Horse culture

Alla metà del Cinquecento, Federico Grisone, gentiluomo napoletano dava per la prima volta alle stampe un libro sull’arte di ammaestrare il cavallo «per l’uso della guerra» e sui segreti per «emendarne i vitii». L’opera ebbe subito un enorme successo e fu ben presto emulata dai libri di altri autori. Nasceva così un vero e proprio genere letterario, quello del trattato equestre, la cui tradizione, tra alterne vicende, è giunta viva e vitale sino ai nostri giorni. Non è un caso che quell’opera fosse stampata in Italia, visto che nel nostro paese tra XV e XVI secolo venne elaborata una nuova cultura di corte in cui l’equitazione aveva un ruolo fondamentale. All’epoca, i cavallerizzi italiani erano contesi dalle corti di tutta Europa e i rampolli dell’aristocrazia di tutto il continente valicavano le Alpi per perfezionarsi nell’arte di montare a cavallo presso celebri maestri. Seguendo il filo rosso della trattatistica equestre, questo libro ripercorre la storia dell’equitazione italiana ed europea, raccontandone le ricche implicazioni culturali, l’evoluzione delle tecniche e i numerosi intrecci con i grandi avvenimenti della storia europea. Una vicenda costellata di personaggi circondati da un’aura di leggendaria abilità, di dispute tra scuole contrapposte e di imprese memorabili. Una storia che dal Cinquecento si dipana sino agli inizi del XX secolo, quando di nuovo un italiano, Federico Caprilli, rivoluzionò l’equitazione mondiale, ideando la tecnica di salto degli ostacoli tutt’oggi in uso.
http://worksofchivalry.com/it/il-libro/

Airag, (Fermented horse milk) is a traditional milk product in Mongolia. Herders separate foals from their dams and tie them at a milking site during the daytime to produce airag. To evaluate the effects of horse management on the movement of dams, we tracked three dams in a herd in camp 1 during summer and camp 2 during autumn of 2013 and analyzed their movements during the milking (daytime) and non-milking (nighttime) periods in an area famous for its high-quality airag. Dams were gathered every 1.7 AE 0.0 h between 07.46 and 15.47 hours at the milking sites and milked 4.6 AE 0.2 times/day during the study period (86 days). Daily cumulative and maximum linear distances from the milking sites were longer (P < 0.01) during the non-milking period than during the milking period. Daily home ranges were 91 and 26 times greater during the non-milking period (P < 0.001) in camps 1 and 2, respectively. The greater range during the non-milking period would reflect the spatial distributions of water, salt and forage. The dams initially used similar areas and gradually shifted their daily home ranges after several days. This shift suggests that the dams grazed farther afield as forage availability declined around the milking site. For better airag production and sustainable pasture use, our results provide insights useful for evaluating the effects of milking management on vegetation and soil in those pastures, for selecting the appropriate milking times and frequency, and for choosing the right timing to shift milking sites.

How feedback is provided in coach-athlete interaction is vital both to the results in competitive sport and to the satisfaction of participants of recreational sport. Yet studies of coaching-in-interaction remain sparse. The proposed paper, describing how feedback is provided in interaction between rider and coach in equestrian settings, thus ought to be of interest to all researchers interested in coaching-as-interaction. During the presentation, examples from the video recorded data will be presented and used to show how diverse ways of providing feedback influence the unfolding interaction between coach and rider.

The study reported is based on 15 hrs of video recordings from the kind of everyday dressage training sessions that take up most of the time of professional equestrian coaches in Sweden. The video data is completed by interviews with all human participants (N=20). Discourse analyses of these qualitative, semi-structured, stimulated recall interviews with the participating coaches (n=5) and riders (n=15), provide a rich background for the interaction analyses, but they also give important insights into what riders and coaches respectively perceive as “high quality coaching practices”.

