Building the Science of Diverse Equine-assisted Services From the Ground Up

The aim of this special issue of the Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin is to build the scientific bases of distinct types of equine-assisted services from the ground up. I also think of the issue’s aim as breaking new ground. To introduce the issue, I delve into what it means to say that different types of equine-assisted services are indeed distinct. I also identify compelling sources of their distinctiveness and address why their distinctiveness matters a great deal scientifically. In presenting these topics in some depth, I hope to orient readers to the exact nature of the ground-breaking nature of the special issue’s articles.