Forty years after the world’s first Professor of Animal Welfare was appointed, why does the most visible animal suffering persist? Opening the Animal Welfare Chapter at ANZCVS Science Week on the Gold Coast, Cristina Wilkins argued it isn’t a knowledge gap — and presented the teleonome, and the six As that operationalise it, for the first time to a live audience
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When commercial success drives equestrian sport, welfare science reveals how breeding decisions, training systems, and competition incentives shape the horse’s lived experience across nutrition, environment, health, behaviour, and mental state.
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You’ve seen it. The horse pacing the fence line, wearing a track in the ground. The one who calls out, again and again, when stabled alone. We call these problems. But most of us have a quieter sense that something else is going on. That quieter sense is correct — and now there’s a word for what it’s pointing at.
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Why do welfare problems persist in horse sport despite growing knowledge and regulation? Drawing on a webinar by Lisa Ashton, this article argues that welfare fails when culture fails — and explores how mental security, reciprocity, and whole-systems thinking can help patch the leaky bucket.
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Across the UK, riding schools are rethinking welfare from the horse’s perspective. The Riding School Futures Project shows how integrating the Five Domains Model, equitation science, and staff education is reshaping everyday practice — not through rules, but through cultural change.
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This letter, declined by the Equine Veterinary Journal, responds to MacKechnie-Guire et al.’s defence of their noseband pressure study. It clarifies key methodological and interpretive issues that remain unresolved and highlights why transparent discussion is vital to the integrity of equine welfare science.
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In academic publishing, critique and reply are essential to scientific progress. This letter—declined by the Equine Veterinary Journal—is published here to complete the public record. It clarifies key methodological issues in a study of noseband pressures and highlights the importance of open discourse for equine welfare policy.
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Unlike most reports quoting only veterinarians, this analysis comes from Dr James Cooling—a medical doctor, qualified bit-fitter, and rider. He explains why blue tongues in elite horses are not cosmetic, but clear evidence of pressure, pain, and compromised welfare.
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Not all opinions are equal, and not all research holds water. A simple saying helps illustrate why...
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Bit Blindness The term “bit blindness”, coined in 2020, emphasises that after its inception four...
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A critique of “The Role of the Equestrian Professional in Bridle and Bit Fit in the United...
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A critique of the Horses and the Science of Harmony film by Emeritus Professor Robert Cook, FRCVS,...
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