Show Horse Welfare: Evaluating Stock-Type Show Horse Industry Legitimacy

The purpose of this paper is to use the Social Cognitive Theory and its moral disengagement framework to emphasize the need for stock-type horse associations to minimize potential and actual threats to their legitimacy in an effort to maintain and strengthen self-regulating governance, specifically...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of agricultural & environmental ethics 2015-08, Vol.28 (4), p.647-666
Main Authors: Voigt, Melissa, Russell, Mark, Hiney, Kristina, Richardson, Jennifer, Borron, Abigail, Brady, Colleen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural Economics
Agricultural education
Associations
Behavior
Case studies
cognition
Cruelty to animals
Disengaging
Education
Ethics
Evolutionary Biology
governance
Handbooks
Horse shows
Horses
industry
Leadership
Legitimacy
Morality
Perceptions
Philosophy
Plant Sciences
Social norms
stakeholders
Studies
Theory of Medicine/Bioethics
Training
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Summary:The purpose of this paper is to use the Social Cognitive Theory and its moral disengagement framework to emphasize the need for stock-type horse associations to minimize potential and actual threats to their legitimacy in an effort to maintain and strengthen self-regulating governance, specifically relating to the occurrence of inhumane treatment to horses. Despite having stated rules within their handbooks, the actions of leading stock-type associations in response to reports of inhumane treatment provide evidence of their ability to self-regulate. The authors recommend the following actions: (1) develop a commonly understood and accepted definition of inhumane treatment; (2) publicly communicate with stakeholders violation enforcement efforts of inhumane treatment rules; (3) increase efforts to educate stakeholders on the reasons why certain training techniques or methods are inhumane and harmful to the horse; (4) ensure all actions taken are proactively focused on shaping future behaviors, and (5) critically review more cases of inhumane treatment and the industry’s response.
ISSN:1187-7863
1573-322X
DOI:10.1007/s10806-015-9548-9