Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future.

Environmental education in action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

Chapter 9 The Importance of Traditional Knowledge for Sustainability: An Analysis of Equitation Margaret Gollagher Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy, Murdoch University 1. Introduction The political rhetoric of sustainability can act as a barrier to broad public engagement, even though many at the grassroots empathize with its common sense imperatives. Furthermore, the ethical, ontological and epistemological aspects of sustainability require sophisticated analyses, undertaken in a way that provides space for all stakeholders to participate meaningfully. It is therefore vital to incorporate widely accessible, interesting models and stories in the process of seeking sustainability. This paper considers the art of classical equitation1 as an appealing model of traditional knowledge that can be used to illustrate possible ways of imagining and organising relationships between the human and the more-than-human worlds. Using equitation as a metaphor, differences between relations based on power and control and those based on more patient and traditional forms of engagement can be explored, in terms of their role in sustainability. Equitation can also be examined in the context of sustainability in order to consider the importance of enduring forms of knowledge as complements to progressive ways of knowing. 2. Sustainability Issues relating to sustainability are often outlined in terms of their ecological, social and economic aspects a rudimentary attempt to highlight the need to promote sustainability by seeking heterogeneous responses to problems, which are themselves heterogeneous. Sustainability is a contested concept (Davison, 2001; Irwin, 2001; Jacobs, 1999) and as such must be dealt with in a democratic manner (Barns, 1999). These attributes must all be considered as part of the process of attaining sustainability. The dominant discourse of sustainability is heavily influenced by the views of the global elite (Davison, 2001, 4). Modernist understandings of sustainable development are informed by an underlying faith in the emancipatory capabilities of progress and development (Sachs, 1996). They focus on market based strategies, relying on ecoefficiency and technological progress (WBCSD, 2001). They advocate the use of scientific and technological power in the name of sustainability, informed by an instrumental view of nature that maintains the ontological distinction between people and nature. This approach can result in substantial benefits in terms of reduced and more appropriate resource use (WBCSD, 2001). However, this orientation is criticized for
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In this chapter I use the terms classical equitation or equitation to refer to the classical art of horse training, as practiced by the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. I am not referring to horse riding and training in general. See Podhajsky (1967, 1991) or Mairinger (1984) for fuller descriptions of the classical art of equitation. 74

Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

being ethnocentric and lacking universal appeal. Furthermore, critics argue that it does not bring us closer to reality or affirm a sense of place, rhythm, duration and culture, as traditional knowledge does it deifies a world of abstractions, a nonworld - of homogenous space, linear time, science and money (Sbert, 1996: 201). 3. Traditional Knowledge As a counterbalance to the hegemonic discourse of sustainability, with its dominating endorsement of the virtues of progress, some theorists turn to traditional knowledge. Many indigenous cultures, for example, rely heavily on traditional forms of knowledge that exist as an embodiment of sustaining practices in ways that are relevant to the contemporary discourse: Sustainable development is not an idea, let alone a white mans idea imposed on indigenous peoples or their territories - it is a daily lived reality, an organic part of evolved and evolving indigenous economies, societies, cultures, and self-identifying political communities. Sustainable development...(is) integral to indigenous oral knowledge and sheer survival (Jull, 2002: 18). The traditional knowledge that helps indigenous and other cultures to endure is designed to preserve or sustain, rather than promoting constant transformation (Pocock, 1989). Shifts in perspectives do occur in traditional knowledge, but this is a capacity not a primary aim. Such tried and tested knowledge is itself desired to be sustained in essence, and its permanence is seen as a source of security to assist and sustain people facing challenges. Attention to morality is an inbuilt feature of traditional knowledge systems (Pocock, 1989). In the context of this paper it is important to note that traditional knowledge can coexist with progressive knowledge. These knowledge forms interact, and may support or undermine one another in complex ways (Pocock, 1989). Traditional knowledge endures because it embodies the lived experiences of many generations, each having had the chance to grapple with the same issues. This contrasts with the modernist necessity to rapidly come to terms with artifacts of progress which may occupy centre stage only fleetingly before being replaced by the latest innovation. The scientific knowledge base of progress is tried and tested, but each step is assessed according to very different criteria over a much shorter time span. It is intrinsically formulated to expand, provide novel information and diversify and does so at an ever increasing rate. It therefore has a transient aspect, although scientists build cumulatively on the knowledge of their predecessors, incorporating or superseding it where appropriate. Where traditional knowledge relies on stability as a survival tactic (Pocock, 1989), progressive knowledge operates under the assumption that innovation is humanitys best source of resilience. It assumes that each successive generation of people can benefit from a constant improvement in knowledge, an attitude which implies that newer knowledge is better and more complete than older knowledge. This may lead to the assumption that progressive knowledge is superior to traditional. However, ways of knowing which are designed to progress are not necessarily superior per se, they merely serve a different purpose.

