How meeting with the horse may contribute to a balanced life: Co-constructing a project-based leisure

Abstract

This article offers a praxiography of equine-assisted activities, defined as a particular form of project-based leisure. The article stems from a larger study whose main purpose was to work closely with collaborators, equicoaches, and horses, to co-construct activities to support work–life boundary management. The collection of data involved 27 interviews, several focus groups, and approximately 50 hours of participant observation. To make the activities more inclusive, the analysis integrates a diverse group of actors, both human and equine, allowing the authors to gain a better understanding of situated learning mechanisms emerging from multispecies relations. The analysis highlights the role of performative processes and ontological work organized around human–animal relationship building. The authors propose that this study is part of a movement in favor of the coexistence of living beings and that this is a central matter of concern shared by the collaborators involved in this project.