Sommerville, Brown & Upjohn (PLOS ONE, 2018) are good starting points. There are about 116 million equids worldwide. Around 600 million people depend on working equids for their livelihoods, although exact working-equid population numbers are surprisingly poor.

(1) It's hard to tell when an equid is in pain

Equids are prey animals. They've evolved to conceal their weakness.

a. Determining a Welfare Prioritization for Horses Using a Delphi Method (2020) Specialists ranked the greatest causes of suffering as delayed euthanasia, then failure to recognize pain behavior, then worm burdens, obesity, unsuitable diets. Curiously, note what's not here: cruelty, abuse, deliberate mistreatment.

b. Dyson & Pollard (2020) and Challenges in Lameness Identification Among Equine Owners (EVJ, 2024) show the sheer size of the recognition gap. Out of 60 horses in work, all of which had previously been assumed by their owners to be working comfortably, 73% were lame. Another surprising example: 1,000 owners were asked to spot lameness on video. Half spotted forelimb lameness, less than a third spotted hindlimb lameness, and less than 9% spotted bilateral lameness. A horse lame in both front legs may not show an obvious one-sided limp; it can just move short, so that reads as laziness.

c. The Donkey Sanctuary on donkey behavior. Donkeys are harder to read. They mask pain much more than horses do, so their conditions are completely missed or underestimated (until treatment is too late). Further, they have different clinical baselines and blood reference ranges. So anyone applying horse norms will read a sick donkey as fine (which is why instruments such as the Donkey Grimace Scale exist).

d. Part of a good fix for ridden horses could be Dyson's Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram. It's got 24 behaviors, most at least 10 times more likely in a lame horse, with 8 or more likely indicating musculoskeletal pain. It's free and you can learn it in one sitting.

(2) Working equids

a. Norris et al., Working Equids in Nepalese Brick Kilns (2020) and Cultural Blind Spots (2020) on donkeys in northern Indian kilns. These two reveal a jarring reality measurable through poor nutrition, lack of clean water, injuries from equipment and heavy loads, while considering socioeconomic status.

b. Brooke, Data on Working Animals 36 countries were examined, of which only 14 had run a livestock census since 2011, and 2 had none on record. I believe interventions that treat the owner as the problem ultimately fail. Items that will work could include better handler training, equipment, vet care, and addressing the animal and household together. And this is the problem that travelers meet directly in working equids at tourist sites. Declining a ride is a strong lever.

(3) The donkey skin trade

This is one of the largest single equine welfare issues in the world, but it's the least known.

a. The Donkey Sanctuary, Donkeys in Global Trade Ejiao is a Chinese remedy which is made from gelatin boiled out of donkey skin. At least 5.9 million donkeys are killed for this annually (conservative estimate), which is about a tenth of their population. China's herd dropped drastically from 11 million in 1992 to under 2 million by 2021. So the industry increasingly sources skins abroad, through both legal and illegal trade, primarily from Africa and South America.

b. The African Union's 15-year moratorium (February 2024) This is arguably the field's recent biggest win. It's a continent wide 15 year moratorium which covers Africa's population of 33 million donkeys, followed by the Abidjan Declaration (2025).

(4) Kept horses in wealthy countries

Most horses in Europe and North America aren't competing, and they face a very different set of problems.

a. RSPCA, Horse Sense (University of Bristol, 2025) RSPCA found that most equines in England and Wales aren't having all their welfare needs met. The framework they use is the 3 Fs: friends, forage, freedom. Horses have evolved to move around constantly, eat continuously and live in groups. Practices such as stabling individually, meal timings and limited turnout completely invert all three. As you'd expect, isolated horses show measurably raised cortisol.

b. Furtado et al. on the UK's equine obesity epidemic: the obesogenic environment (2021). A shocking 60% of UK leisure horses are overweight or obese (and go up to 70% in some populations). This drives serious health issues such as metabolic syndrome, laminitis and osteoarthritis. The owners frequently don't recognize it because it's normalized, and education alone hasn't been enough (2022).

(5) Sport

a. Hidden pain. A nerve block is a good diagnostic tool. The temporary anesthesia allows vets to locate the source of lameness. But, it can also temporarily make a lame horse appear sound before a sale. It's important to note that a pre-purchase exam can only give a snapshot. Merck Veterinary Manual.

b. Invisible injuries. Bit lesions have been documented in event horses, polo ponies and racehorses. Also, tight nosebands can cause clear stress responses. These problems often go unnoticed until specifically checked. Tuomola et al. (2021); Fenner et al. (2016).

c. Regulation. FEI & HPA rules regulate medication during competition. British racing goes a step further by funding aftercare and tracing horses from early life. In general, regulation is strongest during competition and quite weak around sale and retirement.

d. Social & Perception. Interestingly, the FEI Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission found that 67% of the public were concerned about horses in sport, while 78% of people within the sport agreed standards needed to improve. The 2028 Olympics has removed riding from the modern pentathlon, after a few viral videos, demonstrating how public pressure can reshape a sport.

How to Get Involved

Learn to spot pain

  • Work through the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram
  • Remember that donkeys show pain differently with fainter signals
  • If you coach or run a yard, teach all of it to everyone you can

Own / buying a horse

  • Check the three Fs and begin with fixing whichever is worst
  • Use your own vet, never the seller's
  • Ask for medical and ownership history in writing
  • Consider a drug screen

Report welfare concerns

  • Open Paddock Trust - equine welfare tip-line for the UK (note: for transparency, I help run this)
  • NEWC tells you who to contact for what
  • Report what you saw in person, once, to one organization, with an exact location

Donate

Sport and travel

  • Ask your club or federation what happens to horses after retirement and who pays?
  • Avoid low welfare equine rides and carriage tours