Equine Welfare in England and Wales: Exploration of Stakeholders' Understanding
Authors: S. Horseman, H. Buller, S. Mullan, T. Knowles, A. Barr, H. Whay
Journal: Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Equine Welfare in England and Wales Understanding how equine professionals conceptualise welfare is crucial for identifying and addressing on-the-ground welfare failures, yet little research has examined these perceptions across the industry. Horseman and colleagues conducted in-depth interviews with 31 equine stakeholders—including owners, farriers, veterinarians, and yard managers—to map how different groups articulate and understand equine welfare. Four distinct conceptual frameworks emerged: a resource-based model (centred on provision of food and shelter); a horse-centred approach incorporating mental state and natural behaviour expression; a deficit-focused definition emphasising the absence of negative states; and a contextual relativism where professionals dismissed welfare concerns within their own practice as non-problematic. Significantly, these differing frameworks appeared to create blind spots, with stakeholders acknowledging welfare issues in hypothetical or unfamiliar scenarios whilst normalising comparable problems in their own work—a cognitive disconnect that likely perpetuates preventable suffering. For the sector to advance welfare standards meaningfully, intervention strategies must acknowledge and address these underlying conceptual barriers rather than assuming shared understanding of what "good welfare" actually entails; training and guidance that aligns professional constructs with evidence-based welfare science may be essential.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Recognize that your peers may have fundamentally different definitions of 'good welfare'—some focus on basic resources alone, others on mental state and behavior—which affects how they identify and address problems
- •Be aware that familiar welfare issues in your own yard or practice may not be recognized as problems by those experiencing them daily, requiring deliberate education rather than assumption of shared understanding
- •When advocating for welfare improvements, frame messaging around stakeholders' existing constructs (resource provision, mental state, natural behavior) rather than abstract welfare principles to increase uptake and behavior change
Key Findings
- •Equine stakeholders understood welfare in four distinct ways: resource provision, horse-centered understanding (mental state and natural behavior), negative connotations of 'welfare,' and avoidance of negative states
- •Stakeholders frequently failed to recognize welfare problems occurring in their own familiar contexts, suggesting cognitive barriers to welfare problem identification
- •Divergent stakeholder constructs of welfare may be acting as significant barriers to practical welfare problem alleviation
- •Current welfare improvement strategies may be ineffective because they do not account for how stakeholders actually conceptualize and understand welfare