Typically, feedback appears as the third part of a three step sequence of “initiative-response-feedback”, where the first two steps consists of the coach first instructing the rider to perform a specific movement or exercise, to which the rider together with the horse responds by implementing the instruction. When the exercise has been carried out, the feedback can be provided (in the form of an evaluation) by the coaches themselves:

1. C: ”try lengthening his steps a bit now”
2. R:  [responds by following instruction]
3. C: “that was good, well done”

This kind of evaluation is often, regardless of whether it is negative or positive, projecting a change of subject rather than further discussions of the outcome of the exercise.

But feedback can also be invited by the coach, in the form of self-evaluation on behalf of the rider:

1. C: “and now do it to the left”
2. R: [responds by following instruction]
3. C: “what do you think of that?”

The invitation for self-reflection is often, but must not be, followed by a more elaborated stretch of interaction, where the participants together discuss the outcome of the exercise. The relation between these results and  how coaches and riders account for their preferences in interviews will, together with implications to the further education of professional coaches, will be discussed during the presentation.

The study has been funded by the Swedish National Centre for Research in Sports and The Swedish-Norwegian Foundation for Equine Research.

In the eighteenth century a growing interest in the British institutions and culture spread throughout Europe. This trend also involved the equestrian field. “English equitation” became fashionable and the interest in horse racing and country riding raised. A phenomenon, which testifies, once again, the close connection between politics, fashion and horse riding and whose consequences are still evident today. The “English equestrian fashion” ignited lively debates. Practitioners and horse lovers were divided between enthusiasts and absolute opponents. We find an interesting testimony of this controversy in a book of an Italian rider and writer of the Eighteenth century: Federico Mazzucchelli.

A partire dal Settecento, in Europa si diffuse un crescente interesse per le istituzioni e la cultura inglesi e questa tendenza coinvolse anche il campo equestre. L’equitazione “all’inglese” divenne di gran moda e crebbe la passione per l’ippica e l’equitazione di campagna. Un fenomeno che testimonia, una volta di più, lo stretto legame tra politica, moda ed equitazione e le cui conseguenze sono evidenti ancora oggi. Questa tendenza non mancò di suscitare suscitò un vivace dibattito che divise praticanti e appassionati tra entusiasti e assolutamente contrari. Troviamo un’interessante testimonianza diretta di questa controversia nell’opera di un cavaliere e scrittore italiano del Settecento: Federico Mazzucchelli.

New interesting and unknown details of Cesare Fiaschi’s biography emerge from the study of some ancient sources, which illu-minate, with a new light, one of the most in-teresting figures of the Renaissance eques-trian culture and disprove many legends and inaccuracies handed down to us about him.

Nuovi dettagli interessanti e sinora scono-sciuti della biografia di Cesare Fiaschi emergono dallo studio di alcune fonti anti-che, che illuminano di una nuova luce una delle figure più interessanti della cultura equestre del Rinascimento e confutano mol-te leggende e inesattezze tramandate sul suo conto.

Sustainability promotes the perpetuation of environmental quality for present generations, future generations, and other species. Regions are privileged bounded spaces and a focus for sustainability concerns. This paper explores the notion of sustainable regions by employing a case study of the Upper Hunter, Australia, a region that is a node in material and discursive networks for coal mining, wine making, and thoroughbred breeding. It defines sustainability as environmental sustainability, which is a basis for
socio-economic development. While planning for sustainability at a regional scale is vital, it is also necessary to understand material and discursive networks that connect regions with other spaces

