Maria Corti
︎ Podcast Link
Beyond the Stable Walls:
A Case Study on Cultivating Equine Wellbeing through Thoughtful Spatial Stewardship
A Case Study on Cultivating Equine Wellbeing through Thoughtful Spatial Stewardship
“ I was quite happy in my new place, and if there was one thing that I missed it must not be thought I was discontented; all who had to do with me were good and I had a light airy stable and the best of food. What more could I want? Why, liberty! For three years and a half of my life I had had all the liberty I could wish for; but now, week after week, month after month, and no doubt year after year, I must stand up in a stable night and day except when I am wanted.” – Black Beauty, 1877.
For millennia, spanning various cultures and civilizations, the horse has endured as a revered religious, social, and political symbol of power (Clutton-Brock 1992). The conundrum, however, lies in the irresistible pull of power, igniting within humanity an insatiable craving for control–a primal urge to claim dominion over something as its own. For centuries, this has been the inescapable fate of the horse.
With Europe’s first riding school established in Naples in 1532, it continued to elevate the horse to a “powerful and universal image of nobility” (Dobraszczyk 2023, p. 206). Consequently, stables became integral to large rural estates (Dobraszczyk 2023, p. 206), their design, however, focused on embodying wealth and status rather than the primal needs of the horse. Only in the twentieth century with the democratization of horse ownership for leisure (Dobraszczyk 2023, p. 207), did a growing recognition of the horse’s complexity as a sentient being emerge. Scientific advancements provided evidence of horses’ social cognition, and emotional sensitivity, underscoring their capacity for suffering and prompting a reevaluation of the ethical and moral responsibilities towards their care (Merkies and Franzin 2021). Despite these advancements, a notable disparity persisted between meeting horses’ basic needs on paper and addressing their evolutionary requirements as migratory animals, particularly in the spaces they occupied.
Historically wild horses would engage in near-constant movement, instinctively foraging for food, seeking water sources, and remaining vigilant against potential predators (Lesté-Lasserre 2018). However humans have often imposed their own preferences (protection against the elements) onto our equine counterparts (Dobraszczyk 2023, p. 234). Contrary to their preference for communal living within expansive environments, the traditional individual stall design persisted (Knapton 2015). Paddock Paradise, introduced by natural horse care advocate Jaime Jackson, embodies the very solution to these concerns. Popularized in the early 2000s, it serves as both a management practice and design concept inspired by the natural environment and lifestyles of sound, healthy, wild, and free-roaming horses living in the U.S. Great Basin (Jackson 2018). This approach offers horses a track-based system for movement, diverse terrain, and access to forage, promoting a natural lifestyle that positively affects their physical and psychological well being needs.
Aiming to underscore the critical role of the design and management of equine spaces in aligning with the species natural wellbeing, I turned to my own experience in housing my own horse at EquiEssence. EquiEssence, familiarly referred to as Karena’s Barefoot Yard, is a equine boarding space located in Tokai Forest–a suburb in Cape Town, South Africa. EquiEssence embodies a holistic interpretation of the Paddock Paradise philosophy, with further emphasis on prioritizing its inhabitants evolutionary needs. With a personalized approach to each horse’s needs, along with its thoughtful design and landscape management, EquiEssence provides an exemplary case study on the advantages of prioritizing positive equine wellbeing by returning to the lifestyle of their wild counterparts .
Through a series of organic conversations and correspondence, I interviewed four owners–Fran, Layo, Kim, and Isabel–and their horses Bitsy, Fern, Lady, and Naveed at EquiEssence. This approach fostered a comfortable environment for the horse owners to freely share personal anncedotes, intimate details about their horses, and introspective reflections. Drawing on the owners’ experiences, as well as my own observations during 21 visits over two months, I developed four thematic chapters to illustrate the design principles underlying the equine space: Galvanised Movement– where EquiEssence’s paddocks and routines encourage the horses to roam freely (fig. 1). Boundlessness–where blurred boundaries give the horses a sense of autonomy (fig. 2). Constructed Informality–in echoing natural environments, we enable the horses to swim, play, and just be (fig. 3). And finally, Collective Care– where EquiEssence transcends location and becomes an ethos, embodying unwavering empathy to the wellbeing of its equine inhabitants (fig. 4). These themes provide a framework for understanding and analyzing the space, as well as being the very structure of the subsequent work. Each chapter commences with an epistolary piece, chronicling my personal navigation through the space at EquiEssence. It hopes to bridge the gap between the photographs, who offer contrived moments in time, and the reader — igniting the same senses of walking through Equiessence as I do.
While the negative impacts of indoor housing on equine wellbeing have been extensively examined in existing equine scholarship, there remains a notable lack of research exploring site-specific examples of paddock paradise systems and their positive effects. This paper aims to address this gap by showcasing EquiEssence as an exemplary case study of an equine space that prioritizes positive wellbeing, and the logic behind its design principles. Rather than attempting to revolutionize the entire equine industry, this work provides a subjective, in-depth perspective on the necessity for change and the transformative potential of such an approach, drawing from the author’s personal experiences as a rider and horse owner at EquiEssence.
Notably, a growing body of literature supports the notion that prioritizing equine welfare aligns with larger global agendas. In a recent publication, World Horse Welfare delved into the importance of equine welfare initiatives in enhancing social equity and community engagement, through fostering a shared responsibility for animal welfare (World Horse Welfare 2022). Similarly, the concept of ‘One Health,’ underscores the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health (Prata, Ribeiro, and Rocha-Santos 2022). While this dissertation does not directly address these broader implications, understanding the significance of equine welfare within a global context is crucial for framing the value and need for the subsequent research.
