Pferdewissen : Ein wissensanthropologischer Blick in die Hannoveraner Pferdezucht

Abstract

Knowledge about horses and horse breeding is a cultural asset, which has evolved over centuries. At the same time, it is an essential economic commodity. The anthropological focus on knowledge of this study is on the current parameters of breeding the “Hannoveraner”, one of the world’s largest and also most popular horse breeds. The author conducts participatory observations on agricultural family farms that breed them and follows the development of individual horses from birth to successful athletes. The aim is to identify the genesis and exchange of the various stocks and forms of knowledge. The guiding questions of the analysis are: What is equine knowledge and how is it currently changing? Equine knowledge accumulates between breeders and horses and the diverse other actors and entities of this multispecies constellation in their shared everyday life. Videographic vignettes and photographs open up further access to the, primarily incorporated, knowledges and practices of horse breeding in agricultural environments, which are at the center of the ethnography.