Ethical Equitation
Ethical Equitation – a definitional conundrum
Can ethical equitation be defined?
According to Dr Hugh Wirth, 1999 President of the RSPCA, Australia, there are many definitions of animal welfare with none being agreed to internationally. Nor is there an internationally agreed definition of the philosophy of animal welfare. With ethics and welfare being closely intertwined, developing a single, internationally agreed definition of ethical equitation might prove to be a challenge. Nonetheless, I thought it would be an interesting idea to explore, the term having been in equine-related vernacular for several years now. It has been an interesting journey and I will share with you some of the more noteworthy results of my research.
Search Results
The internet contains a plethora of informal references to ethical equitation. It is cited in social media, journals, scholarly articles and conference papers and, collectively, they prove the term is gaining recognition within the (mainly) English disciplines of the equine community.
The term appears to have been coined as recently as 2008, possibly by two Australian equine scientists Professor Paul D. McGreevy at the University of Sydney and Dr Andrew N. Mclean, principal of the Australian Equine Behaviour Centre. Indeed, most references to ethical equitation can be traced back to scientific papers and publications of one or both of these scholars. It can also be traced to an organization with which both scientists are associated, the International Society for Equitation Science (ISES) of which Professor McGreevy was a founding member and Dr McLean a current Senior Vice President (2013).
It was the ISES website that gave me the greatest anticipation of finding a definition for ethical equitation, the theme of their 2009 Australian Conference being Ethical Equitation – a Sustainable Approach. As baffling as it might seem, however, this appropriately titled conference neither defined the term nor (and this is even more baffling) did it offer a rationale for not defining it. I examined the glossaries of ISES conference papers from 2009 to 2013 but the only attempted definition appeared in the Glossary of the 7th Conference in 2011. In my view, this 'definition' is more a statement of aims and methods. It states "Ethical equitation aims to minimize deleterious effects at the human-horse interface. It demands, in particular, that trainers and riders use minimal pressure in both contact (if relevant to the sport) and signalling and that pressure is released immediately. Furthermore, it requires trainers and riders to understand the impacts of their actions and be prepared to justify them". Finally, I decided to contact ISES personally for a 'proper' definition of Ethical Equitation. I sent an email enquiry through their website but, unfortunately, this was not responded to.
Now, I don’t mean any criticism of ISES for this apparent oversight, I have relayed the experience here because it adds weight to my argument that ethical equitation is, indeed, a definitional slippery eel.
As mentioned above, the term ethical equitation is beginning to appear regularly in some scientific literature - particularly in publications authored by McGreevy and McLean - and it is clear from their papers the authors have made a presumption their target audience has an innate understanding of what is meant by the term.
And they would be right – up to a point. Although interpretation of the word ‘ethical’ is different to each and every one of us, being tied to an individual’s moral compass, they are our personal ethics that help us distinguish right from wrong.
Personal ethics in relation to equitation may not be enough, however, and this is illustrated well in the opening chapter of the excellent publication 'Equine Welfare', edited by C. Wayne McIlwraith and Bernard E. Rollin. In this chapter, Bernard Rollin recognizes that a free society containing a bewildering array of personal ethics would have the potential for significant clash between them. By way of example (with apologies to Bernard), if my personal ethic was that ‘no horse should ever be put into a horse trailer and transported’, and yours was ‘it is all right to transport horses in a trailer for a 24 hour stretch without break’, then we would be bound to clash. What would be needed to diffuse this clash, according to Rollin, would be a societal consensus ethic – one that would set welfare parameters for horse trailering; one that would transcend our personal ethics and one that we could both live with. Fortunately, this is being done and examples of societal consensus ethics can be found in the animal welfare codes of most responsible equine governing bodies.
Against this background, and before I decide whether I am plucky enough to attempt to invent a definition of ethical equitation and cast it into the World Wide Web for international public scrutiny, it might be helpful to dissect the terms ‘ethics’ and ‘equitation’.
Ethics
The word ‘ethics’, is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity”, ‘moral’ being further defined as “concerned with the principles of right and wrong behaviour”. This is useful but it is about personal ethics and, as illustrated above, we can run into trouble with these.
Some guidelines would be handy: guidelines developed by people-in-the-know that might steer us towards a societal consensus ethic for our interactions with horses. Fortunately, there is some excellent, recent equine welfare research upon which we can call.
