What does putting the horse first really mean?

The declarations are remarkably consistent worldwide. The British Horseracing Authority, the FEI, racing organizations from New York to New Zealand - all state that horse welfare is their top priority. Yet turning these commitments into reality requires us to confront some uncomfortable truths about how we manage, and what we expect of, our horses in the various contexts we use them for. Research shows that horses provided with positive welfare, experience; reduced stress, better health outcomes, improved trainability, longer competitive careers, and more successful transitions to life after sport. When horses thrive, equestrian sport thrives. It’s therefore important for all equestrians to recognize that welfare, and understanding how to provide for horse welfare needs, is an enabler - it's the foundation of a sustainable equestrianism in sport and leisure.

The question each of us must consider is simple but profound, if we know better, are we doing better?

About our speaker:

Professor Natalie (Nat) Waran OBE, BSc (Hons), PhD (Cantab)
International Animal Welfare Consultant (NavigateWelfare)

Nat is an internationally acclaimed animal behaviour and welfare scientist, educator and opinion leader. She was Professor of Animal Welfare, the Jeanne Marchig Animal Welfare Education Centre Director and International Dean at Edinburgh University’s Veterinary School, before she moved back to NZ in 2016 to take up the role of Professor of One Welfare and Executive Dean at EIT. She was until recently Director of a new ‘A Good Life for Animals’ Research and Human Behaviour Change Centre in New Zealand, and she is now the Director of NavigateWelfare, an international animal welfare consultancy.

Over the past 30+ years, she has researched and published across a range of species, but her special interest is in equine welfare and she has worked on a variety of topics including; horse transport, indicators of equine stress and pain, equine problem behaviour, equine quality of life and welfare assessment. Her most recent work in collaboration with colleagues at CSU (Australia) and Hartpury University (UK), was funded through the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Welfare Foundation with the aim of investigating methods for assessing positive emotion in racehorses. She has been a trustee for a number of international equine charities including; The Brooke (working equids) and International Fund for Animal Welfare and works closely with others such as World Horse Welfare. A co-founder of the International Society for Equitation Science (ISES), she is now Honorary Fellow and former Trustee for the organisation. In 2024 she chaired the local organising committee for the ISES conference held in NZ with the theme of ‘A Good Life for all Horses’. As the invited chairperson of the FEI Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission, she led the development of an ambitious report proposing a new ‘Good Life’ Vision, Charter and 30 Recommendations to address critical issues related to the involvement of horses in sport. In 2024m, she co-authored a white paper (Good Equine Welfare) for Eurogroup for Animal Welfare. In 2025 she was awarded an OBE for her services to equine welfare, research and education.

When at home in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand , Nat enjoys training and riding her own horses, coaching others and trying to teach her naughty donkeys and Pickles the (very) feral goat, new tricks