Our approach
Science that starts with the horse
Equine Voice is not built on opinion or tradition. It is built on two of the most significant frameworks in contemporary equine welfare science β frameworks that ask the same question we do: what is it actually like to be this horse, right now?
For too long, horse welfare has been assessed through the lens of what we can see and measure from the outside β behaviour, body condition, the absence of obvious suffering. These things matter, but they tell only part of the story. The science has moved on. We now understand that horses are feeling, goal-directed animals whose emotional experiences are not a byproduct of their biology but the very engine of it.
The two frameworks that underpin Equine Voice reflect this shift. Together they give us a principled, scientifically grounded way to understand what horses need, what their behaviour means, and how we as owners can respond in ways that genuinely make a difference to the animals in our care.
The frameworks
Two frameworks.
One coherent picture.
The Five Domains Model of Animal Welfare
Mellor, D.J., Beausoleil, N.J., Littlewood, K.E., McLean, A.N., McGreevy, P.D., Jones, B. & Bhosale, R. (2020). Animals, 10(10), 1870.
Developed by Professor David Mellor and colleagues at Massey University, the Five Domains Model is one of the most widely adopted frameworks in animal welfare science worldwide. It provides a structured way of understanding how an animal's physical and mental experiences combine to shape their overall welfare.
The five domains are nutrition, physical environment, health, behavioural interactions, and β at the centre of the model β mental state. This final domain is the crucial one: it recognises that welfare is ultimately about how the animal feels, not just how they function. Physical conditions matter because of the mental experiences they create.
Its role in Equine Voice
The Five Domains Model shapes how Equine Voice approaches wellbeing assessment, observation, and the structure of the Vet/Behaviourist Share Mode report. It ensures that every observation the user makes is understood in relation to the mental experience it may be creating for their horse.
The Teleonome Framework
Wilkins, C.L., Henshall, C., Lykins, A.D., Mellor, D.J., Fillios, M. & McGreevy, P.D. (2026). Frontiers in Animal Science, 7:1768519.
Published in 2026 in Frontiers in Animal Science, the Teleonome framework introduces a unifying biological concept for understanding animals as goal-directed, feeling beings shaped by millions of years of evolution. The teleonome is the integrated system of physical, perceptual, emotional, and behavioural capabilities that every animal inherits β the organised system through which they pursue survival and wellbeing.
Four ideas are at the heart of this framework: affective evaluation (horses feel things, and those feelings drive behaviour), agency (horses need to be able to act on their world), affordances (the opportunities the environment offers that match what horses evolved to do), and adaptive regulation (the ongoing process of finding and maintaining balance).
Its role in Equine Voice
The Teleonome framework underpins how Equine Voice interprets behaviour, structures the HEY enrichment categories, guides the AI Behaviour Interpreter, and informs the daily ethology facts. It gives every interaction in the app a coherent biological foundation β rooted in what matters to the horse, not what is convenient for us.
