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I thought it amusing that the first member of the UAE team to
complete (and win the Open gold) was the only person without
a social status honorific (Shayk, Sultan, Prince) in front of their
name.  I note that the winner deliberately trailed Sultan bin
Sulayem across the finish line, making no effort to pass him.
He won because the Sultan's horse did not pass the final
vet check.  I wonder if he felt free to at least try to pull level to
"tie" with one of his bosses?

Human motivations are always multiple, complicated,
and frequently self-contradictory.

Trying to compare the motivations of a member of a Middle
East royal house, where winning is inextricably tied up in
maintaining the warrior leader's prestige, honor, and respect
in the eyes of his subjects--proving his *right to rule* over them--
with the motivations of a middle class American woman who
loves her horse as a dear friend (if not a child) and who has
nothing to prove to anyone, except perhaps herself, well...
apples and oranges doesn't do the contrast justice.  More
like parallel universes with only superficial congruencies:
horses are involved; 100 miles is traversed; otherwise
incommensurate.

I don't know enough about Middle Eastern warrior leader
bushido to know whether it is important for it to be seen
that it was the *horse* that failed, not the rider--that the
leader was always willing to go on, to the very end, and
only failed because the horse--figuratively in this case--
"died underneath him."  If so, the implications are sobering.
Very few RO's.

Then again, European ideals of chivalry grew out of the
European nobility's contact with Islam first in Spain, and
then in the holy land during the Crusades.  Harun ar-Rashid,
Baybars, Sa`aladin.  Could either Maryanne or Dr. Nik recommend
English language readings or films that would better help me
understand what it is that a Middle Eastern male (commoner and
shayk and commoner vs. shayk) has "on the line" when they do an
endurance race?

If you want a rough approximation of the plural motivations
of what I would guess is 95% of the American women you'd
find in an endurance race/ride (whatever), just rent a copy of
"National Velvet."

Linda Mirams




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