A textual analysis via critical discourse analysis and content analysis is undertaken to examine how horse racing is covered in Melbourne’s two principal newspapers and what primary themes are present. Horse racing is a significant cultural and economic activity in Australia and is thus worthwhile examining how the sport is represented by the press and how racing’s sociocultural role is communicated. A two-week sample period is selected and noteworthy articles gathered for further examination and detailed analysis. A number of themes emerged from the data which have been contextualised within the thesis. Additionally, research on news values and the political economy of the two newspapers along with different elements of the horse racing industry including general scholarship, equine welfare, fashion and social activities and social policy is discussed in order to frame the study.
It is found that both newspapers expressed both positive and negative sentiments about the sport with no evidence of extreme bias. Several recurring themes emerged from the sample; these include articles discussing horse welfare, racing’s history, tradition and social practices (clustered under the label ‘sociocultural’), the internationalism of the sport, gambling, social policy and the fashion and social aspects of racing. It is also established that the newspapers portrayed racing as having a significant sociocultural function within Australia.
These results are significant as they convey the prominence of horse racing both as an industry and as a popular form of entertainment. The examination of the key themes provides an overview of the most noteworthy elements of horse racing as presented by the news media which would provide useful information for the sport’s governing bodies while offering insight into the news values of each publication. Finally, as the industry is prone to criticism, especially from animal activists, presenting evidence of its sociocultural importance provides important justification for its continuation in the face of condemnation.

This dissertation charts the creation and the use of the working horse in urban areas. Historical and contemporary studies of the working horse are combined to establish how these animals were bred, cared for, and housed in order to be the optimum machine. A typology for the Working Horse Stable is created, and what can be inferred from the architecture about horse care is carefully unpicked. Multiple case studies are introduced, dealt with in the order; Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas, and Local Listings. What these examples can deduce about the current state of conservation of Working Horse Stables is then discussed, and a vision for the future of this building type is offered.

At the mid point of the sixteenth century, a Neapolitan gentleman, Federico Grisone, published, for the first time, a printed book about the art of training the horse “for the use of war” and on the secrets to “emend his defects”. The work was a huge and immediate success and was soon emulated by other authors. The new literary genre of equestrian treatises was thus born and it’s tradition, with ups and downs, became alive and remains vital up to this day. It is no coincidence that this first work was printed in Italy because, between the fifteenth and sixteenth century, it was in that country that a new culture of the court, in which horse riding had a key role, was developed. During this time, Italian riders were sought out by the members of European courts and the scions of the European aristocracy ventured to Italy to perfect their skill in the art of riding with renowned masters. Following the thread of equestrian treatises, this book traces the history of Italian and European equitation, recounting the rich cultural implications, the evolution of the techniques, and the many connections with the great events of European history. It is a story full of characters surrounded by an aura of legendary skill, of disputes between opposing schools, and of memorable deeds. It is a story that goes from the sixteenth century until the early twentieth century, when again an Italian, Federico Caprilli, revolutionized the riding world, creating the jumping technique still in use today.
http://worksofchivalry.com/the-book-2/

""En Filipo II y el Arte de la Guerra tendremos la oportunidad de conocer en profundidad a uno de los más grandes reyes de la antigua Macedonia. Gracias a su habilidad como estratega, diplomático, político y soldado, heredó un reino pobre, débil y acosado por innumerables enemigos y lo transformó en el más poderoso de toda Grecia.

A lo largo de sus páginas podremos conocer la historia del reino Macedonio, desde sus orígenes míticos hasta la formación de un imperio, de la mano del que, a la postre, se convertiría en el padre del mítico Alejandro Magno y en el forjador de un nuevo ejército que cambiaria el devenir de la guerra en la Antigüedad. Filipo II fue el creador de la falange macedonia, formación que se demostraría como inigualable en el campo de batalla y que reportaría incontables victorias sobre poderosos enemigos, como los ilirios, los tesalios, los tracios, los beocios o los atenienses. Pero no sólo eso, logró integrar en el campo de batalla a la infantería y a la caballería para emplearlos en nuevas formaciones tácticas: armó a sus soldados con las míticas sarissas y apreció como pocos las posibilidades militares que la maquinaria de guerra podía proporcionarle, siendo el mecenas de numerosos avances en este campo. Soñó con conquistar el Imperio persa, cuando ya había logrado lo que nadie antes fue capaz: el control de Grecia.

