Description
Book SynopsisHuman-horse relationships take the central place in this edited collection examining the horse’s perspective by asking: How are human-equine relationships communicated, enacted, understood, encouraged, and restricted? The contributors apply varied disciplinary methods as they emphasize comprehending horses not solely in terms of their functional uses, but also as impactful participants in relationships, whether more—or less—equally. By exploring the “who” of horses, The Relational Horse offers a better understanding of horses’ lived experiences and interests within the worlds they share with humans, and a way forward for human-equine studies that more equitably represents the horse in those shared worlds.
Table of ContentsGala Argent Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Introduction: Humans and Horses in the Relational Arena Gala Argent and Jeannette Vaught part 1 Relationships, Communication, and Connection 1 Synchrony or Dominance? Equine Social Relations in Feral and Domestic Horses Lucy Rees 2 Can You Hear Me (Yet)?—Rhetorical Horses, Trans-Species Communication, and Interpersonal Attunement Gala Argent 3 Reining-in the Vital Powers of Horses Stephen Smith 4 Ceremony and Psychoanalytic Thought A Theoretical Framework for Exploring Horse-Human Relationships and Connection Joseph J. Lancia part 2 Attributions of Equine Subjectivity and Agency 5 “The Steed Knew Well His Master Was Slain” Human-Horse Relationships in the Age of Heroes—the Scandinavian Iron Age Kristin Armstrong Oma 6 Barn Banter An Exploration of Anthropomorphism and ‘Equine-o-morphism’ as Agency Dona Lee Davis, Anita Maurstad and Sarah Dean 7 “Horses are Like Babies” Work and Skill in the Care of Racehorses Rebecca Richart part 3 Sex, Gender, and Exploitation 8 Mareitude Misogyny in the Horse World Julia Johnson 9 Is it Sex if the Veterinarian Does the Work? The Problem of Pleasure in Multispecies Sexual Labor Jeannette Vaught 10 Believing Ginger Revisiting Black Beauty During #MeToo Angela Hofstetter part 4 Personhood, Property, and the Interspecies Family 11 Negotiating Power, Personhood & (In)equality in Elite Horse‐Rider Relationships Rachel Hogg 12 How Horses Matter in Eastern Mongolia Cross-Breeding, Gaited Horses and Relationships with the Land on the 21st Century Steppe Robin Irvine 13 Horses as Healers Shifting Paradigms and Ethics in Equine Assisted Therapies Arieahn Matamonasa Bennett Afterword Moving Human-Equine Studies Forward, with Horses Jeannette Vaught and Gala Argent Index
