A natural World Order, Part IV
A new/old World Order: 1, 2 , 3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 4, 5, 6 , 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12
How the balance of power needn’t be oppressive
This extends a mini-series, where I argue that pretending equality of sexes is not rational — see also my farewell poem to Cambridge Quakers here — using dressage as a metaphor. I rode it the last 10 of my 30 years riding horses ending 30 years ago.
Previous in this mini-series here, next in this series here and the whole series here.
As a lifelong feminist, I left two women I supported — my first two wives — and was left by a third — my daughter — so I dropped that playbook. With my current sponsor in my next phase (here) I model patriarchy with a heart: I return to the regime that is much maligned, and rightfully so; history and society’s confusion caused men to subjugate women, rather than to cooperate with them as, say, in matriarchal societies. That is evidently not universal, there are caring men out there, but they often not acknowledged because of their very vulnerability: they don’t react manly as society expects and thus prove to be handy punching bags, when women act out their distresses against other men that did oppress them.
Please note we must separate the pattern — the behaviour laid on a person by their past unresolved hurts — from the person who is inherently good, but who behaves following said patterns (more). Men and women are good and care for each other — the basis of family life—but they oppress each other thru patterned behaviour… If it’s institutionalised for men, it doesn’t mean women don’t do it!
So where does dressage fit in? That is the sport that develops horses’ natural physical and mental abilities in an athletic and balletic sense. Even though all horse are broken in to make them ridable — no-one can argue with a ton of flesh — horse racing, show jumping and rodeo ruin horses, whereas dressage, cutting and barrel racing develop horses — my thoroughbred-off-the-racetrack I rode dressage for 10 yrs excelled in cutting for fun, as we kept them on ranch land SW of Calgary CAN, the dark bay below—and the last three sports develop a relationship between horse and rider more than the first three do.
This year’s world dressage champion is petite Lottie Fry, who rode this big stallion to win over the enthusiastic home crowd in Denmark. From here:
Dressage is an art form as much as a sport, requiring the rider to communicate with their horse on an almost telepathic level as they choreograph a highly complex set of dance moves to music. To add to the difficulty, Herning [dressage championship host in Denmark] was perhaps the most raucous crowd a dressage rider will ever experience — 11,000 Danes treating the occasion more like a football match than an equestrian championships.
“Lottie is so petite and she rides this big black stallion who is so full of power but she captures everything about dressage,” Hester [her mentor] says. “It’s not about strength and force, it’s about lightness, harmony and elegance and they have all of that.
“To ride in a country where the home nation is favourite and somehow get them on your side shows how much she appeals to the public. Her face is the most determined I’ve seen in sport and the minute she rides up the centre line her smile lights up the stadium.”
This article say two things without saying it:
- success depends on finesse: understand the master-student relationship, where a petite masters a stallion thru their relationship; she understands she must be subservient to him given the weight and strength ratio, but he understands the reward of following her command and excel naturally
- success depends also on attitude: she understands the crowd is not with her at the outset, but her determined look and a brilliant smile shows she loves her sport and wins the crowd over; no doubt the stallion picked up on that love, that likely tipped him over to deliver an unheard-of 90+ points
What I’m saying is that women and men are not equal — this example is an exaggeration of the relationship, but it shows that dominance is not what it seems, and we are clever humans and we must understand that — I stated in Part III that indeed it can tilt the wrong way if we don’t watch our patterns:
I found feminist women too busy watching for misogynist booby traps to actually see what’s in front of them — I was living with this alter-ego they reacted to, who was not me… they behaved like I was a sexist male boor I didn’t recognise and had no idea where it came from, as I know I’m a good man and a good father… with issues for sure but no misogynist!
Let me close with an anecdote: my horse above would die trying the help me… For example when I jumped cross-country once, I got off-balance to the left as he did a last-second adjustment to avoid a branch… but just as quickly he shifted to the left on-the-fly to stay underneath me, and avoid a fall!