Sólo la muerte le arrebató esa hazaña, pero sentó las bases de lo que más tarde conseguiría su propio hijo. Su figura levantó tanto odios como pasiones; se le conocía como mujeriego y bebedor, pero también por su habilidad para la oratoria, por sus astucia, determinación y valor. Siempre luchó en primera línea junto a sus soldados y nunca permitió que éstos le llamaran rey, sino solo "General".

Based on existing classifications of the horse-bits and cheek-pieces of the North Caucasus and Eastern Europe, the paper outlines a classification of bronze cheek-pieces made of a twisted core and non-bonding three-hole cheek-pieces from Azerbaijan. Burials where objects under the study originate from are dated back to the second half of the 8 th and the 7 th centuries BC. Most of the studied bits with non-bonding three-hole cheek-pieces of Azerbaijan come from the burial grounds where Scythian type objects were discovered or where a burial rite has analogies to those in the forest-steppe on the right bank of the Dnipro River. This data indicates the connection of the studied artifacts with the cultures of the Cimmerians and the Scythians.

Sommaire : L'examen des textes de Columelle (I er s.) et des hippiatres de l'Empire romain tardif (IV e s.) donne les carac-téristiques de la contention opératoire chez les grandes espèces domestiques. En raison de sa grande taille, le travail (machina) de Columelle ne pouvait être utilisé comme de nos jours, mais plutôt comme une cage où l'animal était attaché en position chirurgicale. En outre, un procédé original de fixation de la tête évoque le cornadis autobloquant actuel. Le travail permettait aussi de suspendre (suspendere, statuere) les chevaux in-capables de tenir debout, le temps de leur guérison. Une version rustique servait enfin de couloir de saillie. À la machina, installation fixe des grands domaines, les vétérinaires antiques préférèrent l'abattage (deponere, exponere, elidere), plus rapide à mettre en oeuvre, mais exigeant une véritable expertise. Dans ce contexte, l'usage de la fosse (fossa) est analysé. Summary: The study of texts by Columella (I st century) and by hippiaters of the late Roman Empire (IV th century) reveals characteristics of ancient restraint methods used in performing surgery on large domestic species. Because of its large size, Columella's travis (machina) could not be used as is done nowadays, but as a cage in which animals were strapped in a surgical position. Moreover, an original method of steadying the animal's head reminds one of the present-day self-locking feed barrier. The travis also made it possible to suspend (suspendere, statuere) horses that could not remain standing on their own, for the duration of the recovery period. And a rustic version of machina was used as a mating corridor for horses. Rather than resort to a machi-na, a fixed piece of equipment found on large estates, ancient veterinaries preferred casting horses (deponere, exponere, elidere), which was faster but required real expertise. In this context, the use of a pit (fossa) is analyzed .

Companions in the Afterlife: The Role of Horses in Mortuary Archaeology

Since ancient peoples first harnessed equids, horses have played an important part in human civilization. They were a mode of transportation for ancient peoples, as well as a food source. The horse opened up a vast new world for the nomadic people of the steppe. Horses also gave early people a new way of waging warfare upon other tribes and civilizations. These attributes made the horse a central figure in the lives of these early cultures, which is possibly why the horse became an important accompaniment in early civilizations' graves. Horse burials can be an intriguing and sometimes confusing archaeological puzzle.The study of horse burials, particularly human-horse burials can sometimes give us an understanding of the rituals that took place in conjunction with a high status, or even sometimes a low status burial. Could some of these horse burials be based on the management of livestock belonging to a nomadic tribe? Perhaps some horse burials that took place could quite possibly be the ritualistic slaughter of horses that were intended to accompany the individual to the afterlife? Perhaps some burials could possibly be offerings to the Gods for a good crop, or a victory in a coming battle? These are just some of the questions that have, like the horses themselves, accompanied horse burials discovered in the archaeological record.

