Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Epilogue: A Research Agenda for Putting Gender Through Its Paces

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Gender and Equestrian Sport

Abstract

The contributions to this volume have shown that within the context of equestrian sport, women and men find and deliberately locate themselves in positions from which gender is renegotiable. Be they male or female, polo player, fiction reader or bullfighter, riders contribute to and experience gender through their resources and personal desires and skills – regardless of how differentially these may be allocated. Sometimes, equestrian sports facilitate expressions of normative masculinity and femininity which reinforce tradition or the status quo. At other times, equestrianism facilitates open defiance of cultural norms and social legacies of inequality. Gender always matters. However, in what ways do interactions with horses and within the institutional, social and cultural context of the equestrian world affect how it matters? In this epilogue, we draw from the preceding chapters to suggest ten salient areas for further research that are required to deepen and broaden our understanding of gender and equestrian sport.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    See Thompson (2010) for suggestions on further research on human-horse relationships in general.

  2. 2.

    Extending Price’s (2010) preliminary work.

  3. 3.

    See Thompson (2011) for an example of this approach to human-horse-technology-emotion relations in mounted bullfighting.

  4. 4.

    For a discussion of this in relation to mounted bullfighting, see Thompson (2010).

References

  • Adelman, M. (2010). Women who ride: Constructing identities and corporealities in equestrian sports in brazil. In C. Grenier-Torres (Ed.), L’identité genrée au cœur des transformations: du corps sexué au corps genré (pp. 105–126). Paris: L’Harmattan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adelman, M. (2011). Formas (diferentes) de ser mulher: subjetividades corporificadas de participantes femininas de esportes eqüestres no Brasil e na Espanha [Different ways of being a woman: Embodied subjectivities of female participants in Brazilian equestrian sport]. Paper presented at the 35th Congress ANPOCS, Caxambu, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adelman, M., & Moraes, F. A. (2008). Breaking their way in: Women jockeys at the racetrack in Brazil. In M. T. Segal & V. Demos (Eds.), Advancing gender from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries (pp. 99–124). Bingley: Emerald.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ainslie, T., & Ledbetter, B. (1980). The body language of horses: Revealing the nature of equine needs, wishes and emotions and how horses communicate them – For owners, breeders, trainers, riders and all other horse lovers. New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belabbas, Y. (2012, May 9–11). The development of equestrian tourism in Algeria. Paper presented at Equimeeting Tourisme: Cheval, Tourisme et Loisirs. Seminaire International. Saumur, France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellos, A. (2002). Futebol: The Brazilian way of life. London: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birke, L. (2002). Intimate familiarities? Feminism and human-animal studies. Society and Animals, 10(4), 429–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bixby-Hammett, D. M. (2007). Horse related deaths: North Carolina medical examiner’s reports 1981–2005. Equestrian Medical Safety Organisation, XIX(2), 1–4. Source document. http://emsaonline.net/pdf/EMSA_Spring_2007.pdf

  • Brah, A. (1996). Cartographies of diaspora: Contesting identities (gender, race, ethnicity). London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandt, K. (2004). A language of their own: An interactionist approach to human-horse communication. Society and Animals, 12(4), 299–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (2004). Undoing gender. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassidy, R. (2002). The sport of kings: Kinship, class and thoroughbred breeding in Newmarket. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cripps, R. A. (2000). Horse-related injury in Australia. Bedford Park: Flinders University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, F. (2007, February). Undoing gender. Gender and Society, 21(1), 106–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Exadaktylos, A. K., et al. (2002). Hoof kick injuries in unmounted equestrians. Improving accident analysis and prevention by introducing an accident and emergency based relational database. Emergency Medicine Journal, 19(6), 573–575. doi:10.1136/emj.19.6.573.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finch, C., & Watt, G. (1996). Locking the stable door: Preventing equestrian injuries. Melbourne: Monash University Accident Research Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garkovich, L. E. (1983). Horsing around with status symbols: Stratification in the horse industry. Paper presented at the Rural Sociological Society (RSS), Lexington: Kentucky.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, M., & Gillett, J. (2012). Equine athletes and interspecies sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 47(5), 632–643. doi:10.1177/1012690211416726.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grataloup, S. (2012, May 9–11). An attempt to set up a typology of equestrian tourism trekkers. Paper presented at Equimeeting Tourisme: Cheval, Tourisme et Loisirs. Seminaire International. Saumur, France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guedda, O. (2006). Moroccan women riders steal men’s glory. Resource document. Bridlepath http://bridlepath.wordpress.com/2006/08/09/moroccan-women-riders-steal-mens-glory/. Accessed 2 Aug 2012.

  • Hall, S. (1996). What is this ‘black’ in popular culture? In D. Morley & K. H. Chen (Eds.), Stuart Hall: Critical dialogues in cultural studies (pp. 465–475). London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (2007). When species meet. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haro de San Mateo, M. V. d. (2010). La importancia de los números especiales “fin de Temporada” de la revista 6toros6 como fuente de Información especializada para la práctica Periodística. Anales de documentación, 13, 81–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hedenborg, S. (2007). The popular horse: From army to agriculture and leisure. Resource document. Idrottsforum. www.idrottsforum.org/…/hedenborg/hedenborg. Accessed 16 May 2012.

