Horses in leisure events: a posthumanist exploration of commercial and cultural values

Abstract

Horses currently play a leading role in many leisure events worldwide. However, their involvement in leisure activities raises various ethical questions. Based on a posthumanist approach, this study sought to explore the use and treatment of horses in a leisure event in Mexico. A participant observation method was adopted to conduct the research, revealing that horses become quite instrumental and commodified for humans, fulfilling intersecting entertainment, economic and cultural purposes. These results thus provide evidence of the prevailing anthropocentric and speciesist nature of horse-human interactions in leisure events. The findings include that, when horsehuman relations become highly commercialised and are institutionally recognised as cultural heritage, a complete embracement of posthumanism is needed to dissolve basic horse-human dichotomies, but this remains a utopian ideal in tourism and leisure practices.

Welfare of horses from Mexico and the United States of America transported for slaughter in Mexico: Fitness profiles for transport and pre-slaughter logistics

“…The scientific literature regarding horse welfare in commercial abattoirs is restricted to a few studies in North America (Grandin et al,1999;Friend 2000;Roy et al, 2015a;Roy and Cockram, 2015), South America (Werner and Gallo, 2008;Nivelle et al, 2020), Oceania J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f (Padalino et al, 2015), and Europe (Marlin et al, 2011;Roy et al, 2015b;Andronie et al, 2017). The transport and slaughter of horses is an important welfare issue that raises great social concern in the USA and Mexico, being a hot topic for non-governmental organizations, citizens and politicians in the region (de Aluja, 1998;Reece et al, 2000;Anderson, 2015;Monterrubio and Pérez, 2020). In 2019 at least 109 thousand horses of Mexico and the USA are transported to slaughter in Mexico (FAOSTAT, 2020).…”

“I prefer working with mares, like women, difficult in character but go the extra mile”: A study of multiple inequalities in equine (sports) business

“…Despite the anthropocentric approach to data collection, the data analysis is conducted in a posthumanist spirit, aiming to examine horses as “participants in organizations in more ethically grounded terms” (Satama & Huopalainen, 2019, p. 362) and staying critical of the grading of animals in terms of their capacity to serve humans (Clarke & Knights, 2021). In that sense, it is important to clarify that the authors' childhood experiences with horses at the amateur level have formed their understanding of horses' uses (Birke & Brandt, 2009; Birke & Thompson, 2018; Monterrubio & Pérez, 2021), while their later professional careers as critical management scholars urged them to rethink formerly engaged‐in practices of riding and owning horses, through the eyes of both horses and humans, making a conscious attempt to erase the strong human/animal divide, and recognize the existence of animal subjectivity (Huopalainen, 2022b; Jammaers, 2023).…”

“…The empirical method of qualitative, semistructured interviews was chosen as it allowed for a fairly quick understanding of how humans, professionally active in this business, assessed the equality of their field. It is important to acknowledge up front the shortcomings of such a choice, as it remains a human‐centered method prioritizing human experiences (Dashper & Brymer, 2019; Monterrubio & Pérez, 2021) and failing to fully include nonhuman animals as sentient social actors in the research design (Wels, 2020).…”

“…Historically, horses have been essential for agricultural development, warfare, and transport (Dashper, 2020). Today, their “usefulness” to humans is situated almost exclusively in leisure, tourism, and sports (Monterrubio & Pérez, 2021). Although this switch from a utility to consumption‐based relationship, in general, benefitted horses' well‐being and moral status (Dashper, 2014; Zamir, 2006), it did not signify the end of horse misuse and abuse.…”

“…Historically, horses have been essential for agricultural development, warfare, and transport (Dashper, 2020). Today, their "usefulness" to humans is situated almost exclusively in leisure, tourism, and sports (Monterrubio & Pérez, 2021).…”