ABSTRACT
This book offers a look into the ‘horse world’; a weird and, to its inhabitants, wonderful social environment centralised around fascination with horses. The horse world often involves sport, and certainly entails physical exertion, so has much in common with other sporting milieus; Spencer’s (2013) study of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and Finley’s (2010) study of women’s roller derby are two interesting examples of sporting ethnographies that, despite being based on very different sporting practices, show some thematic similarities with this book. The joys and woes of training and competing horses are discussed in later chapters. The horse world clearly revolves around animals, so also has similarities with other animal-related pastimes such as those centred on dogs (see Sanders’ 1999, 2006, ethnographic studies of dogs as pets and working companions). The close relationships that develop between horses and humans are explored in a variety of contexts throughout subsequent chapters. However, as I show throughout this book, there is something different about the horse world that marks it out as distinct from these other sport-and animalrelated contexts. There is something special about being with horses that makes the horse world all-consuming, compulsive and invigorating for its inhabitants. To paraphrase Winston Churchill’s famous quote, there is certainly something about horses which seems to be good for many humans. This book is about the meanings and experiences of human-horse encounters, interactions and relationships that are manifest through equestrian sport and leisure. I draw on an eight year ethnographic study to try and tease out some of the unique facets of being around, caring for and riding horses that make the horse world akin to a total institution – once bitten by the horse bug there appears to be no way back to the ‘normal’ world of the sane (i.e. those who are not obsessed with horses). In a controversial paper in 2009, noted neuropsychopharmacologist and, at the time, advisor to the UK government on drug harm Professor David Nutt coined the term ‘equacy’ and suggested that addiction to the high-risk
sport of riding was more compulsive and more harmful than the use of the drug ecstasy. Nutt’s (2009) identification of ‘equacy’ as an addiction with harmful consequences was somewhat tongue in cheek and he went on to argue that “[d]ependence, as defined by the need to continue use, has been accepted by the courts in divorce settlements” (4). That said, he ably illustrated how easy it would be to define horse riders in the same terms currently reserved for drug addicts, and this suggests that participants in the horse world could be viewed as engaging in abnormal, even pathological behaviour. Whilst Nutt’s comparison was intended to highlight the lack of consistency and evidence underpinning government policies in relation to recreational drugs, his identification of ‘equacy’ as an addiction regularly ‘used by’ millions of people, adults and children, certainly resonates with my findings presented throughout this book. Horses do seem to be addictive. They are also certainly dangerous, and all participants are aware, on some level at least, of the risks they expose themselves to each time they handle or ride half a tonne of horse. However, although the risks are well established and participants have usually experienced some level of injury and pain as a result of their involvement with horses, people come back for more (see Dashper, 2013a, for a fuller discussion of risk and injury in equestrian sport and the internal struggles of some riders to (re)establish their identity as a ‘committed rider’ following an accident or injury). What is it about horses, and the relationship that can develop between a horse and a human, that encourages some people to put their lives and physical well-being in danger on a daily basis? Why do they choose to spend all their free time and money on caring for a large and often temperamental animal who does not even share their home, as a dog or cat does? How do horses and humans, creatures with vastly different cognitive, social and communicative dispositions, work together to produce highly complex and often harmonious partnerships in sport and leisure? These are some of the issues this book seeks to explore. Before beginning to discuss some of the complexities and nuances of trying to research horse-human relationships and practices it is necessary to add a bit more clarity to the idea of the ‘horse world’ as I use it here. As with other sport and leisure practices, horse riding requires regular practice, training, learning, bodily discipline and regulation to become better. As with other animals, horses require daily care and attention to maintain their physical and mental well-being. These features suggest that horseriding could usefully be explained using Stebbins’ (1992) concept of serious leisure, a concept that has been applied to a variety of other sporting and animal-related leisure practices. Stebbins (1992: 3) defines serious leisure as “the systematic pursuit of an amateur, hobbyist or volunteer activity that is sufficiently substantial and interesting for the participant to find a career there in the acquisition and expression of its special skills and knowledge”. The concept has been applied to a range of sport and leisure
