Discussion

Background to 'Portrait of the Horse'

01/05/06
‘Portrait of the Horse’ is a photographic exhibition documenting the horse in the various situations that it is found, contrasting the innate aesthetic appeal of the equine form with less palatable images of sub-optimal environments and welfare reducing activities that this animal is exposed to. The discussion below presents the full rationale behind the exhibtion.


BACKGROUND
Domestication confers mutual benefit to both man and animal but the degree of benefit to the animal varies enormously between species. The majority of dogs, for example, are considered to sit very comfortably within their domestic environment (Budiansky, 1997) , but the welfare of farmed pigs (Scott et al., 2006) and chickens (Lindberg and Nicol, 1997) is often questioned. The factors that affect this variation in benefit are complex, affected largely by the generic role of the animal, for example, companion animals (dog, cat, horse, rabbit) versus agricultural (sheep, cow, pig, rabbit) and laboratory equivalents (rabbit, rat, mice, guinea pigs, primates) But also its specific function (e.g. ‘working’ versus ‘pet’ ), the size of the animal and the subsequent limitations of how it can be kept, as well as its species-specific behavioural needs (innate behaviours that the animal is highly motivated to perform) (Appleby and Hughes, 1997). Conversely, behind this complexity is the more simple concept that, a domestic animal at odds with its domestic environment has not been sufficiently selected upon and bred for domesticity. However, the ability to select for ‘domestic’ traits is very dependent on the amount of genetic variation within the species as well as it’s availability (rate of offspring production over time). In that sense, it may be that for some species there is either insufficient genetic variation and/or a low level of offspring production that, even over a prolonged selection programme will never allow that animal to fit easily within its allocated domestic situation. The horse, even though has a relatively high level of genetic variation (Gaffney and Cunningham, 1988; Vila et al., 2001), produces only one offspring per year and thus is considered to fall within this latter situation.
The optimal environment for the modern horse, given its species-specific needs, allows it to eat for 70% of the day, socialize with other horses and perform a full range of locomotory activities (Mills and McDonnell, 2005). The domestic environment restricts all of these activities forcing the horse into reduced eating time, limited social contact and curtailed locomotory activity and thus is generally compromising. However, the domestic environment is also advantageous by removing predators, providing consistent access to food and mates and thereby creating a better opportunity for the conservation of the species (Kiley-Worthington, 1997). Thus, whilst domestication may be disadvantageous to the horse on a day to day basis, it confers long term benefit to the species as a whole. ‘Portrait of the Horse’ documents this juxtaposition, presenting the horse on one hand in its natural (partially disadvantageous) environment, where we like to see it and where the equine form perhaps has its greatest aesthetic appeal, but contrasting this on the other hand with images of the horse in more imposed, restricting and sometimes terminal situations associated with its (partially advantageous) domestic equivalent.

References
Appleby, M., Hughes, B.O., 1997. Animal Welfare. CAb International, Wallingford.
Budiansky, S., 1997. The covenant of the wild: why animals chose domestication. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London.
Gaffney, B., Cunningham, E.P., 1988. Estimation Of Genetic Trend In Racing Performance Of Thoroughbred Horses. Nature 332, 722-724.
Kiley-Worthington, M., 1997. Equine Welfare. JA Allen, London.
Lindberg, A.C., Nicol, C.J., 1997. Dustbathing in modified battery cages: Is sham dustbathing an adequate substitute? Applied Anim Behav Sci 55, 113-128.
Mills, A.D., McDonnell, S.M., 2005. The Domestic Horse: The Origins, Development and Management of Its Behaviour, Cambridge Univeristy Press, Cambridge.
Scott, K., Chennells, D.J., Campbell, F.M., Hunt, B., Armstrong, D., Taylor, L., Gill, B.P., Edwards, S.A., 2006. The welfare of finishing pigs in two contrasting housing systems: Fully-slatted versus straw-bedded accommodation. Livestock Science 103, 104-115.
Vila, C., Leonard, J.A., Gotherstrom, A., Marklund, S., Sandberg, K., Liden, K., Wayne, R.K., Ellegren, H., 2001. Widespread origins of domestic horse lineages. Science 291, 474-477.