New research urges therapy providers to treat horses as 'active participants', not tools

A review published in the journal Animals, led by Waldemar Grzegorzewski of the University of Rzeszów, has examined the welfare of horses used in equine-assisted therapy and activities. The researchers argue that these horses should be regarded as active participants in a two-way relationship rather than as therapeutic tools, and they describe a risk of "interpretative asymmetry": because providers set the purpose, pace and conditions of each session, and the horse cannot explain how it experienced the interaction, its wellbeing can end up inferred rather than properly assessed.

The review cautions that a calm or compliant horse is not necessarily a consenting or engaged one, and suggests welfare should be treated as something to monitor throughout a programme rather than a box ticked at the outset. It calls for providers to treat each horse as an individual, to watch for subtle changes in behaviour over time, and to give horses genuine opportunities to withdraw from an interaction. Michael Bishop, chief executive of the Riding for the Disabled Association, said the findings reinforce the importance of continuing to learn and evolve, describing the horse as "an active partner" in the charity's work, while Celia Grummitt, chair of the Equine Assisted Services Partnership, said understanding equine wellbeing in this context "cannot be overstated."

For horse owners and breeders more widely, the research is a useful reminder that welfare assessment needs to look past surface-level compliance to an animal's ongoing physical and emotional experience, whatever it is being asked to do. The researchers suggest further study into equine body-language indicators and physiological markers of stress or engagement, which could in time help shape clearer professional standards across the growing equine-assisted therapy sector.