Contratapa:
En noviembre de 1918, Carlos Gardel y José Razzano, entonces de gira en la provincia de La Pampa, se escaparon hasta Buenos Aires para presenciar la “carrera del siglo” entre dos purasangres de enorme prestigio, Botafogo y Grey Fox. Ese día, todo el país se detuvo, cautivado por el gran espectáculo que tuvo lugar en el hipódromo de Palermo. Hasta los años cincuenta, la Argentina fue una verdadera “nación burrera”, que vibraba al ritmo de las carreras de caballos. En las décadas de apogeo del turf, nadie desconocía el nombre de los principales caballos y los mejores jinetes, o el resultado de los grandes eventos del calendario hípico. Y el hipódromo atraía a decenas de miles de espectadores y un enorme volumen de apuestas, muy superior al de Francia o Inglaterra.

Adentrándose en un mundo poco conocido hasta hoy, Roy Hora traza una historia social del turf argentino desde sus inicios en el siglo XIX hasta la actualidad. Además de un entretenimiento de extraordinario eco en los sectores populares, el turf fue un espectáculo en el que la clase alta desempeñó un papel fundamental, invirtiendo enormes recursos para colocarlo bajo su dominio y patronazgo. Las clases medias, por su parte, pasaron del entusiasmo a la crítica moral. Con sostenido pulso narrativo, el autor explora los orígenes de las carreras de caballos y su relación con la cultura ecuestre criolla que las precedió, el papel del Jockey Club y de la elite social en la forja y las transformaciones del hipódromo, y la constitución de los jockeys en jinetes profesionales y estrellas deportivas. También expone los debates que el turf suscitó, así como las razones del auge y ocaso del interés de los argentinos por los caballos de carrera.

Escenario de encuentro entre distintos mundos sociales, la historia del turf ofrece un prisma a través del cual analizar las relaciones entre la elite, las clases medias y los sectores populares, así como los grandes procesos de cambio social que la Argentina atravesó entre los tiempos de Sarmiento y Perón.

In later prehistory horse ownership was a manifestation of wealth and physical prowess, and demonstrated access to distant lands. Because of the expense and restricted availability of horses, they are often reduced to indicators of status without more nuanced considerations of how lived human-horse interactions enmeshed them in these status displays. To complicate the simple horse/status object equivalence, this article presents a specific case for the symbolic and social significance of horses in Early Iron Age south-eastern Slovenia through the lens of equine iconography, and argues that horses and particularly equestrianism were essential to embodying elite masculine identity. Broadly, this article seeks to move beyond equating high-status goods with high-status people by discussing how particular events, bodily abilities and human-animal relationships were all intertwined in the materialization of social distinction for a particular group.

Chariot races were the earliest, most popular, and longest-lived of all forms of ‘spectacles’ in the Roman world. This essay surveys the spatial and architectural framework of the Circus Maximus, the primary chariot racing venue at Rome, and circuses around the empire; the organization of the races, including the role of the factions; the symbolic representations of victories and athletic victors, as well as the charioteers’ actual prizes; and the horses that were bred for racing. Throughout I also briefly discuss the sport’s spectators and fans, for whom the sport was a socially binding religion.
The essay focuses on the first through the fourth centuries A.D., with the bulk of the evidence (literary, epigraphic, artistic, and archaeological) drawn from the first two centuries. In keeping with current directions in the study of ancient sport and spectacle, the approach adopted here places less emphasis on the legal and technical aspects of the chariot races (‘event-oriented sport history’) and more on these competitions as ‘part of a broader social canvas’ (the ‘social history of sport and spectacle’).

