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It's time to take the equestrian heritage seriously...»
...and I intend being one of those who do! I, Anna Backman, just graduated as a MA of museum and cultural heritage studies. I also have a MA in English literature and a BA in comparative literature. I will finish my studies this winter with a BA in art history.
My speciality is equestrian heritage. In my thesis for a BA in comparative literature, Hästboken som kunskapskälla. Förebilder och undervisande inslag i ett urval svenska hästböcker för barn och ungdomar publicerade 1962-1981, I examine
how horse stories for teenagers were used for pedagogical purposes, educating young riders during the time period when the number of riders exploded in Sweden in the seventies. I have also written about the role of animals in Jilly Cooper's novels. My first year's masters thesis in museum- and cultural heritage studies, Den falska nyckeln. Stångbett - historia, funktion, katalogisering, deals with the function, history and terminology of curb bits, and will be able to serve as a handbook for cataloguing bits in museums. It was rewarded with a stipend from Livrustkammarens vänner (the Friends of the Royal Armoury). My second year's thesis När autenticiteten utmanas. En föremålsundersökning och dess tänkbara konsekvenser för museiföremålet focuses on a small group of bits in the collection of the Royal Armoury, and I discuss them in relation to symbolic value, monumentality and giftgiving.
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I am a rider with a strong passion for classical dressage, and for the past decade I've tried to improve my riding with the aid of knowledge passed on to me with the aid of books by old and new masters, but above all from trainers that form links of the ancient tradition of the art of riding - first and foremost Júlio Borba, who is an excellent representative of the Portuguese school. Beacuse of this, I don't just examine the material culture of equestrianism to seek understanding of past times - I also seek the keys to an art that is very much alive within me, and within others. The joy I experience through practising the art of riding with my horse is a joy that I'd love for everyone to experience. That is one of the reasons why I devote my career to guarding the equestrian heritage. Another reason is that it forms such a large part of the history of humanity. To imagine a world without horses is even more unthinkable than to imagine a world without engines, because the horse has been with us for so many more centuries...
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