Just as you are here to be a human, the horse is here to be the horse. It’s time we provide them with lifestyles conducive to their natural design, allowing them to live and be as they are meant to.
For millennia, spanning various cultures and civilizations, the horse has endured as a revered religious, social, and political symbol of power (Clutton-Brock 1992). The conundrum, however, lies in the irresistible pull of power, igniting within humanity an insatiable craving for control–a primal urge to claim dominion over something as its own. For centuries, this has been the inescapable fate of the horse.
With Europe’s first riding school established in Naples in 1532, it continued to elevate the horse to a “powerful and universal image of nobility” (Dobraszczyk 2023, p. 206). Consequently, stables became integral to large rural estates (Dobraszczyk 2023, p. 206), their design, however, focused on embodying wealth and status rather than the primal needs of the horse. Only in the twentieth century with the democratization of horse ownership for leisure (Dobraszczyk 2023, p. 207), did a growing recognition of the horse’s complexity as a sentient being emerge. Scientific advancements provided evidence of horses’ social cognition, and emotional sensitivity, underscoring their capacity for suffering and prompting a reevaluation of the ethical and moral responsibilities towards their care (Merkies and Franzin 2021). Despite these advancements, a notable disparity persisted between meeting horses’ basic needs on paper and addressing their evolutionary requirements as migratory animals, particularly in the spaces they occupied.
Historically wild horses would engage in near-constant movement, instinctively foraging for food, seeking water sources, and remaining vigilant against potential predators (Lesté-Lasserre 2018). However humans have often imposed their own preferences (protection against the elements) onto our equine counterparts (Dobraszczyk 2023, p. 234). Contrary to their preference for communal living within expansive environments, the traditional individual stall design persisted (Knapton 2015). Paddock Paradise, introduced by natural horse care advocate Jaime Jackson, embodies the very solution to these concerns. Popularized in the early 2000s, it serves as both a management practice and design concept inspired by the natural environment and lifestyles of sound, healthy, wild, and free-roaming horses living in the U.S. Great Basin (Jackson 2018). This approach offers horses a track-based system for movement, diverse terrain, and access to forage, promoting a natural lifestyle that positively affects their physical and psychological well being needs.
Aiming to underscore the critical role of the design and management of equine spaces in aligning with the species natural wellbeing, I turned to my own experience in housing my own horse at EquiEssence. EquiEssence, familiarly referred to as Karena’s Barefoot Yard, is a equine boarding space located in Tokai Forest–a suburb in Cape Town, South Africa. EquiEssence embodies a holistic interpretation of the Paddock Paradise philosophy, with further emphasis on prioritizing its inhabitants evolutionary needs. With a personalized approach to each horse’s needs, along with its thoughtful design and landscape management, EquiEssence provides an exemplary case study on the advantages of prioritizing positive equine wellbeing by returning to the lifestyle of their wild counterparts .
Through a series of organic conversations and correspondence, I interviewed four owners–Fran, Layo, Kim, and Isabel–and their horses Bitsy, Fern, Lady, and Naveed at EquiEssence. This approach fostered a comfortable environment for the horse owners to freely share personal anncedotes, intimate details about their horses, and introspective reflections. Drawing on the owners’ experiences, as well as my own observations during 21 visits over two months, I developed four thematic chapters to illustrate the design principles underlying the equine space: Galvanised Movement– where EquiEssence’s paddocks and routines encourage the horses to roam freely (fig. 1). Boundlessness–where blurred boundaries give the horses a sense of autonomy (fig. 2). Constructed Informality–in echoing natural environments, we enable the horses to swim, play, and just be (fig. 3). And finally, Collective Care– where EquiEssence transcends location and becomes an ethos, embodying unwavering empathy to the wellbeing of its equine inhabitants (fig. 4). These themes provide a framework for understanding and analyzing the space, as well as being the very structure of the subsequent work. Each chapter commences with an epistolary piece, chronicling my personal navigation through the space at EquiEssence. It hopes to bridge the gap between the photographs, who offer contrived moments in time, and the reader — igniting the same senses of walking through Equiessence as I do.
While the negative impacts of indoor housing on equine wellbeing have been extensively examined in existing equine scholarship, there remains a notable lack of research exploring site-specific examples of paddock paradise systems and their positive effects. This paper aims to address this gap by showcasing EquiEssence as an exemplary case study of an equine space that prioritizes positive wellbeing, and the logic behind its design principles. Rather than attempting to revolutionize the entire equine industry, this work provides a subjective, in-depth perspective on the necessity for change and the transformative potential of such an approach, drawing from the author’s personal experiences as a rider and horse owner at EquiEssence.
Notably, a growing body of literature supports the notion that prioritizing equine welfare aligns with larger global agendas. In a recent publication, World Horse Welfare delved into the importance of equine welfare initiatives in enhancing social equity and community engagement, through fostering a shared responsibility for animal welfare (World Horse Welfare 2022). Similarly, the concept of ‘One Health,’ underscores the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health (Prata, Ribeiro, and Rocha-Santos 2022). While this dissertation does not directly address these broader implications, understanding the significance of equine welfare within a global context is crucial for framing the value and need for the subsequent research.
Just as you are here to be a human, the horse is here to be the horse. It’s time we provide them with lifestyles conducive to their natural design, allowing them to live and be as they are meant to.