The work is devoted to describing of the complex of horse equipment of Yakuts. The research sources became archaeological and ethnographic collections of museums. Equipment a rideable horse of Yakuts consists of two main parts – the headband (reins) and the saddle with stirrups. The horse equipment of Yakuts has close analogies in forms and manufacturing technology, in terminology to the peoples of South Siberia and Central Asia. Parallels for elements of horse harness of Early Yakut burials XIV–XVII centuries ВС was found in Ust-Talkin culture of the nomadic herders of the South Angara region and the Upper Lena in XII–XIV centuries ВС. However, Yakut complex of horse harness has specific characteristics that clearly show his identity.
Работа посвящена описанию комплекса конского снаряжения у якутов. Источниками исследования стали археологические и этнографические коллекции музеев. Снаряжение верхового коня у якутов, состоящее из двух основных частей – оголовья (узды) и седла со стременами, имеет близкие аналогии в формах, технологии изготовления и терминологии у народов Южной Сибири и Центральной Азии. Параллели элементам конной упряжи раннеякутских погребений XIV–XVII вв. обнаруживаются в усть-талькинской культуре кочевников-скотоводов Южного Приангарья и Верхней Лены XII–XIV вв. Вместе с тем в якутском комплексе конского убранства, безусловно, есть и специфические черты, ярко показывающие его самобытность.

The Fechtbuch (Fight-Book) from 1459 AD by Hans Talhoffer is truly an uncanny work. In this edition of his work, the fight-master opens a window for us to his world. He shares knowledge from his own field of expertise – the martial arts of Renaissance Europe. Yet he also presents works from masters of the same and other fields – Zwaintzig Ussrichtung (Twenty Directives) by fight-master Johann Liechtenauer; Bellifortis (Battle Force) by military engineer Conrad Kyeser; and Hie Lert (Here Teaches) by astrologer-physiologist Jud Ebreesch. By text and by pictures, numerous diverse and lively scenes are shown that are sometimes quite bizarre – vigorous fighting lessons, for judicial dueling and for battle; war-machines, strange inventions and secret formulas; and treatises upon cosmology and physiology.

In this rich personal edition of his work, Talhoffer deals with a wide variety of things, from the lofty to the earthy. He has something to offer everyone – whether fighter, artist, botanist, philologist, herbalist, chemist, metalsmith, carpenter, jurist, kinesiologist, astronomer, culinarian, theologian, costumer, physician or otherwise.

Although fighting-arts are the focus of Talhoffer’s book, it is really something of a kaleidoscopic view of the interests and pursuits of the Renaissance German warrior, inclusive of manifold things meaningful to his life. However atavistic or unreal his world may be deemed now, it did truly exist and held wonder and honour worthy of our admiration.

The diversity of this book stands witness to Hans Talhoffer as one of the dynamic personalities of his generation – one whom we must deem was a true Renaissance Man.

All imagery herein is from the 1459-Thott edition, courtesy of the original 15th Century manuscript held by sterwardship of Det Kongelige Bibliotek in Copenhagen Denmark. I made this PDF to present that work here for the free learning of all sincerely interested persons. It may be viewed via personal computer, saved onto CDR and/or printed into hard-copy, allowing complete archiving of the document in whatever quality format one may choose – with the understanding that it is meant for noncommercial and nonprofit educational usage. The imagery herein is colour-corrected; and where needed in four folios, the action of the artwork is conceptually restored. The original uncorrected DKB facsimile still exists online. DKB is found in the Web at this URL: http://www.kb.dk

So first is the facsimile of the original book itself, which lets you see the words and pictures for yourself. Next are my transcription of its German and my translation of that into English – the transcription gives you direct comprehensible reference to the original German wording, while the translation gives you the first and only rendering of that wording into English. Lastly is my interpretive commentary, which helps you better understand many aspects of the words and pictures.

