Abstract
In this concluding chapter, we consider the aggregate significance of our volume. In relation to expanding an understanding of equestrian cultures around the globe, contributions fortified existing research on equestrian cultures in Europe (Chaps. 4, 5, 6 and 7) and North America (Chaps. 9 and 10) whilst providing rare insight into the scarcely studied equestrian cultures of Iran (Chap. 2), Poland (Chap. 8), Morocco (Chap. 12), South Africa (Chap. 13), Brazil (Chap. 11) and China (Chap. 3). Missing from our volume was research on equestrian cultures in Oceania and Australasia as well as other parts of Latin America. At a thematic level, our contributors addressed our earlier call to consider equestrian cultures according to class, risk, equality, aesthetics, sector, identity, age, rural/urban and media. However, whilst these themes are dealt with in depth in the present volume, they are largely anthropocentric. We propose two ways in which an equino-centric perspective could rebalance the literature: (1) by asking how horses take part in equestrian culture and (2) how equestrian culture impacts horses. Given that the experimental field of Equitation Science has made rapid advancements in understanding ‘the nature of horses’, we recommend the formalisation of a sister science to provide a complementary understanding of ‘the cultures of horses’, to better understand how horses and humans together generate equestrian cultures. This Afterword thus provides a rationale for the formalisation of Equestrian Social Science in research and teaching. We outline four areas of research that would benefit considerably from Equestrian Social Science: (1) working equids, (2) equine-assisted therapies, (3) welfare, ethics and social license and (4) sustainable equestrian cultures.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adelman, M., & Knijnik, J. (Eds.). (2013). Gender and equestrian sport. New York: Springer.
Arriaga-Jordán, C., Colunga-González, B., Velázquez-Beltrân, L., Pearson, R., Muir, C., & Farrow, M. (2007). The contribution of working equines to sustainable rural livelihoods. Paper presented at the Fifth International Colloquium on Working Equines. The future for working equines. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 30 October–2 November, 2006.
Bailey, C., Rose, R., Reid, S., & Hodgson, D. (1997). Wastage in the Australian thoroughbred racing industry: A survey of Sydney trainers. Australian Veterinary Journal, 75(1), 64–66.
Ballou, J. D., Traylor-Holzer, K., Turner, A., Malo, A. F., Powell, D., Maldonado, J., et al. (2008). Simulation model for contraceptive management of the Assateague Island feral horse population using individual-based data. Wildlife Research, 35(6), 502–512.
Béki, P., Vágó, T., & Lasztovicza, D. (2013). The present of equine tourism in Hungary in reflection to an empirical research. ABSTRACT: Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce (1).
Bekoff, M. (2002). Minding animals: Awareness, emotions, and heart. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Birke, L. (2008). Talking about horses: Control and freedom in the World of “natural horsemanship”. Society and Animals, 16, 107–126.
Birke, L., & Hockenhull, J. (2015). 10 Moving (with) in affect. Affect, Space and Animals, 123
Birke, L., Hockenhull, J., & Creighton, E. (2010). The horse’s tale: Narratives of caring for/about horses. Society and Animals, 18, 331–347.
Birke, L., & Michael, M. (1997). Hybrids, rights and their proliferation. Animal Issues, 1, 1–19.
Boot, M., & McGreevy, P. D. (2015). The X files: Xenophon re-examined through the lens of equitation science. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 8(5), 367–375. doi:10.1016/j.jveb.2013.03.002
Burn, C. C., Dennison, T. L., & Whay, H. R. (2010). Environmental and demographic risk factors for poor welfare in working horses, donkeys and mules in developing countries. The Veterinary Journal, 186(3), 385–392.
Clutton-Brock, J. (1992). Horse power: A history of the horse and the donkey in human societies. London: Natural History Museum Publications.
Colonius, T. J., & Earley, R. W. (2013). One welfare: A call to develop a broader framework of thought and action. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 242(3), 309–310.
Cook, H. (2009). The green guide for horse owners and riders: Sustainable practices for horse care, stable management, land use, and riding. New York: Storey Publishing.
