The 2026 Lunar New Year celebrates the Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac—symbolizing freedom, strength, energy, and vitality. Yet horses around the world endure lives of exploitation, pain, and neglect for the sake of tourism and racing profits.

Horses Are Not Tourist Attractions
Across continents, horses used in tourism endure similar abuse. Some are forced to work long hours in extreme heat without adequate food, water, shade, or rest. Some are visibly underweight, with ribs and hip bones protruding. Others suffer from open wounds caused by ill-fitting saddles and harnesses that rub their skin raw.

A new video with footage from Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and the U.S. exposes an unmistakable truth: No matter where in the world horses are used for profit, they suffer.

In Egypt, horses pulling carriages near iconic landmarks are whipped and beaten to keep them moving. In Southeast Asia, horses are tied up for hours under the blazing sun, waiting for the next paying tourist. And in the U.S., horses are forced to navigate busy streets filled with traffic and noise—conditions that cause intense fear, stress, and painful hoof and joint damage.

Horses are sensitive animals who evolved to roam free, form social bonds, and graze throughout the day. In tourism settings, they’re commonly isolated, restrained, overworked, and denied proper veterinary care.

When horses are no longer profitable—because they’re injured, sick, or simply worn out—they’re often abandoned, sold, or sent to slaughter.

In Horse Racing, Horses Never Win
In South Korea and Japan, approximately 30 horses die each year from catastrophic racing-related injuries, while hundreds of others are discarded and slaughtered for human consumption, pet food, and cosmetics when they’re no longer profitable. In the U.S., an average of 24 horses die on racetracks every week—and these figures reflect only reported on-track fatalities. Many additional horses are quietly shipped to slaughterhouses in Canada or Mexico, where their bodies are processed into products like dog food.

The Year of the Horse celebrates freedom and vitality, but horses used for racing are denied autonomy, drugged, whipped, and pushed until their bodies break.

Make This a Year for Horses
If you’re taking a trip this year, make a compassionate choice: Never ride horses or take animal-drawn carriage rides at tourist sites anywhere in the world. Every ticket purchased helps sustain this cycle of suffering.

The Year of the Horse represents a time for bold action. Click the link below to urge the Egyptian government to remove all animal rides from the pyramids.