Riding schools can make horse-welfare principles part of ordinary lessons and stable routines, and they are well placed to influence what equestrians treat as normal. The evidence, however, supports potential and early steps rather than a measured change in welfare culture. A 2026 Swedish study found that welfare-related teaching is not consistently built into riding education, and that teachers and pupils describe it differently. Frameworks from the British Horse Society and Equestrian Canada show how welfare can be written into structured learning, but neither has published outcome data showing that it changes how horses are treated.
What the 2026 Swedish study shows
Nyberg, Blokhuis, McLean and Hartmann’s article “Rider education at Swedish riding schools: Comparing teachers’ and pupils’ perspectives” appeared in PLOS ONE on 27 February 2026. It asks how horse behaviour and welfare, learning, and rider–horse communication are taught and perceived. The authors start from the point that riding schools reach riders of many ages and experience levels, and that teachers there can challenge traditional views.
The authors are clear that traditional lessons tend to focus on technical riding, such as posture and how a horse responds to aids, while less time goes to interpreting behavioural and emotional responses. They also cite earlier survey data in which 36% of Swedish and Finnish pupils said their riding schools offered non-riding instruction in horse behaviour, welfare, learning, and human–horse communication. That figure comes from the earlier survey as discussed by Nyberg et al.; it is not a result of the 2026 study’s own questionnaire.
Teachers and pupils describe different lessons
In the 2026 study, teachers more often said they offered separate non-riding lessons than pupils said they attended them. The authors read this as a mismatch: teachers sometimes assumed pupils were not interested, while pupils reported that such lessons were often not offered. Their conclusion is that welfare teaching needs better structure and clearer links between lesson content and intended learning outcomes.
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Why the findings have limits
Participation was voluntary, and the data came from online questionnaires answered by Swedish teachers and pupils. The findings describe that surveyed group and its perceptions. They do not measure how common welfare teaching is across riding schools elsewhere, and they do not show that any particular curriculum improves horse outcomes. The authors themselves call for intervention and longitudinal studies to establish how this education should be structured and whether it produces meaningful learning.
The article also gives Swedish context of about 450 riding schools and roughly five million lessons a year. These figures come from sources the article cites. They describe the Swedish setting; they are not numbers that have been independently verified.
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Defining welfare in terms a stable can act on
The British Horse Society’s “Horses in Society” guidance, last reviewed on 27 February 2025, is built on the 2020 Five Domains Model. The model requires attention to both physical and emotional or mental wellbeing, and the guidance turns that into five practical headings. It states the principle plainly: “Good welfare and equestrianism must, and do, go together.” The table below shows how each heading can appear in a riding school’s daily work. These are British Horse Society recommendations, not statutory requirements in every country.
| BHS heading | What it looks like in a riding school |
|---|---|
| Suitable nutrition | Clean water, suitable feed, and no prolonged periods without forage |
| Suitable and safe environment | Safe shelter and turnout, appropriate ventilation, and safe handling areas |
| Protection from pain, injury and disease | Routine and emergency veterinary care, a veterinary health plan, well-fitting tack, and noticing signs of pain |
| Behavioural needs | Training based on evidence of how horses learn, and allowing for interactions with the environment, other horses and people |
| Mental state and subjective experience | Emotional wellbeing and positive experiences, not just the prevention of harm, and noticing signs of stress or fear |
A structured curriculum example: Equestrian Canada’s LearnTo
Equestrian Canada’s LearnTo page describes LearnTo as its national learning framework for equestrian sport. It serves participants, coaches and facilities through progressive pathways and horse-centred practices. The page states that the new framework launched in July 2026.
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LearnToCare
LearnToCare covers safe handling, daily care, health, welfare and stable management. The organization puts its position this way: “The foundation of all equestrian sport is understanding how to handle and care for horses.” LearnToRide runs alongside it and develops riding skills through progressive levels, so welfare content sits next to riding progression rather than apart from it.
What the framework does and does not show
The LearnTo page describes the framework’s design and aims. It is not an independent evaluation, and nothing on the page shows that riders who complete the pathways handle horses differently. It is also a Canadian framework, so its reach and adoption depend on Canadian clubs and facilities. Electronic manuals are available free through a MyEC account, and printed manuals can be bought from the Equestrian Canada store.
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A welfare study still in progress: Denmark
The QATO Foundation’s project page describes a study by the Danish Equestrian Federation, launched in 2023, that set out to assess training-horse welfare at riding academies. The planned work combined a questionnaire with visits to ten selected academies. It covered training horses’ health, stable and enclosure conditions, equipment, instruction, and interactions with instructors, riders and other horses. The page anticipated sub-results in 2024 and the project running through 2025.
The page reports no findings, so nothing can be said about what the visits found. Anne Silfwander, identified there as Head of DRF’s Club and Sport Activities, described the expected purpose: “Altogether, this comprehensive study will provide knowledge on how training horses are doing at the riding academies and whether any areas of the horses’ well-being need improvement.” That is a statement of intent, not a result. Readers who want the current status should check the Danish Equestrian Federation directly.
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Turning principles into a lesson plan
The evidence points to a practical sequence. None of these steps has been tested as a package, but each follows from the frameworks above and from the gaps the Swedish study identified.
- Write welfare learning outcomes for each level. Use the five BHS headings as a checklist of what a rider should be able to explain at each stage, such as feed and water needs, signs of pain and stress, and the fit of tack.
- Teach handling and daily care before mounted work. Groundwork, grooming and stable routines are where riders first learn to read a horse, so schedule them as lessons rather than chores.
- Build behaviour and mental state into riding lessons. Ask pupils what a horse’s ears, tail or breathing indicate while aids are being applied, not only whether the aid worked.
- Check attendance and understanding. Compare the timetable with the lessons pupils actually attend and can explain. The Swedish mismatch shows that an instructor’s intention is not proof of delivery.
- Measure horse-centred outcomes. Track veterinary visits, body condition and recorded stress behaviour over time, not only how many riders completed a course.
How the three sources compare
These sources describe different things: a survey study, a set of guidance principles, an education framework, and a planned study. They should be read as different kinds of evidence rather than as equivalent interventions.
| Source | Type | Geography | What it covers | Evidence status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nyberg et al., PLOS ONE, 27 February 2026 | Peer-reviewed survey study of teachers and pupils | Sweden, with earlier Swedish and Finnish survey data cited | How welfare, learning and rider–horse communication are taught and perceived | Descriptive; voluntary online questionnaires; not causal |
| British Horse Society, “Horses in Society,” last reviewed 27 February 2025 | Welfare guidance | United Kingdom | Five welfare domains translated into operational questions | Guidance; no outcome evaluation cited |
| Equestrian Canada, LearnTo, launched July 2026 | National education framework | Canada | Handling, daily care, health, welfare, stable management and riding progression | Programme design and aims; no published outcome evaluation |
| QATO Foundation description of the Danish Equestrian Federation study | Welfare study of riding academies | Denmark | Training-horse health, facilities, equipment, instruction and interactions | Planned; project page reports no results |
The practical question for a riding school is therefore not which source is best, but which of these elements it can actually deliver and verify in its own lessons and stable.
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