Coulter, K. (2016). Animals, work and the promise of interspecies solidarity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cousins, J. R. (1990). Horses in the folklife of western Prince Edward Island: Custom, belief and oral tradition (Unpublished MA dissertation). Memorial University Of Newfoundland, Canada. Retrieved from http://wwwlib.umi.com.proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/dissertations/fullcit/MM65304
Dashper, K. (2012a). Together, yet still not equal? Sex integration in equestrian sport. Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education, 3(3), 213–225.
Dashper, K. (2012b). ‘Dressage Is full of queens!’ Masculinity, sexuality and equestrian sport. Sociology, 46(6), 1109–1124.
Dashper, K. (2016). Strong, active women: (Re)doing rural femininity through equestrian sport and leisure. Ethnography, 17(3), 350–368.
Davis, D. L., Maurstad, A., & Dean, S. (2015). My horse is my therapist: The medicalisation of pleasure among women equestrians. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 29(3), 298–315.
Dent, A. (1974). The horse through fifty centuries of civilization. Great Britain: Phaidon Press.
Durfee, L. J. (2009). Anti-horse slaughter legislation: Bad for horses, bad for society. Ind. LJ, 84, 353.
Evans, D., & McGreevy, P. (2011). An investigation of racing performance and whip use by jockeys in thoroughbred races. PLoS ONE, 6(1), e15622.
Fiedler, J., & McGreevy, P. (2016). Reconciling horse welfare, worker safety, and public expectations: Horse event incident management systems in Australia. Animals, 6(3), 16.
Goodwin, D., McGreevy, P., Waran, N., & McLean, A. (2009). How equitation science can elucidate and refine horsemanship techniques. The Veterinary Journal, 181(1), 5–11. doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2009.03.023
Graham, R., & McManus, P. (2016). Changing human–animal relationships in sport: An analysis of the UK and Australian horse racing whips debates. Animals, 6(5), 32.
Hama, H., Yogo, M., & Matsuyama, Y. (1996). Effects of stroking horses on both humans’ and horses’ heart rate responses. Japanese Psychological Research, 38(2), 66–73.
Haraway, D. (2007). When species meet. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Hausberger, M., Roche, H., Henry, S., & Visser, E. K. (2008). A review of the human–horse relationship. Applied animal behaviour science, 109(1), 1–24.
Heleski, C. R., & Anthony, R. (2012). Science alone is not always enough: The importance of ethical assessment for a more comprehensive view of equine welfare. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 7(3), 169–178. doi:10.1016/j.jveb.2011.08.003
Helgadóttir, G. (2006). The culture of horsemanship and horse-based tourism in Iceland. Current Issues in Tourism, 9(6), 535–548.
Hockenhull, J., Young, T. J., Redgate, S. E., & Birke, L. (2015). Exploring synchronicity in the heart rates of familiar and unfamiliar pairs of horses and humans undertaking an in-hand task. Anthrozoös, 28(3), 501–511.
Jeffcott, L., Rossdale, P., Freestone, J., Frank, C., & Towers-Clark, P. (1982). An assessment of wastage in Thoroughbred racing from conception to 4 years of age. Equine Veterinary Journal, 14(3), 185–198.
Jones, B., & McGreevy, P. D. (2010). Ethical equitation: Applying a cost-benefit approach. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 5(4), 196–202.
Konyves, E., & Suta, E. (2009). The importance of equestrian tourism enterprises in tourism destination management in Hungary. ABSTRACT: Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce, 3.
Lynch, J. J., Frederick Fregin, G., Mackie, J. B., & Monroe, R. R. (1974). Heart rate changes in the horse to human contact. Psychophysiology, 11(4), 472–478.
Mavrakis, V., Ward, P., Thompson, K., & Coveney, J. (2015). Food waste. In K. Albala (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopaedia of food issues. Beverly Hills: SAGE.
McCann, J., Heird, J., Bell, R., & Lutherer, L. (1988). Normal and more highly reactive horses. I. Heart rate, respiration rate and behavioral observations. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 19(3–4), 201–214.
