06/10/2025
The culture we create for humans is the culture horses live in.
Every barn, every show team, every training program develops a culture. Some cultures are grounded in respect, learning, and support. Others are shaped by intimidation, gossip, and silence.
📊 In equestrian surveys, the majority of riders report experiencing or witnessing bullying. Riders Minds (2023) found that 76 percent of equestrians had been bullied and 85 percent had seen it happen. Most said they did not feel safe to speak up. A 2024 study of riding centres in Great Britain found the same patterns: harassment, exclusion, and misogyny, all enabled by a fear of losing access to horses if you challenged the behaviour.
This is a sport built on passion. We care deeply about the horses, the methods, and the results. But when emotions run high, it’s easy for conversations to move from curiosity to criticism. Sometimes, instead of discussing ideas, things start to feel personal. And when that happens, the focus drifts away from learning, and from the horses we all care about.
🔬 Why does this matter for horses?
Because the culture we accept with people sets the tone for how animals are treated.
Sport psychology classifies bullying as a form of emotional abuse. Emotional abuse creates anxiety, burnout, and withdrawal. In barns, that means riders are less likely to advocate for themselves or for their horses. When intimidation silences humans, it also silences conversations about welfare.
Animal welfare science reinforces the link. Studies show that empathy and attitudes toward animals predict welfare outcomes. Handlers who view horses as sentient and capable of suffering provide better care and training outcomes. Cultures that normalize domination or control often produce poorer welfare for both humans and horses.
And here’s the overlap:
• When gossip, exclusion, and humiliation are tolerated among humans, rough handling of horses often becomes invisible.
• When people are told to “toughen up” or “pay their dues,” it’s easier to rationalize pushing horses through pain or stress.
• When fear of speaking out rules the barn, both people and horses lose their advocates.
This culture doesn’t just silence, IT DRAINS. Trainers and riders who want to work differently often describe burnout and moral distress. When kindness is treated as weakness, the people striving for welfare-first change carry an invisible load. You can’t build empathy for horses in a space that punishes empathy in humans.
🌱What healthy culture looks like:
• Clear boundaries: respect is non-negotiable for people and horses.
• Safety to speak: if you see something that harms a rider or a horse, you can raise it without fear of retaliation.
• Leaders who value empathy as much as performance.
• Communities that model care, not control.
• Ability to ask questions and have conversations even with a difference of opinion
No training space exists in isolation, the tone we set shapes every interaction within it. Horses live inside it just as much as humans do. When we protect people from intimidation, we also protect horses from the same patterns of harm.
Because when kindness becomes the culture, everyone, two-legged and four-legged, gets safer.
