Uni History Dissertation - horse related (believe it or not)!

[alpha1]

Hey guys,

I'm in my final year of my BA (hons) History degree and I have to write a 10,000 word dissertaion.

The idea of writing 10,000 words about anything makes me want to crawl under the muck heap and stay there! So, I thought i'd help myself out a bit and pick a horsey topic to keep it interesting.

Does anyone have any ideas what I could write about? It has to be of historical character.

thanks

 

[LoopyLouise]

Could you do some thing a long the lines of horses in wars just an idea probably not a good one was never good at history

 

[Spit That Out]

How about a famous race horse...just thinking there will be loads of stuff about them to research so should make it easier.

 

[guido16]

History of a certain influential breed?

What about history on how horses modelled the royal family, or something similar.

British industry - how it went from horse power to machines. Actually that sounds really boring.....

go right back and do it on the evalution of the horse and how it has effected society today.

 

[fburton]

Any particular period in history? Or topic (like "horse whispering")?

There's some wonderful potted history in Elaine Walker's book Horse (Reaktion Books).

Ann Hyland's books make good general (but also in-depth) reading:

Equus: the horse in the Roman world,
The Horse in the Ancient World and
The Horse in the Middle Ages

Also Gonzaga's A History of the Horse: Iberian Horse from Ice Age to Antiquity v. 1: The Iberian Horse from Ice Age to Antiquity.

 

[ecarylloh]

How about the role horses played in the World Wars? Think there might be a fair amount to write about on that.

 

[fingers_crossed]

xenophon?

 

[fingers_crossed]

or bucephalus (alexander the greats horse) lots about him ,both fiction and fact!

 

[alpha1]

Thank you! Some great ideas. Will read up on them and see what I can find.

If anyone actually wants to write the dissertation for me please feel free

 

[kerilli]

Trakheners in WW2, The Trek.
Or, horses in warfare, from Roman times (or whatever) to the 1900s, when I believe they were still used in cavalry regiments in the Polish army (could be wrong though.)

 

[LucyPriory]

How about 'The link between an increase in the supply of molasses and the rise in laminitis in the domestic horse.'

see http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/elephant-in-room-is-made-of-molasses.html as a starter for 10

 

[MissSBird]

General dissertation advice here - chose a question you can't answer but are interested in. That will help you stay keen on researching the answer.

How about how the horse as a key factor in bringing about the agricultural revolution (or evolution if you go with modern historians terminology) and then how the industrial revolution altered their use in society?

You could also use them as a way to chart the change in money and power in society if you're into more modern history - from the necessary animal to the aristocracy developing into the everyday person of today.

10,000 words is not a lot, honestly. I had to write my dissertation last year, and ended up having to drop parts and cut out words here there and everywhere.