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Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

4. Equitation as Traditional Knowledge Classical equitation is one of the forms of traditional knowledge that Pocock (1989) notes coexist with progressive forms of knowledge in certain societies. In fact, horse culture, including classical equitation, is inseparably linked with Western European culture and development, to the extent that one cannot be completely understood without appreciation of the other (Podhajsky, 1991; Raber and Tucker, 2005: 4). Equitation provides an example of traditional knowledge that is sustaining, both of the horse as a nature/culture hybrid and of the human culture it is linked with. It is an appropriate metaphor for sustainability because, as Colonel Alois Podhajsky1 noted, Equestrian art, perhaps more than any other, is closely related to the wisdom of life. Many of the same principles may be applied as a line of conduct to follow. The horse teaches us self-control, constancy and the ability to understand what goes on in the mind and the feelings of another creature, qualities that are important throughout our lives. Moreover, from this relationship with (his/her) horse the rider will learn that only kindness and mutual understanding will bring about achievements of highest perfection ([1967] 1991: 20). Meticulous attention to sustaining practices forms an integral part of classical equitation. Training of horse and rider takes many years. In the riders case it is deemed to be a lifelong process that never reaches an end (Mairinger, 1984). Importantly, equitation is founded on respect for the horse, and aims to enhance his/her mental and physical well-being over the long term (Podhajsky, 1967, 1991; Mairinger, 1984). The classical art of equitation was established in Europe in the early modern period. Core elements of this tradition can be traced back to Xenophon, a Greek cavalry commander, who expounded his theories some 2400 years ago in his Treatise on Horsemanship2 (Clutton-Brock, 1999). Xenophon advocated working with the horse with an attitude of respect, compassion and patience, rather than misguidedly attempting to dominate him/her by the use of force. Xenophons empathetic attitude was revived in the sixteenth century by Grisone, an Italian nobleman, and has been retained at the heart of classical equitation (Podhajsky, [1967] 1991: 18). Gradually, experience led to a natural method of horse training which (built) on a sympathetic connection between horse and rider and which (diminished) the importance of the riders control of and dominance over his mount (Raber and Tucker, 2005: 14). Experience gradually revealed that empathy, patience and understanding produced far better results than efforts to dominate the horse. In this context, naturalness is deemed to be found by moving away from notions of human superiority and separation, and encouraging empathy with the non-human world.
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Colonel Podhajsky was one of classical equitations most famous practitioners. He was appointed as the Director of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna in 1939, and remained in that position for more than 25 years. He lead a quadrille (team) of riders and their horses in a performance before General Patton in 1945, successfully persuading the American leader to assist in saving the white stallions at the end of the war (Podhajsky, 1967,1991). 2 Xenophon lived from 430 to 354 BC. Alexander the Greats father, Philip of Macedon, followed Xenophons teachings when he trained and equipped his cavalry (Clutton-Brock, 1999: 109). 76

Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

Classical equitation has abandoned the simplistic conflation of discipline with coercion that remains symptomatic of the troubled relationship of the twenty-first century West to ideas such as freedom and wildness, obedience and command (LeGuin, 2005: 194). As a form of traditional practice, classical equitation illustrates sustaining connections that may exist between the technological cleverness which drives human progress and traditional knowledge. Sometimes focus on both forms of knowledge is required simultaneously and sometimes their conclusions coincide. In the case of equitation, scientific and technological innovations in veterinary science, husbandry techniques, equipment and other areas are embraced by riders and trainers, but remain peripheral to core activities. They enhance traditional practice. 5. The Notion of Development in Equitation In contrast to modernist notions of development and progress, the aim of classical equitation is to respect and enhance the horses natural abilities. This resonates with sustainability practitioner Ernesto Sirollis (1999) notion of development as a process of revealing what is already there and nurturing it, rather than attempting to contort it into a form fundamentally out of tune with its character. The primary aim of equitation is to restore to the mounted horse the gracefulness of attitudes and movements which he possessed when he was free, but which becomes marred by the weight and interference of the rider. (General Decarpentry, 1977: 3) Similarly, Franz Mairinger, who was a Bereiter (Senior Rider) at the Spanish Riding School, said if you want to know how a horse should be ridden, see how he moves by himself when free....Because that is the way you should ride your horse. There in a few words is all the knowledge of the world, and your training goal! (1984: 16) Mairinger (1984) constantly emphasized the need to respect the innate nature and rights of the horse. This attitude can inspire reflective questions about instrumentalist understandings of nature that surface in the discourse of sustainability. Does the biosphere exist primarily as a resource designed to support the cultural ambitions of the human population or does it have intrinsic worth? In order to engage sustainably with a part of the more-than-human world, should we begin by developing an intimate appreciation of its intrinsic qualities and proceed with a commitment to preserve and enhance those qualities in the hope of paralleling the successes achieved by classically trained riders? Mairinger (1984) maintained that horses are willing partners in equitation as a democratic process one that is based on acceptance of reciprocal rights and responsibilities rather than expectations of absolute freedom. He saw democracy as natural. Practitioners of the classical art of equitation such as Mairinger reject the use of dictatorial force as a training strategy, not just on ethical grounds, but also because experience had shown that it simply does not work. Mairinger maintained
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Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

