Hobble belts & history extended to women
Each year that I run a FemDom event - this year Inana FemDom retreat and in former years Villa Domme - I select and curate special equipment from all around the world for the Mistresses’ packs and sub packs. The selection is time-consuming but also deeply rewarding. Amongst the criteria, I need to consider high quality of key items inside the pack, as well as considering the travel-friendly aspect that Mistresses need to be able to fit the pack into their suitcase to fly back to their home location with all the goodies.
Much of the pack is a deeply-held secret. Only those attending know what goes into them. (Although some do post photos on their X / formerly Twitter accounts, for those keen enough to search out Villa Domme in hope of a sneak peak.)
This year, while much of the pack will be as usual secret, one special item the Mistresses are aware is going into the packs is a genuine dinner hobble belt.
The Hobble belt is also variously known as a “Dinner belt” or as the “Queensland Utility Strap”.
The Hobble belt was designed for dual purpose - as a belt made of sturdy leather which was worn as a normal belt around the waist, but had extra metal rings spaced in a special configuration, to be able to “hobble” (restrain) a horse for a smoko break, lunch - and commonly at dinner (hence Dinner belt), or overnight. This was achieved by weaving the belt passed through the metal rings into a “figure 8” formation, around two of the horses’ legs, to “hobble” the horse. This allowed for the horse to be able still to graze, but restricted its movement - to ensure the horse they didn’t wander off into the bush.
There are also accounts of the hobble belt being used to hold the back legs of bulls, while they were dehorned and castrated.
These “hobble belts” are often associated with archetypal or rather stereotypical image of the stockman, bushman or drover in Australian history.
However that image should be well-expanded to take in the remarkable stockwomen. In more recent times, these women who played an important part in history are finally receiving their long due regard, including the stories of First Nations women. They attended all manner of tasks - mustering cattle, as boundary riders, or drovers, accompanying frontiersman across the country and ensuring their safety, and held Women’s knowledge of country, of bush tucker, water sources and of animal behaviour.
As more First Nations women have come to study with me, I have been privileged to hear more about the strong, resilient women who operated within the patriarchal system in the face of violence and oppression.
Historical photo of First Nations stockwomen in the early 1900s in Australia, of Weeda, Rosie and Mary in the Kimberley region. Source
Detail of painting by Thea Anamara Perkins (Arrernte and Kalkadoon artist) titled “Stockwomen” (2023) of her remarkable great-grandmother Hetty Perkins.
More instances of women marginalised by bias coming into spotlight
Archaeology is also throwing to light the role of women against the patriarchal default assumptions around gender roles, and the relationship of women to powerful roles and mistressery of animals.
As but one example, a famous Viking grave from the 10th Century in Birka in Sweden, known as BJ 581, excavated in 1878, was upheld as “a model for what graves for professional Viking warriors looked like”. It contained amongst other grave goods - a sword, axe head and fighting knife, armour-piercing arrowheads, two stirrups, gaming pieces, dice, game board, two shield bosses, a bronze vessel, part of an Arab silver dirham, three tin rods, and the remains of a belt set.
In 2016, osteological analysis by Anna Kjellström provided evidence that the body was in fact that of a woman.
In 2017, the subsequent DNA analysis confirmed 2 X chromosomes - she was a female.
The model Viking warrior grave was that of a female Viking warrioress, buried with the skeletons of a mare and stallion beneath her - one bridled up ready for riding. She may have even been buried on her bridled horse, with the other beside.
An engraving of BJ 581 warrior grave from Birka, Sweden - now known to be that of a woman, with belt set and horses. Source
Grave BJ 581 as it may have looked; image by Þórhallur Þráinsson Source
Drawing of the occupant of BJ 581 as female warrioress of high status. Caucasus (Knauer 2001); drawing by Tancredi Valeri.
It is with such stories in mind, that it seems entirely appropriate to fit out this year’s Inana Retreat women with the leather hobble belt.
I am not for the moment going to post the hobble belts so as to keep something of the Mysteries of Inana Retreat to those participating. (And you may see them later on the women’s social media after the event.)
The FemDom belts shall be dedicated to the history of the stockwomen, warrioresses and Mistress of Animals, across time and continents.
