External supporting research Behavior, welfare & human factors Peer reviewed EXT-S07

Performance Horse Welfare, Equestrian Culture & Cognitive Dissonance

A peer-reviewed qualitative study of 22 equestrians found that concern for performance horse welfare can coexist with attitudes and cultural norms that justify or minimise potentially harmful practices. Five themes highlighted the influence of cognitive dissonance, objectification, instrumentalisation of care and equestrian enculturation.

Horse welfare Performance horses Equestrian culture Cognitive dissonance Enculturation Human behaviour Horse management Care ethics

Study at a glance

Year 2025

Study type Qualitative interview study using reflexive thematic analysis

Sample 22 equestrians

Duration Participant recruitment and interviews conducted between March and June 2024

Population Adult equestrians involved in classical performance horse disciplines including dressage, showjumping, hunters, eventing and related roles

Publication Peer-reviewed journal article

EquiNectar tested? No

Peer reviewed Yes

Open access Yes

Relationship External supporting research

Equestrians interviewed

Countries represented: US, Canada and UK

Overarching welfare and cultural themes identified

20 / 22

Participants involved as competitors

Research question

What did the researchers want to understand?

Which attitudes, cultural influences and psychological processes may shape how equestrians care for and think about performance horses, and how might these human factors help explain the persistence of welfare-compromising practices within equestrian sport?

Researchers

Study authors

Erica Cheung

University of Lincoln

Daniel Mills

University of Lincoln

Beth Ann Ventura

University of Lincoln

Research organizations

Research institutions

University of Lincoln

University
United Kingdom

Methodology

How the study was conducted

Study design

This was a qualitative interview study examining attitudes toward performance horses and horse welfare.

Participants were recruited between March and June 2024 using purposive and convenience sampling through equestrian interest groups on Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn.

Eligible participants were adults involved at any level in classical equestrian sports, including dressage, showjumping, hunters and eventing. Participants could include riders, competitors, coaches, trainers, grooms, stable owners, managers, breeders and other people involved with performance horses.

Twenty-seven people were initially recruited. Two withdrew their data, two did not proceed because of time constraints and one did not attend the interview, leaving 22 participants.

The final group consisted of 19 women and three men. Ten participants lived in the United States, seven in Canada and five in the United Kingdom.

One-to-one semi-structured interviews were conducted online between 1 April and 17 June 2024.

Interview transcripts were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Researchers used a combination of deductive and inductive coding and developed themes through an iterative process involving all three authors.

The study received ethical approval from the University of Lincoln Ethics Committee, reference UofL2024_16292.

What was measured

This study did not measure physiological or clinical outcomes in horses.

Researchers conducted individual semi-structured interviews with 22 equestrians involved in classical performance horse disciplines.

The interview guide contained eight primary open-ended questions supported by additional probes.

Topics included attitudes toward horses and horse sports, perceptions of performance horse welfare, ideas about what constitutes a good life for horses and attitudes toward public views of welfare in equestrian sport.

Interviews were conducted remotely using Zoom between April and June 2024.

Recordings were manually transcribed and anonymised.

The researchers analysed interview transcripts using reflexive thematic analysis based on the six-phase approach developed by Braun and Clarke.

Both deductive and inductive coding were used. Emerging themes were interpreted with reference to concepts including the Five Domains model of animal welfare, care ethics and cognitive dissonance.

Study findings

Key results

• Twenty-two equestrians from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom completed individual semi-structured interviews about performance horses and welfare.

• Participants commonly recognised and expressed concern about welfare issues within equestrian sport.

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

• Participants sometimes reduced apparent conflict between their welfare beliefs and accepted practices through strategies including trivialisation, reframing and justification.

• Participants expressed differing and sometimes conflicting ideas about what constitutes a good life for a horse.

• The objectification theme highlighted ways horses could be viewed in terms of performance, financial or functional value.

• Instrumentalisation of care described situations in which management and care could become focused on maintaining the horse's ability to perform its job rather than solely on the horse's own interests.

• Enculturation emerged as an important influence through which beliefs, norms and practices become learned and normalised within equestrian culture.

• The authors propose that these human and cultural factors may act as barriers to welfare improvement even where concern for horse welfare already exists.

• The findings may help inform human behaviour change strategies designed to improve performance horse welfare.

Interpretation

What do the findings mean?

The study suggests that persistent welfare concerns in performance horse sport cannot be understood solely as a lack of knowledge.

Participants often recognised practices that could compromise horse welfare and expressed concern about them. However, apparently conflicting attitudes could coexist with continued acceptance or participation in similar practices.

The authors interpret some of these conflicts through cognitive dissonance. When a person's belief that they care well for horses conflicts with evidence that a familiar practice may cause harm, the psychological discomfort can be reduced by reframing, minimising or justifying the practice rather than changing it.

