From Glamour to Drudgery – Changing Gender Patterns in the Equine Sector: A Comparative Study of Sweden and Great Britain in the Twentieth Century

Hedenborg, Susanna; White, Manon Hedenborg

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6824-6_2

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…It has also included a broadening class demographic. While formal equestrian sports were once populated by the military elite and aristocracy, now, an increasing number of working- and middle-class amateurs take part—with the entry levels to affiliated competitions dropping as participation broadens [ 41 , 44 ]. Further, a market of new products and services challenge ‘old’ wisdoms and tastes, such that there are now more opportunities for a variety of styles of clothing, equipment and regime to suit different budgets and tastes (Velcro in place of buckles, animal print rugs, and so on) [ 39 , 45 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Ethnographic Account of the British Equestrian Virtue of Bravery, and Its Implications for Equine Welfare

McVey

2021

Animals

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This article describes the virtue of bravery in British equestrian culture and suggests that riders’ tactics for bolstering bravery may have negative implications on equine welfare. These observations are based on 14 months of ethnographic research among amateur riders and the professionals who support them (n = 35), utilising participant observation and Dictaphone recordings. Riders suffering from ‘confidence issues’ could be belittled and excluded. Instructors’ approaches towards bolstering bravery involved encouraging riders to ‘get tough’—on both themselves and on their horses. Narrative theory is employed in this article to show that riders could demonstrate their own bravery through describing the horse as defiant. Alternate narrative possibilities existed, including describing the horse as needy patient and the rider as care provider. Riders were critically aware that veterinary diagnoses could be sought or avoided in line with riders’ own dispositions. ‘Diagnoses-seeking’ behaviours could be judged negatively by others and seen as evidence of unresolved fearfulness. In conclusion, the British equestrian cultural orientation towards bravery can be associated with stressful or painful training techniques, delayed or missed diagnoses of physiological pathologies, and poor training outcomes. Programs that aim to help riders to develop confidence without instilling a sense of ‘battle’ with the horse, and without ridiculing the rider, are likely to have positive implications on equine welfare and human safety.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Ethnographic Account of the British Equestrian Virtue of Bravery, and Its Implications for Equine Welfare

McVey

2021

Animals

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“…Agricultural work, for example, is widely socially constructed as masculine yet is experienced unevenly by women and men, particularly because of the emotional work involved in turning live animals into commodities to be consumed by people (Ellis, , ; Ellis & Irvine, ; Halley, ; Porcher, ; Wilkie, ). Work in sporting industries that involve animals often reflect and reproduce predictable patterns of inequity through the division of labour and gendered performances (Butler, ; Butler & Charles, ; Larsen, ), although national contexts and political projects also shape local specifics to varying degrees (Coulter, ; Hedenborg, , ; Hedenborg & White, ; Thorell & Hedenborg, ). Moreover, the daily labour processes, including the care and dirty work requirements, as well as the racialization of certain occupations like stable staff/groom in a number of locales, reinforce the need for an intersectional and context‐specific lens which illuminates commonalities and differences (Cassidy, ; Castañeda, Kline, & Dickey, 2013; Coulter, ; Miller, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The compounding feminization of animal cruelty investigation work and its multispecies implications

Coulter

Fitzgerald

2018

Gender Work & Organization

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All forms of human labour performed with and/or for animals are gendered, although not always tidily. Here we focus on animal cruelty investigation work, a particularly complicated gendered occupational case. Drawing on survey, interview and focus group data, we focus on a regionally based workforce's gendered specifics. In keeping with feminist political economy and labour process theory, we highlight both material and experiential dimensions, examining physical and psychological risks, and rewards. We argue that the gendered and multispecies entanglements of the work and the victims coalesce in the compounding feminization of cruelty investigation labour. We raise questions about the implications of the gendered and multispecies interconnections for the women and men involved, and for the animals dependent on their work.

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“…According to historical documents, near the beginning of the modern era, on the territory inhabited by Romanians, purebred horses were owned only by local aristocrats, which used them for saddling, warfare, carriage, and especially to highlight their power, rank and political allegiances. In time, the breed horses also started to be owned by the lower social classes for equine-based labour, which is a phenomenon also characteristic to Croatian Lipizzan horses (Španiček, 2019: 214-215), and currently they are under transition from "work horse to sport horse" (Hedenborg, White, 2013). Despite the lesser role given to work horses, these animals' prestige gained due to their centuryconnection with the aristocracy, and military-based horsemanship did not fully disappear from the collective consciousness, especially given "the extent to which our culture, especially in the domains of language, literature, visual and performative arts, is informed by the centuries of interaction between humans and horses" (Ropa, 2019: 1).…”

Section: T H E E L E P Ha N T I N T H E Ro Om Wa S a Hor Sementioning

confidence: 99%

From Unicorns to Lipizzan Horses. Romanian Folklore Studies on the Way to the Implementation of the UNESCO 2003 Convention

Baskerville

2021

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As a country officially engaged in the intangible cultural heritage (hereafter ICH) inventorying and other safeguarding mechanisms of the UNESCO 2003 Convention, Romania provides an example of how folklorists strive to transcend the traditional rules of their discipline and to adapt their methodology and overview to supporting the implementation of the Convention. Starting from the recent Romanian contribution to the multinational file for inscribing the “Lipizzan horse breeding traditions” on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, this paper highlights the counterbalancing influences encountered during this process. Given the distance between this ICH element and the topoi that stand in the mainstream of Romanian folklore studies, the author will provide arguments for considering horse husbandry as a worthy example of living heritage in Romania, ensuring visibility to this tradition in a context dominated by the definition of folklore as an artistic or expressive phenomenon that is being (re)presented as ICH and less by folklife and aesthetic social and cultural manifestations. Using other examples of Romanian living heritage less visible at the level of scholarly and policy initiatives, the author pleads for a middle ground between traditional folklore studies and the theory and current practices of documenting living heritage. The topic may thus contribute to greater efforts to break the old rules of the discipline, turning experts’ eyes from mythological horses to real ones.

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From Glamour to Drudgery – Changing Gender Patterns in the Equine Sector: A Comparative Study of Sweden and Great Britain in the Twentieth Century

Cited by 6 publications

References 9 publications

An Ethnographic Account of the British Equestrian Virtue of Bravery, and Its Implications for Equine Welfare

An Ethnographic Account of the British Equestrian Virtue of Bravery, and Its Implications for Equine Welfare

The compounding feminization of animal cruelty investigation work and its multispecies implications

From Unicorns to Lipizzan Horses. Romanian Folklore Studies on the Way to the Implementation of the UNESCO 2003 Convention

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