contexts including football fandom (Jones, 2000), climbing (Dilley and Scraton, 2010) and dog agility (Gillespie et al., 2002; Hultsman, 2012). Horse-riding, training and care certainly require perseverance, dedication and significant personal effort. These practices can also be characterised as following something of a ‘career path’, where participants increase their knowledge and mastery, with identifiable stages of achievement. Horseriding, training and care also form an important part of an individual’s identity and participants speak endlessly and excitedly to each other, and anyone else who will listen, about their passion. In such ways being around horses resonates with Stebbins’ (1992) definition of serious leisure, and this is certainly a useful starting point for the uninitiated trying to understand the intricacies and details of the horse world. However, I do not think the concept of serious leisure goes far enough in explaining the all-consuming compulsiveness of the horse world. Being around horses involves elements of sport, elements of animal care and training, and a lot more than this besides. As Latimer and Birke (2009: 2, italics in original) suggest, “being with horses can itself be performed as a way of life” as opposed to an accessory to a lifestyle. It is this idea – that horses become a way of life, rather than just a hobby – that runs through the chapters of this book. For participants, horses become integral to everything they do and cannot be compartmentalised or separated from their day-to-day lives, or their sense of who they are. To be a part of the horse world then is to welcome horses, and their associated joys and heartache, firmly into your life. The horse world can be identified by inhabitants’ shared fascination with horses, yet this world is certainly not a unified whole. Beyond love of horses members of the horse world can differ drastically in terms of their practices, attitudes and beliefs. Within the ‘sport’ element of equestrianism many participants take part in traditional activities such as dressage, show jumping and eventing. Bryant (2008) offers an explanation of these different equestrian disciplines that have appeared on the Olympic programme for many years. Other ‘sport’ practices, based around competition to a greater or lesser extent, include endurance (long distance, timed rides); vaulting (a bit like gymnastics on horseback); showing (judged on the basis of breeding, conformation, manners and movement), driving (various activities involving horses and carriages/carts); and many others. All of these activities have slightly different norms, equipment and practices (see Wipper, 2000; Bryant, 2008; Birke, 2009). Even within these different equestrian disciplines there can be huge variation between different practitioners. For example, dressage is a formal type of equestrian competition with strict rules relating to format, equipment, clothing/appearance (of both horse and rider), etiquette and behaviour, yet there is still variation between different dressage competitions, and across different competitive levels. There is also an array of horse-related activities which are noncompetitive, and which again can vary hugely both between each other
and in comparison to sport-related equestrianism. These activities include things like hunting (a controversial but still very popular activity in the UK); ‘hacking’ (leisure riding in the countryside, as discussed in Chapter 5); and natural horsemanship (a form of human-horse training and communication based around supposedly ‘natural’ features of horses). Although there is certainly some crossover between these different practices – for example, some event riders may be seen on the hunting field, some endurance riders practice elements of natural horsemanship – there can also be big differences, and at times feelings of superiority and rivalry between participants in these different subworlds. Therefore, although I use the term ‘the horse world’ throughout this book, I do so with some caution as this is not a unified coherent social collective. Although horses can be a medium for forging friendships and common bonds they can also be a catalyst and sometimes even an excuse for conflict between ‘horsey’ people. Both of these themes – friendship and conflict – are explored throughout this book. However, although the horse world is diverse and sometimes fragmented there are some common elements that unite this social milieu. When horses become a way of life, as they are for many participants within and beyond this study, this affects all aspects of life – time, money, relationships with other people, personal priorities, bodily comportment and many other factors besides. There certainly is something distinctive about the horse world, regardless of differences between specific practices and subgroups. That something special is the presence of the horse, and in the next section I highlight some features that attract a wide variety of people to invest significant time, money, physical effort and emotion in caring for and forging a relationship with a large equine friend.
