Lucy Horswill

About the researcher

Lucy is a PhD student focusing on human-equine entanglements and power structures through experimental film and installation art. She has extensive experience with equines, having grown up caring for ponies and horses at home. Through this she developed a reputation for equine rehabilitation and ‘gentling’. During her career with horses she has worked in equestrian institutions, such as classical dressage, eventing, and polo, and qualified as a British Horse Society Accredited Professional Coach and HGV1 driver.

Lucy later studied 'natural horsemanship' methods, 'horse whispering’ and equine massage therapy. Her experience allowed her to collaborate and live amongst horses and horsepersons in culturally distinct and remote regions such as Argentina, Mongolia and Australia. Lucy has a passion for travel and the arts, studying fine art, experimental film, and sound. She completed a Master's in Anthrozoology at the University of Exeter in 2021, and has researched equine sexual abuse, equines in the dark web, roadkill, pony 'drift-sales', equine auctions, horse burials and the donkey skin trade.

Lucy is passionate about equines and promoting ethical human-equine relationships. She lives in the UK, working in trauma-informed equine recovery and rehabilitation and shares a home with a family of horses, donkeys, dogs, and geese. 

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Lucy and horses

    PhD Abstract

    Thesis title

    Experimental film and installation art: Unravelling human-equine entanglements bound in concepts of oppression, patriarchy and colonialism

    Abstract

    This research explores human-equine entanglements and power structures through experimental film, photography, sound, and installation art. While integrating Posthuman Feminism and Eco-Feminism, it critiques colonialism and patriarchal ideologies, examining how their historical impact continues to shape the lives of equines today.   

    This multi-sensory research project investigates the lives of equines in situations where displacement, culling, and exploitation practices continue for the ‘conservation’ of land and for economic gain. The aim is to reflect on the complex and sensitive issues of equines as commodification in cross-cultural (and economic) settings while centring the horse as an entangled being.  

    The approach incorporates re-cycled ‘equestrian’ materials, found footage, field recordings, visual and auditory effects, montage techniques, and archival film manipulated to challenge anthropocentric narratives and ‘traditional’ representations of horses. Additionally, it draws on the researcher’s experiences and positionality regarding equines to analyse how these relationships are understood and communicated.  Acknowledging the enduring impact on Black and Indigenous communities through marginalisation and land dispossession, this research critiques species hierarchy, human exceptionalism and intersecting oppressions. This PhD study draws on multi-species etho-ethnography and theoretical analysis to address speciesism, classism, racism, and sexism, ultimately re-centring horses as active participants with subjectivity and agency. 

    Qualifications, outputs & expertise

    Research interests

    Equines in relation to and with: 

    • Equine Studies- Equine ethology and human-equine relations 
    • Anthrozoology- Cross cultural, multi-disciplinary studies of interactions between humans and non-human animals 
    • Expanded Experimental Film- Alternative techniques, materials and perspectives 
    • Installation Art- Sensory, immersive, equine ecosystems v institutional spaces 
    • Posthuman Feminism 
    • Indigenous Philosophies 
    • Colonialism 
    • Multi-species etho-ethnography 

    Qualifications

    • Expanded Experimental Film, CityLit College, 2024
    • Anthrozoology MA, University of Exeter, 2021
    • Fine Art B-tec, Reigate College, 1987

    Areas of expertise

    Equine -human communication, Equine rehabilitation. Equine psychology and physiology. ‘Trauma Informed Horsemanship’. ‘Equestrianism’. Experimental Film, Video Editing. Anthrozoology, Colonialism, Posthuman Feminism, Eco-Feminism. 

    Professional engagements

    • ‘Living with Horses’ Conference. March 2025. Eastern Kentucky University, USA. “From Moor to Market: Challenging Anthropocentric Narratives at a British Pony Sale” [In-person conference paper and experimental film]. 
    • ‘CityFlix’ Animation and Film Festival. September 2024.  The Cinema Museum, London, UK. “Field Trip-Berlin Horse Response” [Experimental film]. 
    • ‘The Feminist Philosopher, The Nomad, The Posthuman’ Rosi Braidotti Summer School, August 2024. Utrecht University, Netherlands. [Presentation of PhD research]. 
    • ‘Sex, Scandal and Sensations’ Conference. July 2024. Falmouth University, UK. “Equine Erotica: Unravelling the Complex World of Horses in Dark Web Pornography” [In-person conference paper]. 
    • ‘Merged Realities’ Experimental Film Festival.  July 2024. John Lyons Theatre, London, UK. “Tack-Attack” [Experimental film].