June 5, 2025, 12:34 pm | Read time: 10 minutes
When people hear the term “torture breeding,” they often think of specific dog or cat breeds, such as pugs or hairless cats. However, there are also horses that have been bred in ways that cause them significant limitations due to breeding-related traits.
Dogs with flat noses that struggle to breathe, hairless cats prone to skin diseases, and rabbits with oversized floppy ears that lead to infections: The list of breeding practices that cause suffering—especially among pets—seems endless. Yet what some people find appealing is often linked to pain and illness for the animals. And even if it doesn’t seem obvious at first glance, the human obsession with optimization doesn’t spare horses either. It’s not just supposed beauty ideals but also the performance of the animals that are prioritized. PETBOOK explains which horses are considered suffering breeds and what to watch out for.
What Are Suffering Breeds?
The term “suffering breed” refers to breeding practices where it is foreseeable that the animals or their offspring will experience pain, suffering, damage, or fear—this is the common definition. Whether a hairless cat or a dog with a snout crumpled like an accordion is considered beautiful is not just a matter of taste. These animals are also not healthy. As velvety as the skin of a hairless cat may feel, cats of this breed often suffer from impaired tactile and orientation senses and lack temperature regulation. And the wheezing of a pug or French bulldog, which some people find cute, is anything but an expression of joy for the animal: It is desperately trying to get enough air despite its deformed nose.1
But it’s not just pets that have been bred in specific directions by humans. So-called livestock are also bred for specific performance traits. Dairy cows have huge udders that produce enormous amounts of milk, but the animals often struggle to walk. Inflammations, hoof problems, and other diseases are the result. Turkeys and chickens are bred with large breast muscles because their lean meat is considered particularly popular and healthy by consumers.
The problem: The animals can hardly move naturally and suffer from skeletal and circulatory diseases. Even animals that are neither used for food production nor kept as accessories are increasingly affected by suffering breeds. Horses are also impacted, with supposed beauty ideals and performance in sports competitions being the focus. However, horse breeding is a multimillion-dollar business. It’s hardly surprising that the health of the horses may not always be considered.2, 3
Questionable Beauty Ideal in Arabian Horses
The sometimes absurd human notions of beauty that horses must fulfill were particularly evident in 2017 with an Arabian stallion named “El Rey Magnum.” The foal resembled a grotesquely exaggerated comic seahorse that had wandered onto land. The already distinctly inward-curved, breed-specific nasal line of Arabian horses was so pronounced in El Rey Magnum that his head resembled that of a seahorse. While so-called “dolphin heads” with large, relatively high nostrils are desired in Arabian horses, many veterinarians believed the breeders had gone too far with El Rey Magnum.
Although the stallion was bred solely for show purposes and not as a riding horse, there were concerns that he might struggle to breathe due to his deformed head. Horses breathe exclusively through their nostrils and not through their mouths. This would likely be difficult with a head like El Rey Magnum’s. A veterinarian and horse expert told a British trade magazine that breeding had reached “a ridiculous level” with El Rey Magnum. He even suspected that the animal’s movement was restricted. Nevertheless, El Rey Magnum, who reportedly lives in Italy today, was the pride of his American breeders and considered by many Arabian fans to be “the most beautiful stallion in the world.”
For his unique appearance, the animal even received international awards. Although the more pronounced nasal bridge and distinctive nostrils of Arabian horses were originally an evolutionary advantage, allowing the animals to breathe more easily in dry conditions, these features and the high tail gave them their typical, elegant appearance. Through breeding, these traits have been increasingly emphasized over generations. El Rey Magnum was ultimately seen as the pinnacle of the questionable trend toward Arabian horses with exaggerated appearances. As an award-winning breeding stallion, he likely passed on his appearance—and potential problems.4, 5
Lightened Coat Brings Health Problems
Appearance is also at the forefront of another trend among horse enthusiasts: so-called lightened horses are apparently becoming increasingly popular. Mutated genes are responsible for some animals having a lightened coat color. The so-called silver color (also known as wind color) “is characterized in horses and ponies by significantly lightened long hair (often white to silver-gray or gray-mottled mane or tail) and gray to chocolate-brown body hair (sometimes with strong dappling),” describes the German Equestrian Federation on its website.
This is only visibly apparent in black and brown horses, although chestnuts can also carry the gene responsible for this change, the silver allele, and pass it on. However, this can bring severe health problems for the animals. “In addition to disturbed color pigments in the hair, these breeds are also predisposed to other damages,” reports the website Vet.Thieme. The mutated genes that produce silver-colored coats, lightened chestnut colors, or so-called chestnut-white-isabelle not only cause light hair. According to the website, they also interfere with enzymes in metabolic processes of other traits, potentially leading to severe anomalies or diseases.
Silver-colored horses are thus prone to eye diseases that can lead to swollen eyeballs and cysts. “A gene mutation in the Arabian thoroughbred leads to a light gray-brown coat color but also to multiple neurological disorders that result in death shortly after birth,” it continues. Eyes and skin are more sensitive to UV radiation in lighter horses, such as chestnut-white-isabelles, which can lead to eczema. Lightened chestnuts suffer more frequently from a specific type of cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, than their darker counterparts.6, 7
Also interesting: Equine Asthma – Symptoms, Causes, Treatment
Muscular Quarter Horses with Thin Skin
Other horses that appear robust and strong at first glance can also be suffering breeds. Quarter Horses, for example, are the most widespread horse breed worldwide. These usually friendly and intelligent horses often have numerous health problems due to years of strict breeding. Depending on the purpose for which the horses are bred, different physical traits are emphasized. Some Quarter Horses have an extremely muscular build, while others need to be smaller and more agile. Others have special abilities in working with cattle.
