Horseshoes in Science: The Role of Equine Veterinary in the Configuration of Scientific and Military Thought in the Andes

From the beginning of colonial times until the first half of the twentieth century, horses played an important role in the social, economic, cultural and military dynamics of Latin America. Despite their strength, constant handling and care was necessary to keep horses safe and fit for purpose. Their needs required professional veterinary care. Investigating the circulation and transformation of veterinary knowledge around horses in the Andes from the 1820s to the 1950s, this project examines how veterinary science was adapted, militarized, and expanded in the local Andean context. Using veterinary manuals that were imported from Europe or United States, military guides, correspondence, legislation and press materials from archives in Colombia and Bolivia, I argue that veterinary knowledge in the Andes was reinvented through local practices and needs. At the time scientific veterinary knowledge focused on anatomy, horse whispering manuals, however, placed greater importance on the intuitive or emotional understanding of the animal’s behavior and feelings. The intersection between scientific rationality and intuitive or emotional understandings of animals, such as horse whispering, produced distinctive forms of Andean veterinary knowledge that combined observation, empathy, and experimentation.