Quick Reads: Ask for Whatever You Want
Photo by Lluc Pedrero: Recently transported and housed for a parade in Spain, 2025
Quick Reads: Ask for Whatever You Want
By Lluc Pedrero
This piece is a reflection of Say What You Mean and is an English translation of the original Spanish commentary. This reflection does not equate the experiences of enslaved people with those of horses. Rather, it questions how language and expectations reveal a shared pattern: treating living beings, human or non-human as objects meant solely for use.
While in West Africa, crossing the Gambia River heading towards Wasuu, our next stop, my friend Soleiman was telling me about the slave trade in the region. The river was a major trade route from the 15th to 19th centuries. He spoke about how slaves, considered ‘non-human’, were asked to do everything that ‘humans’ wanted and were used as objects. Slaves were shipped in abhorrent conditions during European and transatlantic crossings. Sites such as James Island (now Kunta Kinteh Island) remain as solemn memorials of this brutal history.
The Gambia River is a painful landmark in the history of the slave trade central to both its expansion and eventual decline.
Of equines, we tend to say: “They will do everything you ask of them.” And why can’t it be: What can you do for your horse?" Because it’s not just about what they do for us, but about what we’re willing to do for them.
Subjective meaning depends on the type of interaction with the subject, or on our way of relating to them, the horses. Horses should be treated as subjects not as objects, though humans often assign them varying functional roles.
A horse can be for a person, a working animal, or an animal onto which we place objects on their body so that they pull other objects. Therefore, they continue to be treated as objects in different societies in the world:
Urban Carriage Horses: In cities like New York, horses pull tourists in carriages under often unsafe conditions (e.g., extreme heat, traffic, minimal rest).
Agricultural Labor: In rural areas of Latin America, parts of Africa, and Southeast Asia, horses still pull plows and heavy loads, often without veterinary care or proper nutrition.
Cultural Events: While cultural traditions like Spain’s Feria del Caballo or U.S. rodeos celebrate heritage, they can also involve stress and overexertion for the horses involved.
Since horses do not categorize or name objects as humans do, the meaning of things to them is likely experiential, emotional, or sensory, not utilitarian. They don’t objectify the world as humans do, nor do they relate to the environment through the same mental frameworks. This tendency to overlook the exploited while centering the privileged is not limited to how we treat non-humans. It can also be found in the way history is written - or - omitted in poetry.
Poet Fernando Pessoa:
Ó mar salgado, quanto do teu sal
São lágrimas de Portugal!
Translation:
O salty sea, how much of your salt
Is tears of Portugal!
Pessoa’s verse, like much of Portuguese literature from his time, centers the suffering of explorers while overlooking the devastating toll of empire on African lives.
Resources
Introducción: sobre océanos y cocinas
Emotional Transfer in Human–Horse Interaction: New Perspectives on Equine Assisted Interventions
Autobiography of Enslaved West African Scholar, Omar Ibn Said
About the Author
Lluc Pedrero is currently collaborating with FAADA in Spain as an ethologist for equestrian events. He has developed a scientifically based training course on equine rescue, inspired by the Loops system and the pioneering work of Dr. Madigan in this field. Lluc began his journey at the Centaurides Center for Hippology, under the guidance of Willka Pasqual Neumann. There, he learned the foundational principles of ethology and the practices of the Centaur Method, which focuses on personal growth. He has also studied exercise physiology at TOCES and continues to advance his professional development through courses with other specialists and seminars in various areas. In Lluc’s words: “It is our responsibility as a species to care for horses.”
Photo by Lluc Pedrero: In memory of a horse used to pull a carriage in a recent festive parade in Spain. He collapsed and died minutes after this photo was taken. An investigation is ongoing, 2025
Friendly Reminder: These articles are meant to spark thought, not replace expert guidance. Consult equine professionals for individual advice.