A landmark international study has identified the five areas most essential to sport horse health and welfare — and calls for a unified, evidence-based charter to close the gap between tradition and science in equestrian sport.
A research team from nine countries set out to answer a pressing question: what does it actually take to ensure the welfare of horses competing at the highest levels of sport? Their answer, published in the journal Animals in 2023, is both clear and urgent.
Using a Delphi study — a structured method for building consensus among experts — the team consulted 104 international and national equestrian specialists across four rounds of deliberation. The result is the first consensus report of its kind: an internationally agreed framework identifying the domains most essential to sport horse management.
Five areas emerged as essential: training management, competition management, young horse management, health and veterinary management, and the horse-human relationship. Stable and environmental management were rated important but not essential, as experts felt these were already generally well handled.
The findings reveal a field at a crossroads. Many management decisions across equestrian sport remain rooted in tradition and individual experience rather than scientific evidence. This, combined with growing public scrutiny of disciplines like dressage, showjumping, and eventing, has created a pressing need for credible, evidence-informed guidelines.
Perhaps the study's most thought-provoking finding was a paradox among the experts themselves: welfare was widely valued in principle, yet not consistently rated as a core management domain in practice. The authors suggest this reflects how poorly understood welfare still is as a concept — complex, multifactorial, and too often confused with health alone.
The study team's central recommendation is the development of a sport horse welfare charter: a shared set of evidence-based guidelines that national and international federations can use to support their members, improve education, and demonstrate to the public that horse welfare is genuinely prioritized.
Notably, the study team includes Lars Roepstorff, Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences — and a recipient of the 2025 Professor Ingvar Fredricson Foundation scholarship. His involvement is a reminder of how interconnected this work is with the research the foundation exists to champion.
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Two days. One shared goal: advancing horse welfare through science, education and practice. Join leading international experts at the Horse Welfare Summit 2026, where Dr Andrew McLean will deliver two keynote lectures and receive the Professor Ingvar Fredricson Foundation Scholarship.
A new review examines how smartphones are becoming genuine tools for monitoring a horse's soundness, heart rate and recovery, and even for meeting international competition requirements. Among the systems it highlights is Sleip, co-founded by Dr. Elin Hernlund, one of the Foundation's own scholarship recipients, whose work builds on decades of Swedish equine biomechanics research going back to Professor Ingvar Fredricson himself.
On November 2, visitors gathered in Hall B at the Jönköping Horse Show for the Professor Ingvar Fredricson Foundation’s 2025 scholarship ceremony, celebrating groundbreaking Swedish research in equine biomechanics. From the pioneering efforts of the 1970s—when high‑speed cameras and manual measurements were the researcher’s tools—to today’s AI‑powered motion analysis and robotic hoof simulators, the audience was taken on a journey through decades of innovation. Professors Lars Roepstorff and Marie Rhodin, together with Associate Professor Elin Hernlund, shared their latest breakthroughs, followed by live demonstrations showing how AI and high‑precision sensors are transforming the understanding of horse–rider interaction. Moderator Jens Fredricson guided the dialogue and inspired exchange between researchers, while post‑event discussions with attendees helped build valuable bridges between research and practice.
The FEI's guardian framework resonates with the work we champion at the Professor Fredricson Foundation. Advancing equestrian sport means placing the horse's welfare and wellbeing at the center — not as an afterthought, but as the foundation upon which all excellence is built.