Postgraduate Module Descriptor


ANTM110: The Horse-Human Dyad

This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 academic year.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

  • Horse Evolution, domestication and coevolution with human-animals
  • Human selection of horses for traits and the creation of distinct breeds: natives, thoroughbreds and everything in between
  • The archaeological, historical and anthropological traces of horse-human interaction
  • Beliefs, mythology, rituals, symbolism, ceremonies and burials - ‘Epona’ the horse goddess, centaur, unicorn and Pegasus
  • Horses in the twentieth century: the decline in agricultural horsepower and the rise of the leisure horse-keeper
  • As family or food: the commoditisation of the horse: some we ride and some we eat
  • Quantitative, qualitative and descriptive methods for horse study
  • Horse behaviour, ethology & ethograms
  • Equitation science
  • Equine learning theory and training by human-animals
  • Horse-technology interaction (from the bit to gigabit) and measuring behaviour
  • Horsemanship: ‘natural’ vs. traditional methods and the importance of the language that we use to describe them
  • Horses and the dynamics of human-animal gender identity
  • Therapeutic uses: equine assisted therapy and the ethics of using horses to ‘fix’ humans
  • Use, exploitation, misuse and abuse  of horses - competitive, recreational, agricultural, war, assistance animals and hunting
  • The ethics of riding, breeding, guardianship and vegan horse-keeping
  • Horse advocates, allies, activism and direct action: protecting free-roaming herds, horse-racing and protesting against bullfighting and hunting
  • Horse-human interaction in fiction, fantasy and the imagination: talking horses, steam horses, robot horses, horse cyborgs, gaming and VR horses
  • ‘Real world’ horse simulators and the speculative robotic equine athlete

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching ActivitiesGuided independent studyPlacement / study abroad
201300

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities1010 x 60-minute podcast audio lectures with accompanying PowerPoint presentations (if offered in Term 2, or if in Term 3: 7 x 80 minutes podcast lectures)
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities7.55 x 90-minute discussion/seminar participations via Adobe Connect (fortnightly)
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities2.55 x 30-minute oral presentation slots within seminar groups in weeks 5 and 7 via Adobe Connect
Guided Independent Study35Preparation and reading for weekly lectures, seminars & ELE forum discussions
Guided Independent Study15Preparation for oral presentations
Guided Independent Study80Research and writing of summative assessment

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

ELE - ( vle.exeter.ac.uk )