Welfare assessment of racehorses provides a baseline for continued monitoring.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Racehorse welfare continues to be a focus of stakeholders both within and outside of the industry, and there is a need for evidence-based animal welfare data.

Objectives

To gather data on racehorse welfare through a combination of animal-based observations and information about management practices, and to ascertain the feasibility of trained industry assessors carrying out a racehorse welfare assessment.

Study design

Cross-sectional.

Methods

Sixteen trained industry assessors conducted individual observations of 737 racehorses in 21 Flat racing (F), 27 National Hunt (NH) and 26 Dual-purpose (D) training yards in Great Britain (GB). The welfare assessment protocol, including management and animal-based welfare measures, was carried out on up to 10 ho

SUBMITTER: Annan R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12699104 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature