INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HORSES IN OUR HERITAGE, PAST AND FUTURE

Conference Recap by Anastasija Ropa

The inaugural conference of the Cheiron journal, Horses in Our Heritage, Past and Future, took place on September 9-14, 2024. The conference was a hybrid event, with virtual papers on September 9 and 10 and in-person papers, broadcast online via Zoom, on September 12-13. A post-conference tour was organized on September 14. The in-person part of the conference took place in Latvia, in the medieval Jaunpils Castle in Semigalia.

Over the four days of the conference, 28 papers were delivered. The event was attended by 50 registered delegates, participating remotely and on the site. The conference was opened with a n online keynote address by John Clark, The Medieval Horse and its Equipment: in Retrospect, 1995-2024, who discussed his past and ongoing research into medieval horses and horsemanship. 

Individual contributions came from authors with various scholarly and professional equestrian backgrounds, looking at the horse from the perspectives of archaeology, military history local and micro-history, art history, Arabic studies, folklore, etc. The broad range of topics reflected the fact that online and in-person delegates came from all over the world, including Canada, the US, South Africa, the UK, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Estonia and Portugal.

The conference also included the launch of Miriam Bibby’s book, The Invisible Ancestor, which can be ordered from Trivent Publishing, with the conference participants benefitting from a 30% discount on this and other titles in the Rewriting Equestrian History series. 

The perks for in-person attendees which unfortunately could not be extended to remote participants included an opulent medieval banquet in the castle on Thursday night, a fun and inspiring illumination and calligraphy workshop, hosted by Edgar Rops, in the course of which the participants produced their miniatures based on medieval models, showing that “no animal is nobler than the horse,” and a visit of the Latvian baroque gem, the Palace of Rundale, a stately palace by Rastrelli from which Count Birons’ breeding studs were operated.

Selected videos from the conference are publicly available on the Cheiron YouTube channel (@Cheironjournal), and further videos, which could not be released publicly (such as the keynote and other papers that could not be shared publicly due to copyright restrictions), were shared with registered attendees.

The conference was organized by Anastasija Ropa and Miriam A. Bibby, editors of the Cheiron journal, with the on-site help from Edgar Rops and Hylke Hettema. The conference was supported by the Latvian Academy of Sport Education, Riga Stradinsh University and Trivent Publishing. The conference organisers would like to thank their institutional and corporate sponsors, the individual contributors and the administration of the Jaunpils Castle for their help and support.

To help set-off the costs of attending the event, two bursaries, of 250 GBP each, History on Horseback provided to two PhD students, Afonso Sousa from Portugal and Camille Wilhelm from France. Additionally, Kumeli Active Recreation Place help to set off the costs of shuttle transfer for the in-person delegates who need a transfer from or to the airport or bus station.

Based on the participants enthusiastic feedback, we plan to make the Cheiron conference a regular non-profit event to be organised by the Cheiron authors and readers at their home institutions worldwide.