Riding High

Saddle up, because it’s time to look at horse riding in (pre)history! Equestrianism often has to be looked at indirectly, either from the equipment used in horse riding or artistic depictions of riding styles. In this month’s episode of Finally Friday, we talk with two experts who look at horse riding in the past in just this way. Our guests Rena Maguire and Joakim Løvgren join us on this month’s #FinallyFriday to talk about the different ways that we can learn about horse riding in the past. Matilda Siebrecht is your host.

Rena is a visiting researcher at Queen's University Belfast, where her research focuses on equestrianism in Ireland in the Late Iron Age and Early Medieval period. She specialises in the material culture associated with horse riding practices, and is particularly interested in using this material as a means to investigate the level of interaction that Late Iron Age Irish society had with mainland Europe.

Joakim Løvgren is one of the founders of EquiAstra, which offers a range of training services – both modern and historic - related to horse riding, and is a historian specialised in Late Medieval equestrianism. His work investigates historic equestrian theory, as well as artistic depictions of horse riding from the past, and how these styles can be practically replicated today.