Racing Quarters must primarily be fast. However, many Quarter Horses suffer from diseases due to these desired abilities and physical demands, or they even pay with their lives for the bred traits. For example, Quarter Horses can suffer from the life-threatening muscle disease HYPP, which causes cramps and muscle weakness in affected horses. The disease is incurable, and its progression is unpredictable. The skin disease HERDA is also more common in horses of this breed, as reported by the German Animal Welfare Federation and the animal welfare organization Peta.
Horses affected by this have very sensitive skin. When ridden, this can quickly lead to injuries, especially to the thin skin under the saddle. In some cases, horses even have to be euthanized. Strict breeding goals ensure that even animals carrying hereditary diseases are repeatedly used for breeding, and no other breeds are crossed in, criticize animal welfare advocates. Because many of the horses awarded for their traits become breeding animals and pass on the hereditary diseases they carry to their offspring.8
Miniature Horses with Tooth Infections
Even seemingly cute appearances pose health risks for animals. An example is horses of the American Miniature Horse and Falabella breeds. Miniature horses reach a maximum height of just under 87 centimeters, making them even smaller than an average pony, which measures about 148 centimeters. “And this poses great dangers because the teeth of miniature horses are almost as large as those of their larger counterparts,” says the animal welfare organization Peta on its website.
And this can cause the animals severe pain. Because: To ensure the heads of miniature horses match the proportions of their bodies, they were also bred very small. With the same number of teeth that a large horse has in its mouth, this can lead to complications for the tiny relatives. The 24 teeth simply have too little space in the jaw.
This issue now also exists in large horses, Peta further reports. The trend is to breed “modern horses” with smaller, narrower heads. Inflammations, especially in the area of the last molar, and swelling in the jaw that can extend into the nasal passages are often the result. Miniature horses can develop sinus infections that, if untreated, often lead to the death of the animals.
Additionally, their often overly long teeth prevent them from taking in and processing enough food. This can lead to deficiencies and a loss of quality of life, as Peta reports. Furthermore, many of the small horses, such as Falabellas, cannot be born naturally. Instead, they must be delivered by cesarean section. The small horses also easily get cold and therefore need a shelter that is protected from cold and wind.9
Suffering Breeds in Horses Not Always Visible
Important to know: Suffering breeds in horses cannot be identified by appearance alone. Narrow selection criteria, breeding only with certain animals, and the lack of crossbreeding with other horses have left their mark on almost every horse breed. As reported by the Suffering Breed Evidence Network (QUEN), some defects are particularly prevalent in certain breeds and are also visually recognizable, such as coat colorations. Other mutations and associated defects, however, are found in various horse breeds.
An example is the greying mutation, “which is directly linked to the formation of melanomas in older age,” according to QUEN. Another inheritable but not externally visible disease is a specific connective tissue weakness that is ultimately fatal. It occurs in foals and affects numerous breeds, such as Belgian Warmblood, German Sport Horse, Haflinger, Hanoverian, and Oldenburg.
Some Suffering Breeds in Horses Detectable Through Genetic Tests
There are now genetic tests that can, among other things, determine whether a horse carries predispositions for eye diseases. Other serious genetic defects can also be tested for. Special tests are available for genetically determined diseases that occur specifically in lightened horses.
Breeding with such animals, especially those carrying the so-called silver allele, is apparently still not an option. “The Breeding Advisory Board does not advocate banning the silver color (wind color),” states the German Equestrian Federation’s website.
However, the association issues urgent recommendations for breeding with affected horses and ponies. It advises against breeding purebred horses carrying the silver allele. If one parent carries the gene, the other should be free of it. In case of doubt, a genetic test should clarify whether an animal carries the genetic predisposition. For certain breeds where the silver allele is common, such as Shetland Pony, Icelandic Horse, and Highland Pony, “starting from the breeding year 2025, all stallions of the mentioned breeds that are entered or registered in a stallion book will be tested for the silver mutation using the genetic test.”
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Conclusion
Horses can also be affected by suffering breeds, which can have serious health consequences. Some of these suffering breed traits can be recognized, such as lightened coat colors, extremely muscular bodies, or perceived cute dwarfism. Other health problems, however, are inherited unnoticed at first and only become apparent later.
In some horse breeding associations, it is a requirement that animals be tested before their first breeding use. However, this is not mandatory. Legal foundations are also lacking. The Suffering Breed Evidence Network QUEN notes: “In some breeding associations, certain defect traits are even closely linked to the most popular breeding animals—making the spread of diseases inevitable. Eliminating suffering breed traits in horse breeding seems no longer feasible without drastic bans.”
The animal rights organization Peta advises against buying horses from breeders. Instead, one can give a home to animals in need. Information on this is available from animal welfare associations and organizations specializing in the placement of horses.