ABSTRACT
Our aim with this chapter is to discuss whether philosopher Martha Nussbaum’s so-called capability approach, a framework for a good and dignified life summarised in ten capabilities, might be fruitful in analysing Equine Assisted Therapy (EAT). Nussbaum maintains that this approach can be applied to both humans and animals, although she has never performed a full account of both species together. In this chapter we will consider the possibility of developing a practical tool evaluating EAT for human well-being as well as animal welfare based on the capability approach. Our main emphasis here will be on the horse, because the approach has been less developed for animals, and certainly not for horses. Despite shortcomings in extending the approach to animals we still consider it fruitful for evaluating EAT from an ethical point of view. This is supported by Nussbaum’s own proposal of the capability approach being a framework for a species-exceeding ethics.
