Afterword: Formalising equestrian social science

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.