Shared work? Unravelling interspecies entanglements, agency, and the rhythms of equids at work.
Authors: Watson Tamlin, Clancy Cara
Journal: Frontiers in veterinary science
Summary
# Editorial Summary Watson and Clancy's examination of donkey labour across three geographically and economically distinct settings—the UK, Europe, and the Global South—challenges conventional welfare frameworks by interrogating what "work" actually means from the equid's perspective rather than purely through human management practices. Through ethnographic fieldwork employing more-than-human methodologies, the authors move beyond binary assessments of exploitation versus benefit, instead proposing a concept of "shared work" that acknowledges donkeys as active participants with their own agency, rather than passive subjects of labour. The research distinguishes between the physical demands placed on working equids and the freedoms available to them—including opportunities for rest, play and social bonding—finding that work quality varies substantially depending on relational context and management philosophy across the three case studies. Their approach, grounded in contemporary critical animal theory, reframes equine welfare discussions toward recognising sentience and subjectivity, suggesting that equine professionals should evaluate working situations not merely through output or injury metrics, but by examining whether the working animal retains autonomy and engagement with their own labour. For practitioners across farriery, veterinary medicine, nutrition and coaching, this work prompts consideration of how donkeys and horses experience their roles, and whether current welfare standards adequately account for psychological and social dimensions beyond physical health.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •When managing working equids, consider the quality of their non-work time (rest, play, social interaction) as integral to their welfare and work capacity, not separate from it
- •Recognize that equids are active agents in their work relationships; observe and respond to individual differences in how they experience and navigate their working roles
- •Apply a relational lens to equid work management—view the human-equid partnership as genuinely shared rather than unidirectional, which may improve both welfare and working effectiveness
Key Findings
- •Working equids experience 'shared work' through relational entanglements that blur traditional human-animal labour boundaries across UK, European, and Global South contexts
- •Equid work encompasses not only physical labour but also opportunities for rest, play, and kinship that shape welfare outcomes and subjective experience
- •Ethnographic analysis suggests working equids possess agency and sentience that should be centered in understanding their work experience rather than viewing them as passive labour units