Globetrotting Horses: Welfare Discourses and Disciplinary Power in the Transportation of Horses by Air.
Authors: Gräschke Lucia
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Welfare Discourses in Air Transportation Lucia Gräschke's 2024 discourse analysis examines how welfare narratives and transportation practices shape both equine and human experiences during air freight, drawing on 81 newspaper articles, video documentation, and interviews with transport industry representatives. Using Foucauldian methodology, the research identifies four distinct welfare discourses that underpin current air transportation practices, revealing how language and framing create particular understandings of what constitutes acceptable horse welfare during transit. A critical finding is that these dominant discourses have effectively positioned horses as passive subjects and transport professionals as technical operators rather than active agents making welfare-centred decisions. For equine professionals advising clients on air transportation—particularly those managing elite sport horses, breeding stock, and auction animals—this research highlights how the discursive frameworks guiding industry standards may inadvertently constrain innovation and critical examination of actual welfare outcomes during flight. Understanding these power dynamics offers practitioners an opportunity to engage more critically with transportation protocols and advocate for evidence-based practices that prioritise individual horse assessment over standardised, discourse-driven procedures.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Transport professionals should recognize how dominant welfare narratives may limit critical thinking about actual horse welfare outcomes during air transport
- •Consider advocating for more nuanced welfare discourses that empower both horses and transport professionals to actively participate in welfare optimization
- •Current industry standards may reflect discourse-driven practices rather than evidence-based welfare best practices—question underlying assumptions in standard protocols
Key Findings
- •Analysis of 81 newspaper articles, 5 video clips, and 4 interviews identified four distinct welfare discourses in equine air transportation
- •Welfare discourses and transportation practices employ disciplinary power to constitute both horses and human professionals involved in air transport
- •Current discourses create 'inactive horses' and passive human professionals rather than promoting active welfare engagement
- •Power dynamics in welfare discourse creation shape transportation practices and their impact on equine and human stakeholders