In 2012 the Journal of Veterinary Behaviour published a first-rate paper by researchers Camie R. Heleski and Raymond Anthony. It is titled “Science alone is not always enough: The importance of ethical assessment for a more comprehensive view of equine welfare” and in this paper the authors suggest key moral questions that may be used as baseline indicators for assessing whether our interactions with horses are ethical. These are:
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1. Does this practice cause my horse short-term pain or discomfort? and, probably most importantly…
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Equitation
In popular vernacular ‘equitation’ is most often associated with English-style riding, possibly because of Equitation competitions - a jumper/hunter hybrid class in which the style of the rider over jumps is judged rather than the horse. ‘Equitation’ comprises far more than this, however.
Apparently, the first known use of the term ‘equitation’ was in 1562 (which, for perspective, was not very long after Copernicus shocked everyone in 1543 by saying he thought the earth rotated around the sun and not vice versa) coming from the Latin equitātiō, from equitāre (to ride), and from equus (horse). Here are some definitions:
• The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘equitation’ as ‘the art and practice of horsemanship and horse riding’
• The Free Dictionary defines it as ‘the study and practice of riding and horsemanship’.
• The Merriam Webster Dictionary’s definition is a little different in that it omits the ‘horsemanship’ part, preferring ‘the act or art of riding on horseback’. I think it can safely be presumed, however, that any ‘act’ or ‘art’ of riding must have some degree of horsemanship at its root.
Based on these definitions then, equitation would embrace all riding disciplines - dressage, eventing, show jumping, racing, western riding, reining, trick riding, polo, polocrosse, endurance, leisure riding, trail riding and so on. But does it include non-riding disciplines such as harness racing, carriage horses, miniature horses and stud horses for example? To answer this question it is necessary to parse the word ‘horsemanship’.
Our understanding of “horsemanship” has been evolving over time with particular acceleration over the last 20 years or so, largely owing to the explosion in electronic social media. During this period we have witnessed expanded connotation and dissemination of the term ‘horsemanship’ to the point it no longer refers to simply riding a horse, if it ever really did. I won’t go into a lengthy dialogue here, but if you wish to follow this up you could look at an outstanding book by Robert M Miller and Rick Lamb entitled “The Revolution in Horsemanship and what it means to mankind”.
Getting back to our definition. The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘horsemanship’ as ‘the art or practice of riding on horseback’ which is unhelpful to my argument that ‘horsemanship’ also embraces on-ground training. (Here I must admit to being a little bit smug to raise the possibility that Oxford’s definition of ‘horsemanship’ makes their definition of ‘equitation’ a tautology). Fortunately, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary helps us out with a definition of ‘horsemanship’ that is closest to our contemporary understanding of the term as it embraces riding, driving, caring for, managing, breeding and racing horses. It is clear, then that our contemporary understanding of 'horsemanship' and 'equitation' includes both ridden and non-ridden components of horse/human interactions. (Note: I have not included so called 'production' horses here and this may be addressed in a future EE Topic.)
Conclusion
So, am I any nearer to defining ethical equitation?
As a result of my research and having particular regard to the baseline indicators in Heleski and Anthony’s paper, I am now in a position to offer an informed contribution that not only aligns with my personal ethic but possibly has enough worthy attributes that might allow it to gather traction as a societal consensus ethic. With that said…
| Ethical Equitation Definition |
Ethical equitation is the practice of horsemanship incorporating techniques and tools that do no harm to the horse and lead to a willing partnership between the horse and the human, at liberty and in confinement.  |
References Used:
Horse Welfare - Dr Hugh J Worth, President, RSPCA Australia (1999)
Ethical equitation: Capping the price horses pay for human glory (McLean and McGreevy, 2010)
ISES Conference Proceedings - Ethical Equitation - A Sustainable Approach (Sydney, Australia, 2009)
Other resources:
The Revolutionship in Horsemanship and what it means to mankind - Robert M. Miller, DVM, and Rick Lamb (2005) - ISBN 13: 978-1-59228-387-3 (USA)
Equine Welfare - C.Wayne McIlwraith and Bernard E. Rollin - UFAW Animal Welfare Series(2011) - ISBN 978-1-4051-8763-3 (UK)
The Nature of Horses - Stephen Budiansky (1997) - ISBN 978-1-4516-9756-8 (USA)
Equitation Science - Chapter 14 - Ethical Equitation - Paul D. McGreevy and Andrew N. McLean (2010)- ISBN 978-1-4051-8905-7
Acknowledgements:
Images: A.M. Matusiewicz
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