The 3Fs as conditions of being: relational ontology and equine welfare in disaster response and reconciliation.

Overview

• This research explores how the welfare of free-ranging horses during a wildfire disaster relief effort in Western Canada intersects with broader themes of reconciliation and relational ontology.
• The study highlights the importance of understanding human, animal, and environmental health as interconnected and advocates for a shift in equine welfare practice toward relational integrity and accountability within a One Health framework.

Context and Background

• Disaster relief efforts involve collaboration across multiple disciplines and stakeholders, emphasizing the interdependence of human, animal, and environmental health and welfare.
• One Health is an integrative approach recognizing that the health of people is connected to the health of animals and the environment, requiring transdisciplinary knowledge and diverse ways of understanding.
• The research focuses on a specific wildfire event in Western Canada, where free-ranging horses were rescued outside typical disaster management protocols, providing a case study for deeper analysis.

Autoethnographic Account and Key Themes

• The study uses autoethnography, a method involving the researcher’s personal experience, to shed light on the interplay between equine welfare, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and relational ontology—the philosophy that existence is defined by relationships rather than isolated entities.
• This approach revealed how the wellbeing of horses is deeply intertwined with cultural, environmental, and relational contexts, rather than being reducible to isolated welfare metrics.
• The concept of Fraser’s 3Fs of equine welfare (likely standing for **Fight, Flight, and Freeze**, reflecting horses’ fundamental behavioral responses) is philosophically expanded to include broader “conditions of being” that enable flourishing in an interconnected system.

Philosophical and Practical Implications

• The paper advocates transitioning from conventional equine welfare approaches that manage isolated variables toward a relational ontology framework emphasizing accountability, integrity, and the meaningful relationships between humans, horses, and land.
• It proposes that flourishing for both humans and horses arises from honoring the dynamic and entangled systems they inhabit, viewed as a shared ground of being to which all belong.
• This perspective broadens the ethical scope of equine welfare beyond individual caregiving to include collective responsibilities and multispecies justice.

Relation to Broader Ethical and Scientific Movements

• The work contributes to One Health approaches by incorporating relational knowledge, which often gets marginalized in traditional, positivist science focused on objective measurements and reductionism.
• It aligns equine welfare concerns with ongoing decolonial efforts aimed at repairing Indigenous relations and with movements pushing for multispecies justice and ecological responsibility.
• This holistic and relational framework invites a reorientation of welfare science, blending practical disaster response with a philosophy that deeply respects interspecies and environmental connections.

Summary

• The research bridges the gap between theory and practice in disaster management by situating equine welfare within interconnected ecological and cultural systems.
• It challenges standard practices by introducing a relational ontology that recognizes horses, humans, and land as co-constitutive beings whose wellbeing is mutually dependent.
• This approach has the potential to influence future disaster response protocols, welfare science frameworks, and ethical considerations within One Health and decolonial contexts.