This is a conference paper I presented at The Animal/Human Bond in Oxford Summer 2014, excerpted from a larger work. Now available in "Who's Talking Now? Multispecies Relations from Humans and Animals Point of View" at http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/publishing/product/whos-talking-now-multispecies-relations-from-human-and-animals-point-of-view/
My research is on the development of the horse as a status symbol in western Europe during the Middle Ages. Horses throughout history have often been restricted to the upper classes in non-nomadic societies simply due to the expense and time required of ownership of a 1,000lb prey animal. However, between 1000 and 1300 the perceived social value of the horse far surpasses the expense involved. After this point, ownership of quality animals begins to be regulated by law, such that a well off merchant or a lower level noble would not be legally allowed to own the most prestigious mounts, despite being able to easily afford one. Depictions of horses in literature become increasingly more elaborate and more reflective of their owners’ status and heroic value during this time. Changes over time in the frequency of horses being used, named, and given as gifts in literature from the same traditions, such as from the Waltharius to the Niebelungenlied, and the evolving Arthurian cycles, show a steady increase in the horse’s use as social currency. Later epics, such as La Chanson de Roland and La Cantar del Mio Cid, illustrate how firmly entrenched the horse became is the trappings of aristocracy.

The evolution of horse usage, with the expansion of the cavalry from the fourth century onward, depended on quality livestock, the intensification of hippiatric medical research and the development of horse-related instruments both for the use of the rider and his mount.
The Early Byzantine and Roman cavalry were dependent on this triad, otherwise they could not have succeeded against more experienced Barbarians. The enemy's experience was matched with experimentation, the development and continuous improvement of an expertise which allowed them to reverse the situation to their advantage in later confrontations with nomadic people.
This triad actually took place almost simultaneously, contrary to what was thought for a long time. Specifically, these three pieces of the puzzle, directly linked to the expansion of the cavalry, appeared between the third and fifth / sixth centuries and bear witness to major efforts in an age that was believed to be less fruitful in such areas.

This study reviews ethological literature and the views of working riders on the manners in which horses communicate nonverbally; explores social-scientific paradigms of human nonverbal communication as presented in the academic discipline of Communication Studies; and outlines crucial ways in which horse-horse, horse-human, and human-horse communication can be viewed using paradigms for human-human nonverbal communication. With this in place, I explore and present photographs of what I have termed horses’ ability for “corporeal synchronicity”—the ability to move in exact, foot-for-foot synchrony with one another—and the meaning this may hold for both human and horse.

Le nom du cheval est un des mieux assurés dans la reconstruction linguistique indo-européenne, au plan lexical, dans la phraséologie (collocation de lexèmes), et dans l'onomastique personnelle, à tel point qu'on peut considérer le cheval comme l'animal indo-européen par excellence, avec le chien et le loup.

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Burial of horses and horse-elements occurred throughout Europe during the first millennium AD. These burials are prevalent in northwest Europe and are perhaps more significant in Britain than previously realised. This article explores the position and value of the horse within Britain during this period, why the burials are likely to represent ritual deposition and what they may indicate about the culture. Both horse deposits and human-horse burials are linked to non-Christian burial and sacrificial practices of the Iron Age and Early Medieval period and are particularly associated with Anglo-Saxon and Viking Britain. Some of the traditions appear to reflect the culture described in the Icelandic Sagas, Beowulf and other legends and chronicles. Archaeologically, the human-horse burials are also linked with high status individuals and ‘warrior graves,’ while complete-horse and horse-element burials may represent ritual feasting and sacrificial rites probably linked with fertility, luck and the ancestors.

"Ces Actes des Journées d’étude internationales (Strasbourg, 6-7 novembre 2009) sont l’aboutissement d’un programme de recherche (2007-2009), mené au sein de l’UMR 7044 (Étude des civilisations de l’Antiquité : de la Préhistoire à Byzance), sur la place du cheval dans l’empire byzantin. Les 14 contributions qu’ils réunissent sont consacrées au cheval de guerre et de loisir dans l’Antiquité et au Moyen Âge.