Enculturation may reinforce this process. Equestrians learn not only practical skills but also values, expectations and definitions of normality from the cultures in which they participate.

The themes of objectification and instrumentalisation of care further suggest that a horse can be highly valued and extensively cared for while decisions remain strongly centred on performance, financial value or the horse's ability to fulfil a particular role.

The findings support approaches to welfare improvement that consider human behaviour, social norms and equestrian culture alongside scientific education about horse health and welfare.

In practice

Why this research matters

Good horse care involves more than meeting physical needs or maintaining a horse in condition for its work.

Participants in this study commonly recognised welfare concerns within equestrian sport, including restrictive turnout, limited social contact, harsh training methods and other management practices. At the same time, participants sometimes justified or minimised practices they themselves acknowledged could compromise welfare.

The study suggests that this apparent contradiction may partly reflect cognitive dissonance. People can hold a genuine belief that they care deeply for their horses while also participating in practices that conflict with their own understanding of good welfare.

Equestrian culture was another important influence. Practices, expectations and beliefs can become normalised through repeated exposure within yards, disciplines, coaching systems and competitive environments.

For horse owners, trainers and professionals, the findings support regular critical review of familiar practices rather than assuming that traditional, common or performance-focused management is necessarily in the horse's best interests.

Research transparency

Study limitations

This was a qualitative study designed to explore attitudes, perceptions and experiences rather than measure the prevalence of particular beliefs across the wider equestrian population.

The final sample contained 22 participants, so the findings should not be interpreted as representing all horse owners, riders, trainers or equestrian disciplines.

Participants were recruited using purposive and convenience sampling through equestrian interest groups on social media. People willing to participate in a welfare study may have had greater prior interest in horse welfare than the wider equestrian population.

The sample was predominantly female, with 19 women and three men, and most participants were aged between 25 and 44 years.

Participants came from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom and were involved primarily in classical equestrian disciplines. The findings may therefore not transfer directly to racing, western disciplines, endurance, driving or other equestrian cultures.

Qualitative thematic analysis is interpretive. The researchers explicitly recognised their own backgrounds and perspectives as part of the research process and described their positionality to improve transparency.

The study examined what participants said about their attitudes and practices. It did not directly observe horses, yards, training sessions or welfare outcomes.

The themes therefore provide insight into possible social and psychological influences on horse welfare practices rather than quantitative estimates of how frequently particular attitudes or behaviours occur.

EquiNectar context

How this research relates to EquiNectar

This research did not test EquiNectar and was conducted independently of Tharos Ltd.

Its relevance to the EquiNectar Science Center lies in the wider context of horse management and welfare. Scientific evidence can identify practices and management conditions that influence equine health and welfare, but evidence alone does not necessarily lead to changes in behaviour.

This study explores why familiar management and training practices may persist even when equestrians recognise potential welfare concerns. The findings highlight the influence of culture, tradition, cognitive dissonance and the way care itself may become focused on the horse's performance or job.

For EquiNectar, the paper reinforces the importance of placing nutrition and digestive management within a whole-horse approach. Nutritional support is only one component of good management, alongside appropriate forage, turnout, social contact, training, veterinary care and consideration of the horse's behavioural and psychological needs.

The study provides no evidence for or against EquiNectar itself.

Tharos / EquiNectar involvement

None. This research was conducted independently of Tharos Ltd and EquiNectar. EquiNectar was not evaluated in the study.

EquiNectar evaluated No

Source record

Publication details

Journal

Animal Welfare

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Year

2025

Volume

Pages / article

e50, 1-13

DOI

10.1017/awf.2025.10028

Species

Horse

Population

Adult equestrians involved in classical performance horse disciplines including dressage, showjumping, hunters, eventing and related roles

Sample

22 equestrians

Duration

Participant recruitment and interviews conducted between March and June 2024

Setting

Remote interviews with equestrians living in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom

License

CC BY 4.0

View original source ↗ Read full text ↗

Recommended citation

Cheung E, Mills D, Ventura BA. But my horse is well cared for: A qualitative exploration of cognitive dissonance and enculturation in equestrian attitudes toward performance horses and their welfare. Animal Welfare. 2025;34:e50, 1-13. doi:10.1017/awf.2025.10028.

Performance Horse Welfare, Equestrian Culture & Cognitive Dissonance

What did the researchers want to understand?

Study authors

Erica Cheung

Daniel Mills

Beth Ann Ventura

Research institutions

University of Lincoln

How the study was conducted

Key results

What do the findings mean?

Why this research matters

Study limitations

How this research relates to EquiNectar

Publication details

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