A Geography of Horse-Riding: The Spacing of Affect, Emotion and (Dis)Ability Identity Through Horse-Human Encounters

262 Pages·2013·1.492 MB·English

by  Cheryl Nosworthy

A Geography of Horse-Riding

A Geography of Horse-Riding:
The Spacing of Affect, Emotion
and (Dis)ability Identity
through Horse-Human Encounters
By
Cheryl Nosworthy
A Geography of Horse-Riding:
The Spacing of Affect, Emotion and (Dis)ability Identity through Horse-Human Encounters,
by Cheryl Nosworthy
This book first published 2013
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright © 2013 by Cheryl Nosworthy
All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN (10): 1-4438-4335-0, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-4335-5
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Plates..............................................................................................vii
List of Tables............................................................................................viii
List of Figures.............................................................................................ix
Acknowledgements.....................................................................................x
Introduction.................................................................................................1
The Wounded Storyteller........................................................................1
Framing The Research............................................................................5
Chapter Synopsis.....................................................................................8
Chapter One...............................................................................................11
Setting the Scene: Crossing Points between Animal Studies
and Disability Studies
Geographies of Disability......................................................................12
Cross-Species Encounters.....................................................................26
Animal Geographies..............................................................................32
Summary...............................................................................................40
Chapter Two..............................................................................................42
Thinking Emotion and Affect through Horse-Human Relations
From centaurs to bodies-without-organs...............................................42
Geographies of emotion and affect.......................................................49
Exploring power relations between horses and humans........................61
Summary...............................................................................................66
Chapter Three............................................................................................69
Horses for Courses: Designing a Methodological Strategy
Research design ....................................................................................69
Methodological strategies.....................................................................77
Research sites........................................................................................90
Analysis.................................................................................................96
Summary...............................................................................................96
vi Table of Contents
Chapter Four..............................................................................................97
Learning to be Affected by Horses
Attending a riding school .....................................................................98
Beginner riders and the stratified body...............................................100
Dismantling the body and learning to be affected...............................108
Recognising horses as emotional beings ............................................120
Summary.............................................................................................122
Chapter Five............................................................................................124
Power Dynamics of Horse-Human Relationships
Affective relations between horses .....................................................125
Modalities of instrumental power........................................................131
Associational power (to act)................................................................145
Summary ............................................................................................150
Chapter Six..............................................................................................152
What Circulates on the Horse-Rider BWO?: Connective Energies
and the Emotional Capture of Affect
Connective energies and affective contagion......................................153
Horse-rider BwO.................................................................................164
The emotional capture of affect...........................................................172
Summary ............................................................................................179
Chapter Seven..........................................................................................180
Travelling across Borders: Negotiating Disabled/Nondisabled
Nature/Culture Divides
Disability identities within RDA groups; reproducing the body
as organism ..................................................................................181
Lines of flight from the disabled organism.........................................189
Communication and (dis)empowerment.............................................199
Being with horses ...............................................................................207
Summary.............................................................................................210
Chapter Eight...........................................................................................211
Concluding Discussion
Themes running through the research ...............................................211
Future research....................................................................................220
Personal reflections.............................................................................222
Summary ............................................................................................225
Bibliography ...........................................................................................226
Index .......................................................................................................248
LIST OF PLATES
3-1Facial expressions................................................................................79
3-2Natural horsemanship footage.............................................................80
4-1Teacher-pupil discussion...................................................................106
4-2Stretching exercises...........................................................................110
4-3Stirrup exercises................................................................................111
4-4RDA equipment.................................................................................112
4-5Devonshire boots...............................................................................113
4-6Walking demonstration.....................................................................117
4-7Rising trot demonstration..................................................................117
4-8Learning rising trot............................................................................118
4-9Not a happy horse..............................................................................121
5-1Spooking............................................................................................127
5-2Curiosity............................................................................................129
5-3Horse discomfort...............................................................................136
5-4Horse resistance.................................................................................140
5-5Horse resistance.................................................................................144
5-6Power relations..................................................................................149
6-1Tension..............................................................................................156
6-2Learning feel......................................................................................158
6-3Novelty seeking.................................................................................168
6-4Bending exercise...............................................................................169
7-1Mounting...........................................................................................191
LIST OF TABLES
3-1 Research sites and methods chosen.....................................................70
3-2 Methodological aims...........................................................................71
3-3 Key informants....................................................................................85
3-4 Diary keepers (nondisabled)................................................................88
3-5 Diary keepers (disabled)......................................................................88
LIST OF FIGURES
3-1 Research participants and relations between them..............................76
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book would not have been possible without the help, guidance,
support and advice of many people and I would like to acknowledge my
gratitude to them here. Firstly I would like to thank The University of
Reading for the studentship that funded the PhD thesis on which this book
is based, and The Injured Jockeys Fund (IJF) and The Jockeys Employment
Training Scheme (JETS) for funding my BSc and MSc. I extend my
gratitude in particular to Jeremy Richardson of the IJF and to Dana Mellor
of JETS who sparked off the idea that I should attend university. I am
indebted to the participants who kindly allowed me to video their riding
activities and who gave up their time to write diaries and chat to me about
horses. The most enjoyable part of completing the thesis was meeting a
diversity of people and horses, many of whom I now count as friends. The
enthusiasm and positivity of the ‘Riding for the Disabled’ groups I
attended was of huge benefit in motivating me to keep writing.
I would especially like to thank my supervisors Dr Sophie Bowlby and
Dr Louise Holt for their insightful comments, advice and guidance, and for
kindly scheduling meetings around my riding activities. I would like to
thank Dr Sophie Bowlby for her support and encouragement through both
an undergraduate and MSc degree which gave me the confidence and
inspiration to continue on to a PhD. Members of the Department of
Geography at Reading, including my fellow postgraduates have given
continued support over the years, as have the many geographers I have
met along the way.
On a personal note, I would like to express my gratitude to my parents
for delivering supplies of cheese and pickles to keep me going, and to the
support of Clair, Freddy, Beth, Ella, and everyone at Kentismoor. I would
like to thank racehorse trainer Eric Wheeler for fitting the horses’ exercise
regime around my studies and for continued opportunities to race ride.
Finally the greatest thanks go to my beautiful, clever, four-legged
racehorse friends Batchworth Blaise, Even Bolder and Dancing Mystery
with whom I endlessly dispute, negotiate and discuss my ideas about
riding.