ABSTRACT
This chapter uses work as an organisational framework, engine, and springboard for examining horses and the ethical dimensions and possibilities of labour. I argue that we need to both expand our lens and sharpen our focus, and to think differently and more carefully about horses’ diverse and multi-faceted engagements in work. I first interrogate how horses’ work has been conceptualised (or denied). Then I elucidate a complementary set of concepts which can be used for more effectively seeing and understanding horses’ work and work-lives. How we understand affects our empathy and our requests (or demands), and thus directly shapes horses’ lives. A new approach encourages us to recognise the diversity and complexity of what horses do for us, and illuminates much-needed scholarly and practical possibilities.
