Hello everyone, I have an ethical question.
My company is going to take us on a team outing, theoretically a secret, but it seems like it might be ‘EquiCoaching’.
I think the english term is “Equine assisted coaching” but it’s difficult to actually find information on it. From what I’ve read, it’s life coaching done by manipulating or establishing a relation with a horse (there is no riding involved I believe). It seems to me that this involves exploiting horses for financial gain, and I feel uneasy about being asked to participate in such activities, especially without being informed in advance (the theme of our seminars is always kept secret until the last moment). However, I am not at all familiar with this kind of practice, so I don’t know where the horses come from, how they are treated, what happens to them if they get injured, etc.
So before I veto my participation, I’d like to hear from people who know more about it. Are there ethical issues in EquiCoaching that I should bring up to my management?
Here are the pages of the two life coaches for EquiCoaching my management is in contact with if you want more info (be careful it’s in french):
I can’t find any resources in english, there is a french Wikipedia page that isn’t translated into any other language: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Développement_personnel_par_le_cheval
There is an english page for Equine-assisted therapy but it seems to encompass a lot more that just life coaching.
Navigation work situations is difficult, but the ethics of this seems pretty clear cut from my perspective.
It is using animals for human gain. I wouldn’t go to a zoo for a work team building thing, I don’t see how this is different.
