Co-being and intra-action in horse-human relationships: a multi-species ethnography of be(com)ing human and be(com)ing horse

Abstract

A multi‐species perspective identifies and offers ethnographic insight into a variety of everyday, practical experiences and the roles they may play in shaping human–horse relationships. Analysis of narrative data from 60 open‐ended interviews with a wide variety of riders in Norway and the Midwestern USA identifies three central themes of co‐being. These are expressed, felt and voiced as embodied moments of mutuality, engagements of two agentive individuals and as a kind of anthropo‐zoo‐genetic practice, where species domesticate each other through being together. Co‐being as intra‐acting describes how horse and human meet and change as a result of their meeting. © 2013 European Association of Social Anthropologists.