  • Hempfling, K. (2001). Dancing with horses: The art of body language. North Pomfret: Trafalgar Square Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landry, D. (2001). Horsy and persistently queer: Imperialism, feminism and bestiality. Textual Practice, 15(3), 467–485.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, E. A. (1985). Hoofbeats and society: Studies of human-horse interactions. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lupton, D. (1999). Risk. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason, J. (2000). Animal bodies: Corporeality, class, and subject formation in the wide, wide world. Nineteenth-Century Literature, 54(4), 503–533.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mastrobuono, M. (2011, May). “Praia, não! O programa é cavalgada!” [Not to the beach! Let’s go trailriding!]. Revista Horse, 28–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyers, M. C., et al. (1999). Mood and psychological skills of elite and sub-elite equestrian athletes. Journal of Sport Behavior, 22(3), 399.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, J., et al. (2005). Risk factors for cross-country horse falls at one-day events and at two-/three-day events. Veterinary Journal, 170(3), 318–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers, J. (2005). Horse safe: A complete guide to equine safety. Collingwood: Landlinks Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paix, B. R. (1999). Rider injury rates and emergency medical services at equestrian events. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 33(1), 46–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pink, S. (1996). Breasts in the bullring: Female physiology, female bullfighters and competing femininities. Body and Society, 2(1), 45–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Price, B. (2010, February). Investigating the existence of a reverse spillover hypothesis. Serious leisure and the negotiation of work. ANZALS biennial conference, Brisbane.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raber, K., & Tucker, T. J. (Eds.). (2005). The culture of the horse: Status, discipline, and identity in the early modern world. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheller, M. (2004). Automotive emotions: Feeling the car. Theory Culture Society, 21(4–5), 221–242. doi:10.1177/0263276404046068.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silva, J. G. (1997). O Novo Rural Brasileiro [The new Brazilian rural]. Revista Nova Economia, Belo Horizonte.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer, E., et al. (2003). A retrospective case–control study of horse falls in the sport of horse trials and three-day eventing. Equine Veterinary Journal, 35(2), 139–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siqueira, D., & Osório, R. (2001). O Conceito do Rural [The concept of the rural]. Brasília: Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Brasília.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, K. E., et al. (2006). Non-fatal horse related injuries treated in emergency departments in the United States, 2001–2003. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 40(7), 619–626. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2006.025858.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, K. (1999). A dance of discipline: The disciplinary aesthetic of the kür (freestyle dressage to music). Adelaide: University of Adelaide.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, K. (2010). Narratives of tradition: The invention of mounted bullfighting (rejoneo) as “the newest but also the oldest”. Social Science History, 34(4), 523–561.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, K. (2011). Theorising rider-horse relations: An ethnographic illustration of the centaur metaphor in the Spanish bullfight. In N. Taylor & T. Signal (Eds.), Theorising animals(pp. 221–253). Leiden/Boston: Brill.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, K. (2012). Classy performances: The performance of class in the Andalusian bullfight from horseback (rejoneo). Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, 13(2), 167–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, K., & Birke, L. (2013). The horse has got to want to help: Human-animal habituses and networks in amateur show jumping. In M. Gilbert & J. Gillett (Eds.), Animals, Sport and Society. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, K., & Nesci, C. (2011). Risky relations: The rider-horse relationship and risk perception amongst a group of eventers. Paper presented at the XXIV European Society for Rural Sociology Congress, Chania, Crete.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Dierendonck, M., & Goodwin, D. (2005). Social contact in horses: Implications for human-horse interactions. In F. de Jonge & R. van den Bos (Eds.), The human-animal relationship: Forever and a day (pp. 65–81). Assen: Royal Van Gorcum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wofford, J. (2008). Are you qualified—or are you READY? Everyone – Especially the rider – Has a part in making eventing safer. Practical Horseman, 20–23.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Appleton Institute, CQUniversity Australia, 44 Greenhill Road, Wayville, South Australia, 5034, Australia

    Kirrilly Thompson Ph.D.

  2. Graduate Program in Sociology/Undergraduate Program in Social Sciences, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

    Miriam Adelman

Authors
  1. Kirrilly Thompson Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Miriam Adelman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kirrilly Thompson Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Social Sciences, Federal University of Paraná, R. General Carneiro 460 9 anda, Curitiba, 80060-150, Brazil

    Miriam Adelman

  2. , School of Education, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, 2751, New South Wales, Australia

    Jorge Knijnik

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Thompson, K., Adelman, M. (2013). Epilogue: A Research Agenda for Putting Gender Through Its Paces. In: Adelman, M., Knijnik, J. (eds) Gender and Equestrian Sport. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6824-6_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation