The livelihood of working horses’ owners and their families is intimately linked to the welfare of their equids. A proper understanding of human-animal interactions, as well as the main factors that modulate them, is essential for establishing strategies oriented to improve the welfare of animals and their caretakers. To date, there is still a paucity of research dedicated to the identification and assessment of the human psychological attributes that affect the owner–equine interaction, and how these could affect the welfare of working equids. However, some studies have shown that empathy, attitudes towards animals, human perception of animal pain and the owner´s locus of control are some of the psychological attributes that participate in human-equine interactions and that these can result in poor welfare of working equids. A better understanding of the relationship between human attributes and equids’ welfare can provide an opportunity to improve the quality of interactions between owners and their working equids and thus improve their welfare. This review aims to explain why the inclusion of human psychological attributes that modulate the human-animal interactions can benefit welfare research in working equids. The role that empathy, perception of animal pain and locus of control play in the promotion of good welfare in working equids is emphasized.

Appropriate interventions to improve working equine welfare should be proposed according to scientific evidence that arises from different geo-cultural contexts. This study aims to assess and compare the welfare status of working horses in two administrative regions of Chile and to determine how owners perceive their horses. Horses’ welfare status was assessed through direct indicators (direct observation and clinical examination) and indirect indicators (an interview with the owner). Owners′ perceptions of their horses were determined through a discourse analysis of their statements. In total, 100 horses and 100 owners were assessed. Results showed a low prevalence of health problems and negative behavior responses among horses in the two regions evaluated. Significant associations were found between inadequate body condition and the absence of deworming, and between hoof abnormalities and a low frequency of shoeing. Between regions, significant differences were found in the presence of lesions and the person responsible for horseshoeing. In regards to the owners′ appreciations, two differing perceptions of working horses were found: a predominantly affective perception and a perception of the animal as a working instrument. Although the instrumental perception was more frequent in the Araucania region, the affective perception was widely shared by both owner populations. The results reveal a good welfare status in working horses and suggest that both affective and instrumental perceptions of these animals can coexist.

En el sur de Chile los equinos de tiro continúan siendo la fuente principal de ingreso para numerosas familias. En muchas ocasiones estos equinos de trabajo no son mantenidos en óptimas condiciones. El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar las prácticas de manejo y parámetros relacionados con bienestar animal en un grupo de sesenta y un equinos carretoneros, pertenecientes a cincuenta propietarios, de tres ciudades del sur de Chile (Valdivia, Osorno y Puerto Montt). Se utilizaron métodos directos (basados en el animal) y métodos indirectos. Estos incluyeron aspectos de salud, comportamiento y prácticas de manejo. La mayoría de los equinos presentaron una conformación masisa, pero más pequeña que la de las razas de tiro clásicas encontradas en otras áreas templadas en el mundo. En general presentaron buena condición corporal (59%) y alertas (92%), con sólo unos pocos animales que presentaron una respuesta agresiva al momento de evaluar su comportamiento. Los principales problemas encontrados están relacionados con el manejo de cascos y las prácticas de alimentación. No se encontró asociación entre buena conformación de cascos y el uso de herreros o experiencia de los dueños. Esto se debe principalmente a una carencia de conocimiento y comprensión de prácticas de manejo y trabajo adecuados que permitan obtener un mejor rendimiento de sus equinos sin poner en riesgo el bienestar de éstos. La comunidad de dueños de equinos de trabajo se vería beneficiada con la instauración de programas educacionales en el futuro.

The present study constitutes a review of the scientific articles about animal welfare in terrestrial farmed animals, published in 19 countries of Latin America. The main objectives were to quantify and characterize articles produced between 1992 and 2021 in farm animals' welfare using “Web of Science [v.5.32]” and “CAB Abstracts” databases. A total of 663 articles were found for the period analyzed, which were mainly in English (87%). The countries with the most publications were Brazil (43%), México (25%), Chile (12%), Uruguay (10%), Colombia (4%) and Argentina (2%). Cattle was the farm species most considered in the publications (41%), and the studies addressed mostly the on-farm production stage (76%). There was a rapid increase in the number of articles published in the last 15 years, accounting for 95% of the publications. This could be related to the publication of welfare standards by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) since 2005, the creation of the Collaborating Center for Animal Welfare and Sustainable Livestock Systems—Chile-Uruguay-México in 2009, a Regional Strategy of Animal Welfare prompted by the WOAH in 2012 and the inclusion of animal welfare in the veterinary curriculum. The fact that most articles were in English shows that Latin American researchers have somehow overcome the challenge of publishing in a non-native language and their research can be read/cited worldwide. However considerable gaps in scientific productivity were identified in comparison to European and North American countries. Scientific research concerning the livestock industry in Latin America faces new challenges arising from the need to move toward more sustainable production systems within the One Welfare and One Health frame.

Social relationships are based on our ability to put ourselves in the place of others, and from there to react appropriately and logically. This empathic ability can be extended to other species, based on the human ability to develop techniques to understand and communicate with animals. In education, the benefits of training professionals with ethical and empathic tools are known. Gender, diet, past experiences, and other factors can modify a person's levels of empathy toward humans and animals, and a relationship exists between both types of empathy. The aims of this study were to investigate some determinants of the level of empathy and to gain insight into the possible correlation between human–animal and human–human empathy. For this, the Animal Empathy Scale and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index by Davis were applied through an electronic survey system to freshmen and final-year students (n=452) from five schools of veterinary medicine in Chile. The correlation between the empathy scores of both instruments and their association with individual factors were studied using Spearman's correlation, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and the Kruskal–Wallis test. The results suggest that both instruments correlate significantly, and that gender, year of study, diet, and area of interest have a significant association with the score for empathy toward animals. This research shows that individual characteristics and changes that occur during veterinary training can affect students' attitudes toward animals.