L’ouvrage est divisé en trois sections. Dans la première, les contributeurs analysent la naissance du corps de cavalerie dans l’armée romaine et ses emplois. Sont également étudiés les différences régionales du pourtour méditerranéen dans l’élevage du cheval, les prix pratiqués ou encore les connaissances hippologiques des Anciens. Les travaux qui composent la deuxième partie proposent des synthèses sur le cheval médiéval, byzantin et occidental. Ils abordent le sujet à travers les textes, les sources archéologiques, les représentations et les us et coutumes des civilisations étudiées. Enfin, la dernière partie s’intéresse aux instruments hippiques, aux armes et à l’hippiatrie. Y sont ainsi réexaminées les innovations, adoptions et adaptations, dans l’Antiquité tardive, des pièces de l’équipement équin essentielles pour le combat, telles que l’étrier et le mors. Les armes des cavaliers sont réévaluées, ainsi que les changements dans leurs techniques de combat suite à la diffusion de l’étrier. On trouvera aussi l’analyse du vocabulaire employé pour l’anatomie du cheval dans la littérature hippiatrique grecque, qui connaît à cette période un essor sans précédent, lié au développement de la cavalerie romaine et protobyzantine."

Based on ethnographic research in Egypt and the United States, this chapter will focus on the emergence and dynamics of transnational networks of modern Arabian horse breeding with a focus on the Straight Egyptian Arabian horse as a nationalized and trademarked modern sub-breed. Following a practice-oriented social anthropological approach and drawing on insights from both science and technology studies and human-animal studies, I argue that a central feature of the Arabian horse industry and global breeding community is genealogical talk about the Arabian horse. Ancestral knowledge about the most precious bloodlines and the ability to trace a horse’s genealogy and pedigree to its “pure” Arab Bedouin origin in the deserts of Arabia, the Levant, and Egypt’s royal stables, is a matter of ongoing debate. This chapter will discuss issues of modern breed formation and the performative employment of the Arabic concept of purity and authenticity (Arabic āṣāla/āṣīl) by modern Arabian horse breeders in relation to two case studies: the infamous but extremely popular story of the stallion Nassralla, born in 1954 in Egypt at the Egyptian state-stud al-Zahraa and accused of impurity and tainted blood; and the exclusion of desert-bred Tahawi-bloodlines from the World Arabian Horse Organization (WAHO) in 1972. Taken together, I suggest, these two instances of exclusion based on bloodlines suggest how the breeding of modern Egyptian Arabian horses implies a submerged politics of structural violence against traditional Arab society.

Documento guía de las pláticas que he ofrecido en el Seminario Infancias (Facultad de Historia) y a integrantes del Consejo Ciudadano de Morelia en junio de 2016. Planteo en siete páginas con vínculos a documentos qué ha sido del jaripeo en la matriz de la economía de la furia y por qué es importante comprometerse en una estrategia no prohibicionista ni punitiva (que es la que de manera más inmediata se le suele ocurrir a la gente indignada y a la gente en política).

Whether knight's charger or beast of burden, horses played a vital role in medieval life. The wealth of medieval finds excavated in London in recent years has, not surprisingly, included many objects associated with horses. This catalogue illustrates and discusses over four hundred such objects, among them harness, horseshoes, spurs and curry combs, from the utilitarian to highly decorative pieces. London served by horse traffic comes vividly in view. The introductory chapter draws on historical as well as archaeological sources to consider the role of the horse in medieval London. It looks at the price of horses and the costs of maintaining them, the hiring of 'hackneys' for riding, the use of carts in and around London, and the work of the 'marshal' or farrier. It discusses the evidence for the size of medieval horses and includes a survey of finds of medieval horse skeletons from London. It answers the key questions, how large a 'Great Horse' was, and why it took three horses to pull a cart. A new introduction to this edition provides an update on research and a supplementary bibliography. This is a basic work of reference for archaeologists and those studying medieval artefacts, and absorbing reading for everyone interested in the history of the horse and its use by humankind.