”När vi rider tillsammans känns hon mer som en kompis än som en mamma”

Abstract

Theme: Motherhood and Mothering. Ill. ©Stina Wirsén ”When We Ride Together, She’s More like a Friend than a Mum”: Mothering Variations in Three Horse Story Series by Pia Hagmar This article analyzes how the horse story setting problematizes the conception of the good mother and normative mothering, by elucidating how the gazes of the young main characters on their mothers function in relation to the notion of the good mother, how this influences the mothering and how the mothering characters challenge this notion. Mothering is seen here as caring practices, which can be performed by people other than mothers. The analysis of three horse story series by Pia Hagmar, the books on Klara (1999–2008), the books on Millan (2012–2014) and the books on Juli (2019–2021), shows that the series depict motherhood and mothering at the intersection between the conception of the good mother and the good horse person. The common denominator is nurturing traits that make personal needs take the back seat – for the traditional good mother to the benefit of her children, for the good horse person to the benefit of the horse. Hagmar normalizes the presence of several mothering characters in addition to their mothers around the horse girls. Furthermore, these characters, who function as mothering variations, contribute to the creation of a solid caring environment, reducing the demands on mothers who try to be everything to their children. Although the daughters’ views of their mothers are sometimes critical, Hagmar allows the mothers to be imperfect, partly incompetent, or simply women with their own agency,interests and needs outside of motherhood. In addition, a mother-daughter relationship built on a common interest in horses allows for a friendship with a common focus – the horse.

Keywords

• horse stories
• Pia Hagmar
• mothering
• stable culture
• mothers in children’s literature