The dimensionality of human-free roaming horse interactions in Alberta

• Main Author: Kincaid, Adela Tesarek
• Other Authors: Draper, Dianne
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Arts 2015
• Subjects: Geography; Forestry and Wildlife; Environmental Sciences; free roaming horses; animal-human interactions; human-wildlife interactions; human dimensions of wildlife; wildlife management; TEK; local knowledge; wicked problems; Qualitative Research; Situational Analysis; transdisciplinary; arenas and worlds; Postmodernism; Metis; Indigenous; Canada
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2097; https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/28065

Approximately 12 000 years ago wild horses were a natural part of the North American ecosystem. Contemporary DNA evidence suggests that horses (Equus lambei) spread from North America to populate all other areas of the world. Domestic horses (Equus caballus) were reintroduced to North America during colonization; through escape or release, they established themselves once again on the landscape and currently inhabit areas of the western USA and Canada. The overarching goal of the research is to describe the perspectives and discourses of multiple and collective actors toward FRH in the research area and to demonstrate the necessity of broadening the basis of decision making in policy related to FRH. I used qualitative research approaches including semi-structured interviews that focused on 24 respondents. I documented perspectives of local people who share the land with FRH as well as those with multi generational knowledge. Mainly, I relied on transdisciplinarity and situational analysis (also referred to as social mapping) as the theoretical and methodological framework for my research. These two approaches helped clarify the wicked, complex problems associated with FRH. FRH are a source of social conflict in the study area, which is mainly located west of Rocky Mountain House, Sundre and Cochrane. This research indicates that the majority of respondents agree with having FRH on the Alberta landscape; the main debate concerns population numbers. Respondents vary in their descriptions of timelines, ancestry, phenotypical features and classifications of FRH. Practically, local interactions with FRH include benefits such as capturing and using horses for breeding, work and recreation, as viewing opportunities, as spiritually significant, and for their historic worth. Reported problems include FR stallions stealing and breeding domesticated mares, FRH destroying fences, damaging reforested areas, and competing for grass with cattle. Broadly this research demonstrates a lack of extant data about different ...