"But my horse is well cared for": A qualitative exploration of cognitive dissonance and enculturation in equestrian attitudes toward performance horses and their welfare.

ABSTRACT: There is concern amongst the public, equestrians, animal welfare organisations, and horse-sport governing bodies regarding the welfare of performance horses, but equestrian culture appears slow to change. The present study seeks to increase our understanding of human factors underlying the persistence of welfare-compromising management and training practices within the performance horse world. Individual, semi-structured interviews focused on equestrians' attitudes were conducted with 22 equestrians from classical equestrian disciplines in the US, Canada, and the UK. Interview transcripts were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Five main themes were identified: perception of welfare issues; conflicting conceptions of a good life; objectification of the horse; instrumentalisation o

SUBMITTER: Cheung E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12304784 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature