- Text by Sarah Warne-Furtado for Eurodressage
I would guess that most self-aware, empathetic riders, have felt like a hypocrite at some point, or often, during their riding journey. I also believe that the vast majority of riders at every level genuinely love their horses. However, the deeper and more difficult question is: What obligations does that love create?
Humbling
I think there is an assumption that ambitious riders are immune to this inner conflict. They choose success and therefore negate the search for their horse's well-being. Modern dressage is often criticised for neglecting training fundamentals and compromising horse welfare in pursuit of performance. I am 100% certain that there are many trainers and riders who should not be allowed anywhere near horses. However, I also believe there are many examples of ambitious and competitive riders who keep the welfare of their horses as a priority in all aspects. I also find, having ridden in a big arena on a powerful horse, that it is a truly humbling experience and perhaps not always a true reflection of the correct training foundations.
Moral High Ground
On the other end of the spectrum, a lack of rider ambition has become somehow linked to a greater empathy for horses. The noble goal of putting their horse before all else. This rider can be just as dangerous if they become convinced they have found the morally pure answer. It has become somewhat a belief that if you use the terms ‘classical’, ‘natural’, ‘bitless’ and ‘anti-competition’ that you somehow have the moral high ground when it comes to the welfare of horses. All these things can be very beneficial. However, any ideology can turn blind. I have seen riders proudly publishing footage where they are riding with no bridle and no spurs or whip, but they are sitting completely to the left, and research has shown that “asymmetric forces exerted on the horse's back during riding are assumed to have a negative effect on rider–horse interaction, athletic performance, and health of the horse” (Journal of Equine Veterinary Science Date: July 2019). These riders do love their horse, but again, what are the obligations of this love?
I believe there is room in the extremes for the true horseman and rider; a rider who accepts the moral conflict, stays humble, follows evidence, and continually tries to do better. Perhaps the true enemy of horsemanship is not ambition, but certainty, particularly certainty with ego attached to it.
Seeing Yourself
Every rider asks something of their horse, whether that goal is Olympic dressage, a quiet hack, liberty work, or simply companionship. There is always some human desire involved. The ethical question is not whether we have ambitions, but whether we are willing to examine them honestly and limit them when they conflict with the horse’s welfare.
One of the most humbling interviews I have done in the last twenty years was with a young rider by the name of Alexandra Andresen. Alexandra was Nordic and Norwegian Junior dressage champion in 2012 and silver medalist at the Europeans in 2014. An obviously talented and ambitious rider, but also a remarkably self-aware one. After herniating her disc in July 2018 she tried to push through and continue riding through the pain, for two years, unsuccessfully. She slowly regained her strength but still the feeling of being truly in harmony with her body at the time of the interview had not yet returned.
She told me “When I ride I can feel that I’m not sitting correctly, evenly or straight. I’m fighting against my own body in the saddle. Physically I’m as strong and as flexible on each side of my body, but I still feel twisted. As a result, the horses I’ve been riding have become crooked in the same way resulting in lameness in the same limbs. It has been very disheartening to feel as though I’m only making my horses worse, rather than helping them develop. Therefore I have taken a break from dressage and I am now only hacking and occasionally schooling one horse for fun.” Here is an ambitious rider, and yet a humble and honest one. We see competition riders in the light of their achievements, but behind all those achievements are all the moments of sacrifice and acceptance. Of putting the horse before the dream.
The riders I trust most are not the ones who claim to have solved horsemanship; they are the ones who remain open to being wrong. The older I get, the more I realise that good horsemanship and training is less about certainty and more about humility.
Become The Thinking, Knowledgeable Rider
So the first crucial element is understanding. Studies consistently show that horse owners and trainers generally have a limited understanding of equine learning theory (Dierendonck & Goodwin 2005; Warren-Smith & McGreevy 2008; Hothersall & Casey 2012; Doherty et al. 2017; Fenner et al. 2019; Dyson et al.2022), and that “horse owners overestimated their equine-related knowledge”. This is not just a case of informing ourselves, although that is important. It is also about changing the way we approach horse training and interaction. Trainers and riders should become more concerned with how horses learn, not just what movements to teach, and beyond that, how those movements benefit the horse. This may sound simple, but it is actually a complete overhaul of what commonly passes through the mind of the rider.
We see a rider saying “now I am going to do a shoulder-in” and the rider is thinking about perfecting the shoulder in. They think about where to place their legs and if the horse is on three tracks. The thinking should instead be: “I will use the exercise of shoulder-in, correctly executed at the walk and trot, to make the horse bend and use the joints in his hind legs while causing him to grow greater in the forehand," to quote Nuno Oliveira. The question becomes: How does this exercise benefit the horse, and why am I using it? Rather than simply: I should do this exercise.
And finally “Despite widespread awareness of welfare considerations, findings suggest the persistence of a knowledge–practice gap” (“What Is Welfare? A Qualitative Study into Perceptions of Equine Welfare of Horse Owners” (International Journal of Equine Science, 2026).This means riders must inform themselves and then actually practice what they have learned, always, everyday. We must close this gap.
Predictability, Choice, and Positive Experience
Predictability, choice, and positive experience should govern training on the ground and in the saddle. All riders should have an understanding of learning theory, of positive and negative reinforcement, of agency and of the opt-out principe and how to apply it without compromising rider safety. There are so many books and research studies on this and in this era there really is no excuse for ignorance in horse training.
Observe and Know What You Are Looking For. This again is crucial and unfortunately studies suggest “equestrians typically fail to identify behavioural signals of fear and pain in horses and may underestimate how much pain horses are likely to be experiencing”. (Hothersall & Casey 2012; Lesimple & Hausberger 2014; Mellor & Beausoleil 2015; Yarnell et al. 2015; Bell et al. 2019; Rioja-Lang et al. 2020; Kjærulff & Lindegaard 2022; Musial & Weiss 2025).
The “Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram” (RHpE) (Dyson et al., 2018, J. Vet. Behav. 23, 47-57) was developed specifically to identify pain in horses based on their behavior while ridden. The ethogram includes 24 behaviors and it has been proposed that the presence of 8 or more of the 24 behaviors is likely to reflect musculoskeletal pain. All horse people should know the basic signs of discomfort, confusion, fear, frustration, or pain: tail swishing, mouth opening, resistance, tension, rushing, and refusal.
Just as importantly, they should know their own horse well enough to recognise when something is simply “off”. A horse does not need to be lame, bucking, or displaying obvious behavioural problems to be communicating that something is wrong. Often the earliest signs are subtle changes in attitude, expression, movement, willingness, or performance. A good horseman learns to notice these changes before they develop into health and safety concerns.
Be Responsible
Provide social contact, turnout, movement, varied feed. I realise that for many people not all these options are possible but again it comes back to ,“Yes you love your horse, but what obligations stem from your love of your horse?”.
You are responsible for the obligations stemming from your love of your horse, and you are responsible to understand and continually learn how best to care for him. The responsible rider will continually question whether they are in fact doing right by their horse. They will question if they could improve his conditions, if there are updates on what is best for his welfare, and they will sit with the discomfort of knowing that they might not always get it right and that our horses will pay the price when humans get it wrong, but they will keep trying to do better. Perhaps good welfare is not measured by how much we love horses, but by the consequences of that love, and how devoted we remain to understanding and listening to them.
Photo © Astrid Appels
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