Ethics, Tension, and a Missing Mirror
At the 2025 FEI World Cup Finals in Basel, the independent Equine Quality Control team (EQC) was tasked with monitoring horse welfare on-site. But what was meant to be a collaborative quality check turned into a revealing look at just how far elite sport will go to avoid scrutiny.
EQC’s mission—quietly observing warm-up areas and flagging urgent welfare concerns—was met with defensiveness. Their feedback, instead of being welcomed, triggered restrictions and warnings from event officials. Stewards, rather than acting on concerns, often deferred or dismissed them with “the rules were followed.”
Among EQC’s most urgent cases: a visibly stressed vaulting horse with tongue abnormalities; a jumper with an overly low noseband possibly limiting air; a tightly buckled bridle causing tongue displacement; and a dressage horse with a dangerously short curb chain. In each case, EQC was either sidelined or told post hoc that everything was in compliance. The issue, it seems, isn’t the rules—it’s what they don’t cover.
Discipline-specific inconsistencies, such as the continued acceptance of draw reins in jumping but not in dressage, highlight the FEI’s fractured welfare policy. Even when glaring discomfort was visible, the system chose to protect protocol, not the horse.
The report ends with a blunt call: equestrian sport must move from reactive administration to proactive ethics.
It warns that relying on public goodwill while failing to address visible horse discomfort isn’t just unsustainable, it’s damaging. Until the sport stops managing impressions and starts prioritising the horse, the trust it depends on will keep slipping.
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