New Horse History Blog
I’m very pleased to announce a new group blog: The Horse in History and Culture. This grew out of last month’s horse conference at Roehampton, which was easily the best conference I’ve ever been to. If only a fraction of the people who were there get involved it could potentially become one of the best group blogs around, so I hope it takes off and carries on.
The conference was in honour of leading horse historian Pete Edwards, who is retiring this year. I first met him when I started my PhD in 1997, and he’s given me lots of help and encouragement over the years – showing me the ropes at the PRO, giving me notes and references, commenting on my writing, and being the first person to cite my thesis in print. Also it was at his house that I first heard Kick Out The Jams by the MC5, which is possibly more important. Therefore it was fitting that the conference turned out so well. It was not like the conferences I’ve experienced before. There were interesting papers presented by confident, natural speakers who knew how to engage with an audience. There were worthwhile discussions which didn’t devolve into people getting their cocks out. I even had some good conversations in the coffee breaks! The prospect of meeting Erica Fudge and Bruce Boehrer was exciting and scary, but they turned out to be very nice in person and not at all scary. There were also some other people whose work I hadn’t come across before but who are worth checking out. In particular Kevin de Ornellas and Sandra Swart are both god-like geniuses and really cool people. So overall a fantastic experience. Can we have another one please?
Comment by Pete Edwards — 8:25 pm, 13 July 2009 [permanent link to this comment]
Hi Gavin,
I look forward to blogging in these (electronic) pages but at the moment I am sorting out a proposal, based on the papers delivered at the conference, to submit to a publisher. I only hope I can navigate my way back to this site for, as you say above, I am retiring and therefore too old instinctively to know how to access specific slots in cyber space.
Did you really hear MC5′s ‘Kick out the Jams’ for the first time at my place? It’s an iconic record for my generation.
I’ll be back.
Cheers,
Pete Edwards
Comment by Gavin Robinson — 8:42 am, 16 July 2009 [permanent link to this comment]
It was when I came round to look at your notes in late 1999. I’d heard about the MC5 but not got round to checking them out. Once I’d heard KOTJ I had to get my own copy.
I hope the publishers go for the conference proceedings. all those papers definitely deserve to be in print.