that the necessary understanding is promoted by patient, communicative engagement, not by applications of force to resistant subjects. 6. Ethics Important discussions about ethics accompany the discourse of sustainability. The call to consider future generations, a foundational requirement of sustainability (WCED, 1990), is essentially ethically based. Furthermore, radical environmental perspectives, such as those portrayed in deep ecology (Naess, 1988; Sessions, 1995), social ecology (Bookchin, 1981) and ecofeminism (Plumwood, 1993; Hallen, 1987) challenge the ethical foundations of modernist approaches to ecological problems. Classical equitation can be used to demonstrate the need to engage with ethical considerations as an essential and integral component of sustaining praxis, rather than as an optional extra. Equitation carries an implicit requirement for ethical consideration of the horses rights and well-being. In contrast to less effective, dominating methods of horse training, the classical art requires ethical reflection from moment to moment. In equitation, morality is not a choice but an inevitable compliment to the physicality of artistic vigilance. Classically trained riders focus every step, considering whether they have asked the horse an appropriate question, whether it was the best or right question, whether they have asked it well, whether they have been understood and why, how this will influence their next action and so on. In order to perfect their art, riders must listen and try to comprehend their equine partners, judging the effect of every interaction as it happens. Riders must also be sensitive to the questions horses ask of them. Arts such as music and equitation, says LeGuin, resemble one another intrinsically in that they depend and in the end, depend absolutely for the possibility of their continuation on the incorporation of listening into the process of command (2005: 194). So does sustainability. 7. Ontology Equitation neatly illustrates the ontological difficulties inherent in the modernist desire to identify distinct natural and human realities. The liberation of subjects from ontological dichotomies such as natural and social, human and non-human is important in sustainability where acute sensitivity to relationships within heterogeneous reality, and ways of knowing about them, is essential. Habitually used ontological categories limit understandings of, and therefore responses to, unsustainable practice. The modernist suggestion that humanity can think of itself as separate from and above the non-human world is challenged by equitation. To begin with, domestic animals such as horses cannot be easily classified as either completely natural or an artifact of human culture. They are simultaneously a product of nature and culture. Horses are hybrids, crossing the boundaries between categories. In doing so, they challenge the validity of the categories themselves. Furthermore, evidence suggests that domestication was not a human invention but rather a long, slow process of mutual adaptation, of co-evolution, in which those animals that began to hang around the first permanent human settlements gained more than they lost (Budiansky, 2002: 9).
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Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