McConnell, P., & Fine, A. H. (2006). Understanding the other end of the leash: what therapists need to understand about their co-therapists. In A. Fine (Ed.), Handbook on animal-assisted therapy: Theoretical foundations and guidelines for practice (2nd ed., pp. 149–165).
McGee, K., Lanier, J., & Grandin, T. (2001). Characterizations of horses at auctions and in slaughter plants. Colorado State University Department of Animal Sciences.
McGreevy, P. D. (2007). The advent of equitation science. The Veterinary Journal, 174(3), 492–500.
McGreevy, P. D., Oddie, C., Burton, F. L., & McLean, A. N. (2009). The horse–human dyad: Can we align horse training and handling activities with the equid social ethogram? The Veterinary Journal, 181(1), 12–18. doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2009.03.005
McKee, T. S. (2013). Redemptive capital—an ethnographic look at human-horse rescue relationships. INK Journal, 2(2), 14–16.
McLean, A. N., & McGreevy, P. D. (2010a). Ethical equitation: Capping the price horses pay for human glory. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 5(4), 203–209.
McLean, A. N., & McGreevy, P. D. (2010b). Horse-training techniques that may defy the principles of learning theory and compromise welfare. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 5(4), 187–195. doi:10.1016/j.jveb.2010.04.002
McManus, P. (2008a). Mines, wines and thoroughbreds: Towards regional sustainability in the Upper Hunter. Australia, Regional Studies, 42(9), 1275–1290.
McManus, P. (2008b). Their grass is greener but ours is sweeter—Thoroughbred breeding and water management in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. Geoforum, 39(3), 1296–1307. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2007.03.007
McManus, P., Albrecht, G., & Graham, R. (2013). The global horseracing industry: Social, economic, environmental and ethical perspectives: London: Routledge.
McManus, P., & Montoya, D. (2012). Toward new understandings of human–animal relationships in sport: A study of Australian jumps racing. Social and Cultural Geography, 13(4), 399–420.
McMichael, P. (2011). Food system sustainability: Questions of environmental governance in the new world (dis)order. Global Environmental Change, 21(3), 804–812. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.03.016
Montoya, D., McManus, P., & Albrecht, G. (2012). Jumping to conclusions? Media coverage of jumps racing debates in Australia. Society and Animals, 20(3), 273–293. doi:10.1163/156853012x627789
Myers, J. (2005). Managing horses on small properties. Collingwood: Landlinks Press.
Ndlovu, N., & Rogerson, C. M. (2003). Rural local economic development through community-based tourism: The Mehloding hiking and horse trail, Eastern Cape. South Africa. Africa Insight, 33(1/2), 124–129.
Nelson, A., Signal, T., & Wilson, R. (2016). Equine assisted therapy and learning. Society & Animals. doi:10.1163/15685306-12341418
Nevins, R., Finch, S., Hickling, E., & Barnett, S. (2012). The Saratoga WarHorse project: A case study of the treatment of psychological distress in a veteran of operation Iraqi freedom. Advances in Mind-Body Medicine, 27(4), 22–25.
Patton, P. (2003). Language, power and the training of horses. In C. Wolfe (Ed.), Zoontologies: The question of the animal (pp. 83–99). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Pinchbeck, G., Clegg, P., Proudman, C., Morgan, K., & French, N. (2004). Whip use and race progress are associated with horse falls in hurdle and steeplechase racing in the UK. Equine Veterinary Journal, 36(5), 384–389.
Plante, Y., Vega-Pla, J. L., Lucas, Z., Colling, D., De March, B., & Buchanan, F. (2007). Genetic diversity in a feral horse population from Sable Island, Canada. Journal of Heredity, 98(6), 594–602.
Pritchard, J. C., Lindberg, A. C., Main, D. C. J., & Whay, H. R. (2005). Assessment of the welfare of working horses, mules and donkeys, using health and behaviour parameters. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 69(3–4), 265–283. doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2005.02.002.
Randle, H., & McGreevy, P. (2013). The effect of noseband tightness on rein tension in the ridden horse. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 8(2), e18–e19.
