A Language of Their Own: An Interactionist Approach to Human-Horse Communication

Abstract

This paper explores the process of human-horse communication using ethnographic data of in-depth interviews and participant observation. Guided by symbolic interactionism, the paper argues that humans and horses co-create a language system by way of the body to facilitate the creation of shared meaning.This research challenges the privileged status of verbal language and suggests that non-verbal communication and language systems of the body have their own unique complexities. This investigation of humanhorse communication offers new possibilities to understand the subjective and intersubjective world of non-verbal language using beings-human and nonhuman alike.Within the social sciences there is scant research about the relationships humans share with their equine companions (Wipper, 2000;Lawrence, 1982 Lawrence, , 1984.Most of the literature available examines cowboys of the Old West and Indian warriors and the purpose horses served in their lives (

Tools of the Trade or Part of the Family? Horses in Competitive Equestrian Sport

“…This study has revealed how, at this level, the horse-rider relationship differs markedly to that seen at lower levels of competition and with leisure riders (Brandt, 2004).…”

“…However, the demands of the elite sporting world do not make space for failure (Hughes and Coakley, 1991) -be it human or equine. As a result, riders may be discouraged from forming close bonds with their horses, in the ways common for leisure riders (Brandt, 2004), as the relationship will probably be transient.…”

Dancing horses and reflecting humans

“…Current consensus in science suggests that from the behaviour of animals we can conclude that they are likely to have positive and negative emotions, but it is impossible for us to know with any certainty how the animals experience those emotions in relation to how we as humans experience them (Mills 2013). I agree with Mangelsdorf (2013), who is referring to Brandt (2004) that it would be useful to create a 'third language' as an emphatic dialogue based on body language including movement and emotions. The only question is how this dialogue might be held and who will be the leader of this dialogue, so that in this dialogue horses might not mutually be considered again as inferior to humans by acting only out of their instincts, and their tribe and constitution-based attitude.…”

Riders’ Perceptions of Equestrian Communication in Sports Dressage

“…During the last fifteen years, the interest in equestrian communication has been on the rise in several research traditions, not the least within the humanities and social sciences (see for instance, Brandt, 2004;Brown, 2007;Birke, 2007Birke, , 2008Birke, , 2009Birke, , 2010Argent, 2012;Maurstad, Davis & Cole, 2013;Birke & Hockenhull, 2015;Thompson & Nesci, 2016;Dashper, 2016). Many of these qualitatively oriented studies are oriented towards Human-Animal Studies (HAS), but equestrian communication has also been studied within a research area referred to as Equitation Science (ES).…”