Equine Welfare Reform: Comprehensive Overview

Biggest Global Improvements

Several major improvements stand out in equine welfare reform worldwide:

Strengthened Horse Protection Act (U.S.) The USDA’s enhanced regulations taking effect February 1, 2025, eliminate industry self-regulation and prohibit devices, methods, practices, or substances that can cause horse soring. This represents a fundamental shift by removing the conflict of interest where the industry essentially policed itself. The regulations now ban action devices, nontherapeutic pads, and artificial extensions on Tennessee walking horses, addressing a long-standing abuse issue in the showing community.

FEI’s Comprehensive Welfare Strategy The Fédération Equestre Internationale approved an ambitious action plan backed by $1.1 million in dedicated funding. The plan includes 37 targeted actions organized into seven categories, with most initiatives expected to complete between 2024 and 2025. Key innovations include introducing a noseband tightness measuring device in 2025 and establishing a comprehensive Dressage Strategic Action Plan Working Group to review the discipline through 2027.

EU-Wide Species-Specific Framework Europe is moving toward an EU-wide, species-specific welfare framework with stronger transport and slaughter standards, a fully digital identification system, better enforcement, and mandatory education for equid owners. This addresses fragmentation where protection varied dramatically across member states.

The most transformative change is arguably the elimination of industry self-regulation in the U.S. Horse Protection Act, as it fundamentally restructures accountability and removes inherent conflicts of interest that have allowed abusive practices to persist for decades.

Australian Improvements

Prohibition of Knackeries and Abattoirs (Victoria) The most significant change is Victoria’s introduction of Local Rule 94C, which came into effect February 1, 2024, prohibiting participants from directly or indirectly sending live thoroughbreds to knackeries or abattoirs. This follows Racing NSW’s similar rule from 2017. Racing Victoria now provides an Onsite Humane Euthanasia Program (OHEP) that allows owners to have their thoroughbred euthanised onsite with funding provided by RV, offering a humane alternative when euthanasia is necessary.

Recognition of Animal Sentience South Australia passed its new Animal Welfare Act 2025, recognizing animals as living beings that can feel, perceive, and experience positive and negative states as a principle of the Act. Victoria is also introducing a similar principle of sentience in its draft Animal Care and Protection Bill expected in 2025.

Expanded Racing Victoria Welfare Programs Racing Victoria has significantly expanded its investment and programs:

• $5.94 million invested in equine welfare in FY25, bringing total investment since 2017 to $44 million
• Drought subsidies delivering over $800,000 in support for more than 1,700 horses under their Emergency Aid Program
• 485 horses physically inspected by RV’s equine welfare officers since July 2024 for early intervention

Transport Standards Review The federal government is reviewing land transport standards specifically for horses, with public consultation scheduled for 2025-26 to improve welfare during transportation.

The knackery prohibition represents the most transformative shift, as it fundamentally addresses the industry’s “wastage” problem where retired or unsuccessful horses previously faced slaughter.

Where Industries Can Do Better

Horse Racing Industry

National Traceability System Australia currently lacks national animal welfare leadership, and racehorses commonly move between states for breeding, racing, and rehoming, leaving horses vulnerable to uneven levels of protection. Australia needs a national traceability register to track all racehorses, through and after their racing careers, with all pregnancies recorded and foals registered and microchipped.

Overbreeding and “Wastage” The fundamental problem: around 11,000 thoroughbred foals are born every year in Australia, yet thousands will never make it to a racetrack, and around 8,500 adult thoroughbreds exit the racing industry each year. The industry must reduce breeding numbers dramatically rather than treating horses as disposable commodities.

Housing and Living Conditions Stabling of racehorses can involve confinement for as much as 90% of the day, causing welfare problems including painful muscle syndrome and triggering stereotypic behaviours like box walking, crib-biting, and weaving. Horses need access to pasture and social interaction.

Whips, Tongue Ties, and Equipment There is no justification for whips, tongue ties or spurs in racing, as they cause pain and stress to horses. Tongue ties cause pain, anxiety, distress, difficulty swallowing, cuts and lacerations, bruising and swelling, with blood flow restriction causing tongues to turn blue and permanent tissue damage.

Governance Structure The welfare of racehorses currently falls under Ministers for Racing, Sport, and Gambling, creating a clear conflict of interest where industry interests outweigh concerns for animal welfare. Dedicated animal welfare ministers and independent enforcement authorities are essential.

Equestrian Sport (Dressage, Jumping, Eventing)

Equipment and Training Methods Key welfare issues include coercive tack and equipment practices such as double bridles, tight nosebands, and ear hoods, along with pharmacological and surgical interventions that mask pain. Recent governing body decisions demonstrate that organizations are focusing more on public perception than genuine concern for harm done to horses.

Performance vs. Welfare There’s systemic reliance on performance as a proxy for welfare, with inadequate fit-to-compete protocols and neglect of horses’ mental states. Industries assume that because a horse completes what’s demanded, it’s not suffering.

Regulatory Language and Culture Euphemistic regulatory language like calling whip use “encouragement” obscures the reality of what’s being done to horses. This cultural defensiveness prevents genuine reform.

Universal Issues Across All Equine Industries

Mental Welfare Ignored Both racing and sport systematically fail to address horses’ psychological needs. From the animal’s perspective, the perception of threat, regardless of actual physical injury, can compromise welfare to a degree comparable to physical harm. Fear, stress, and anxiety receive inadequate attention.

Self-Regulation Failure At an industry level, self-regulation has manifestly failed. Independent oversight, transparent data collection, and consistent enforcement across jurisdictions are essential but currently absent.

Social License Erosion The public is increasingly aware and concerned. Polling shows a majority of Australians believe horse racing is cruel, with social license clearly fading, particularly among young people. Industries must implement genuine reform rather than public relations campaigns.

The Bottom Line Genuine animal welfare requires prioritizing horses’ physical and psychological needs over human entertainment and profit, which demands structural reform rather than incremental changes within systems designed around exploitation.

Where Legislation Can Do Better

Victoria’s Stalled Animal Care and Protection Bill The failure to finalize Victoria’s new Animal Care and Protection Bill exemplifies the dangerous complacency in legislative reform. The bill has languished in the draft stage for five years since the Victorian Government began reforms in 2020. More alarmingly, it has been over 30  years since Victorian animal welfare legislation was last updated—far too long to wait when animals are suffering under outdated protections. The current legislation, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (POCTA) of 1986, is nearly 40 years old and fundamentally inadequate for contemporary animal welfare standards.

A major advancement in the new draft bill is the introduction of the Principle of Sentience (Section 6), which acknowledges Parliament’s intention that the administration of the Act should regard animals’ capacity to subjectively perceive their environments and experience positive and negative physical and mental states. This represents a profound shift from the 1986 framework, finally recognizing what science has long confirmed about animal consciousness and experience.

However, recognition of sentience alone is insufficient without proper implementation frameworks. As equine stakeholders, there is an urgent need to confirm that the Five Domains Model for Animal Welfare assessment—a gold standard tool that has been regularly updated over 25 years—will be embedded in all legislative considerations and decision-making processes. This comprehensive, scientifically-validated framework covers the essential elements of animal welfare: Environment, Health, Behavioral Interaction, Nutrition, and Mental State. Using world’s best practice based on international scientific evidence should be non-negotiable in any modern animal welfare legislation.

The extended delays in Victorian legislative reform—now stretching over 30 years since meaningful updates were last made—demonstrate a critical failure of political will. Animals cannot wait another decade for protection that should have been implemented years ago.

Researched and complied by Renee Neubauer .