Schuurman, N. (2014). Blogging situated emotions in human–horse relationships. Emotion, Space and Society, 13, 1–8. doi:10.1016/j.emospa.2014.08.002
Schuurman, N. (2015). Conceptions of equine welfare in Finnish horse magazines. Society & Animals, 23(3), 250–268.
Schuurman, N., & Franklin, A. (2015). Performing expertise in human–animal relationships: Performative instability and the role of counterperformance. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 33(1), 20–34.
Serpell, J. A., Coppinger, R., Fine, A. H., & Peralta, J. M. (2010). Welfare considerations in therapy and assistance animals. In A. H. Fine (Ed.), Handbook on animal-assisted therapy (third edition): Theoretical foundations and guidelines for practice (pp. 481–503). London: Academic Press.
Söderberg, C. (2013). Sustainable phosphorus management of horse paddocks at Julmyra. (Master’s Thesis in Soil Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala).
Steffen, W., Crutzen, P. J., & McNeill, J. R. (2007). The anthropocene: Are humans now overwhelming the great forces of nature. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, 36(8), 614–621.
Thompson, K. (2016). Emotional actors/affective agents: Interspecies edgework and sociotechnical networks in the Spanish bullfight from horseback (rejoneo). In S. Hemer & A. Dundon (Eds.), Emotions, senses and spaces: Ethnographic engagements and intersections (pp. 67–89). Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press.
Thompson, K., & Adelman, M. (2013). Epilogue: A research agenda for putting gender through its paces. In M. Adelman & J. Knijnik (Eds.), Gender and equestrian sport (pp. 195–211). New York: Springer.
Thompson, K., & Birke, L. (2014). The horse has got to want to help: Human–animal habituses and networks in amateur show jumping. In J. Gillett & M. Gilbert (Eds.), Sport, animals, and society (pp. 69–84). New York: Routledge.
Thompson, Clarkson., & Rebbeck, (2017). Too hot to trot? How horse owners in Australia have responded to major weather events. Rural Society.
Thompson, K., & Haigh, L. (2017). Perceptions of equitation science revealed in an online forum: Improving equine health and welfare by communicating science to equestrians and equestrians to scientists. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research.
Thompson, K., & Malcolm, L. (2015). Horses and healing. ABC Radio National: All in the Mind. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/horses-and-healing/6656388#transcript
Thompson, K., McGreevy, P., & McManus, P. (2015). A critical review of horse-related risk: A research agenda for safer mounts, riders and equestrian cultures. Animals, 5(3), 561–575.
Thompson, K., & Nesci, C. (2016). Over-riding concerns developing safe relations in the high-risk interspecies sport of eventing. International Review for the Sociology of Sport , 51(1), 97–113.
Turner, M. G. (1988). Simulation and management implications of feral horse grazing on Cumberland Island, Georgia. Journal of Range Management, 441–447.
van Weeren, P. R. (2013). About Rollkur, or low, deep and round: Why Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein were right. The Veterinary Journal, 196(3), 290–293.
von Lewinski, M., Biau, S., Erber, R., Ille, N., Aurich, J., Faure, J.-M., et al. (2013). Cortisol release, heart rate and heart rate variability in the horse and its rider: Different responses to training and performance. The Veterinary Journal, 197(2), 229–232.
Waran, N., McGreevy, P., & Casey, R. A. (2007). Training methods and horse welfare. In N. Waran (Ed.), The welfare of horses (Vol. 1, pp. 151–180). The Netherlands: Springer.
Wert, W. D. (2010). Reining In: Applying the sustainable sites initiative to equestrian facility design. (Master of Landscape Architecture), Kansas State University, Kansas.
Williams, H. (2011). Ashes to asses: An archaeological perspective on death and donkeys. Journal of Material Culture, 16(3), 219–239. doi:10.1177/1359183511412880
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Thompson, K., Adelman, M. (2017). Afterword: Formalising Equestrian Social Science. In: Adelman, M., Thompson, K. (eds) Equestrian Cultures in Global and Local Contexts. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55886-8_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55886-8_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-55885-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-55886-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)