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The Voice of the Horse Project |
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"Do you remember the forgotten language 'Wild' ? Can you still call it?"
-- Linda Hogan, Chickasaw, author, Voice of the Horse presenter |
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Many horsepeople hear the voice of Nature through the horse and find its power highly meaningful in their lives. But they don't know what to do with that information. They know that within the dominant cultural worldview, such experiences are often thought to result from projection, delusion, or even insanity. Indigenous cultures worldwide, however, have seen such experiences as not only meaningful but natural for millenia. And a small but important body of scientific, theological, and philosophical work also regards such experiences as extremely important in their own right.
The Voice of the Horse Project is re-examining our understanding of the horse by gathering reports of horse behaviors and actions from "people in the field" who spend the most time with them -- professional equestrians, artists, clinicians, authors, filmmakers, and people with a horse in their back yard. We are putting the stories of their experiences together in one place alongside historical and cultural understandings of the horse that span the ages, to see what new meaning emerges -- about the horse, about humans, and about Nature itself.
Groundwork: Early planning
A number of Tapestry's prior projects have prepared the way for this one. They include the Trailmaster Program and basic research on ways to use the internet in public education and on the methods of Indigenous science (which is community-based and utilizes story, art, and other ways of knowing as well as observation, logic, and reason).
Horse-Human Relationship Survey
Between January and March of 2007, over 1200 people completed a major research survey about the horse-human relationship and the factors that influence it. The survey is being analyzed at this time. Preliminary results of raw data are available.
Gathering 2007
This was an internet experience designed by professionals at Iowa State University (who hosted the conference webcast site) to work on a participant's computer system without the problems people may have experienced with other equine event webcasts. It included presentations and demonstrations by top equine professionals, artists, writers, and filmmakers, an art exhibit, a concert, and a forum where participants contributed their own stories to the knowledge base. The live event took place June 30 and July 1, 2007, and the webcast continued to be available until September 30, 2007.
Processing & Results
Research -- into art, stories (including mythologies and religious traditions), and other records of the horse-human relationship -- has been in progress for over a year. Processing of the survey data began in late spring of 2007 and is on-going. Stories contributed to the project via the story forum that was part of the 2007 Gathering, and information from the stories of Gathering presenters, will be added to the knowledge base during 2008. Throughout 2008, all these sources of information will be analyzed, with members of the larger community invited to participate at several points.
Publication
The research results from this project will be finalized in a book format for publication. The goal will be to submit the manuscript during fall of 2008, with printing and public release (typically) about a year later.
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