8. Epistemology As explained, equitation can be used as a model to illustrate the importance of traditional knowledge. It also highlights the importance of non-human ways of knowing to human survival and to the survival of life on Earth in general. The art of riding involves various knowledge systems: there has been a strong oral tradition for thousands of years; some knowledge is written with quantifiable aspects; there is an experiential transfer of knowledge, involving generations of riders, trainers and horses; horses are themselves keepers of knowledge they are active participants rather than passive recipients in the creation and perpetuation of the knowledge base of equitation. The last point is a highly significant aspect of equitation as traditional knowledge, particularly in relation to sustainabilitys attention to the non-human. Horses themselves are keepers of knowledge, which they impart to trainee riders and to other horses. For instance, trainee riders cannot fully understand the nuances of classical equitation without riding trained horses who understand the signals an experienced rider would give. The trainee is therefore able to feel when he/she is doing the right thing it is not enough to simply be told by another rider. This suggests that human knowledge is not the only one that counts a valuable point to consider for sustainability. 9. Negative Aspects of Equitation Despite its inherent focus on ethical standards and empathy, equitation has developed in the context of complex and often bloody processes, and has at times been associated with acts that are not in keeping with the ideals of sustainability. The attitudes developed in the intimate microcosm of the training arena are not necessarily extended into the political contexts that surround them. Xenophon himself noted a conjunction of martial heroism, horsemanship, and social privilege that would continue to exist throughout the centuries of classical Rome and then on into the medieval and early modern periods (Raber and Tucker, 2005: 8). Xenophons quote touches on three issues which have accompanied equitation for thousands of years: power and conflict; patriarchy; and elitism. Equitation has a long history of association with military organisations. Its gifts have been misused in power struggles. Many of the movements taught in the classical high school of dressage such as the capriole, a movement where the horse leaps high into the air and kicks backwards with both hind legs have been used to kill soldiers on battlefields. Like sustainability, equitation has patriarchal influences that reflect the cultural contexts practitioners are immersed in. Philosophers of equitation such as Mairinger (1984) display a patriarchal bias that exists within equitation riders, trainers and even horses are commonly referred to as male. As a residual effect of its long association with the male-dominated domains of war and industry, equitation retains
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Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

horsemanship as its standard reference, although horsewomen or horse people are sometimes talked about. Equitation has often been the province of the elite, and continues to be so. Horses are high maintenance, requiring large investments in time and money to ensure that they are satisfactorily fed, housed, and their veterinary and husbandry needs attended to. It takes a great deal of time over many years to train a horse and rider, and teachers can be very expensive. The classic texts of the early modern era which form the basis of contemporary high school dressage were written by European noblemen, and the art of riding that their texts describe clearly was something that could be attractive only to those with time and money on their hands (Raber and Tucker, 2005: 8). However, there is nothing inherent in the teachings of classical equitation that inevitably leads to such misuse of its gifts. Taken to their logical conclusion, the lessons of equitation contradict the logic of political domination and control. 10. Patience and Power Albert Borgmann (1992) interprets horse riding (although he is not specifically referring to the classical equitation of European origin) as a focal practice undertaken by artisans. He describes the focal area of the horse as a charmed island floating in a universe of technology, as part of a focal practice grounded in underlying reality as heirs to immemorial traditions (1992: 122). Borgmann refers to such artisans as practitioners of post-modern patience. Power, such as that exercised by actors in the global economy, is related to progress, development, control and competitiveness. The patience of artisans, on the other hand, is related to endurance and the strength drawn from it, tradition, humility, respect, self-discipline and maturity. Artisans work with nature in a relationship of respect rather than trying to dominate it (Borgmann, 1992: 124) (see Table 1). Borgmanns evaluation of the attributes of power and patience provide valuable food for thought. He maintains that both power and patience are legitimate parts of postmodern experience. However, he considers patience to be stronger and more enduring than power (1992: 124). He suggests that patience has time and strength to recognize complicated conditions and difficult people, to engage them in cooperation and conversation (Borgmann, 1992: 124). Borgmann says that the task of post-modern patience is to endure the limits of the land (1992: 124). 11. Conclusion Classical equitation in its pure form is a powerful metaphor for sustainability. The study of equitation shows that traditional forms of knowledge are preserved even within modern industrial society. Equitation can be used as a model to illustrate some of the benefits of traditional knowledge. A study of the notions such as permanence, endurance and maturity that lie at the heart of classical equitation can provide new perspectives on the onward and upward notions of progress that have gained ascendancy within sustainability. This analysis can be used to inform discussions of how to synergistically embrace both power and patience to enhance sustainability. Awareness of negative aspects of the use of equitation can also shed light on the
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Wooltorton, S. and Marinova, D. (Eds) Sharing wisdom for our future. Environmental education in action: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australian Association of Environmental Education

complex relationship between such traditional practices and the wider cultural contexts in which they are embedded, catalyzing important discussions in relation to sustainability. Table 1: Some characteristics of traditional and progressive knowledge Traditional knowledge relatively permanent lived experience/practised by artisans endurance/resilience diversity deals with fallibility via trial and error over the long term informed by the need to survive Patience/endurance promotes respect, understanding and empathy Intimate, respectful relationships form the basis of grassroots action require deep engagement and commitment Progressive, science-based knowledge associated with temporary, transient and evolving forms of power can be used to promote comfort not just survival underpins capitalist expansion promoted by corporations (and others) in the global economy eurocentric linear geometry of thought

Power dominates Superficial relationships inevitable and essential parts of human interaction form the basis of market interaction

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