48A61ADELMAN-Riding for our lives.pdf

48 MONDES DU TOUR I SME (HORS S R I E ) J U IN 2 0 1 5

MIRIAM ADELMAN

MIRIAM ADELMAN Professor of sociology, Federal University of Paran (Brazil) - [[email protected]]

Abstract. Equestrian sport is often praised for its ability to integrate different types of people, at least at theamateur level. Women and men of all ages, with different levels of physical ability and often from different social

backgrounds, may find a place for themselves within this sector, which include a wide range of modes of practice.

In Brazil, for example, more well-off members of urban middle classes make up the bulk of those who take part

in dressage and show jumping, while popular equestrian traditions engage people from across the social spectrum

in activities that range from casual leisure riding to rodeo competition. One way or another, the feminization of

equestrian sports that has been noted the world over seems to be at least partially applicable to Brazil, with high

and growing female participation observed in many different situations and easily perceived by researchers and

observers. Furthermore, the ideas that are so often expressed in popular international literature, claiming womens

special connection to horses, or womens empowerment through horses are also disseminated in Brazil. In this

text, we focus on women and leisure riding activities. Taking off from our own previous research within three

different Brazilian equestrian milieux, this article develops new strands of argument, considerations based on five

interviews with five amateur horsewomen between ages 29 and 54, residents of the city of Curitiba and neighboring

municipalities. Varying in terms of social (class) origin, educational level, the type of riding they engage in and

other factors that will be pointed out the pages that follow, we will look at what horses represent in their lives, as

linked to issues of gender and leisure.

Rsum. On loue souvent les sports questres pour leur capacit intgrer diffrents profils de personnes,au moins au niveau amateur. Femmes et hommes de tous les ges, de diffrents niveaux et souvent denvironnements

sociaux diffrents peuvent trouver une place dans ce domaine qui inclut des modes de pratique trs varis. Au

Brsil, par exemple, les classes moyennes urbaines composent la plus grande partie de ceux qui pratiquent le

dressage et lobstacle, tandis que des traditions questres, tel le rodo, sont plus populaires. Dune faon ou

dune autre, la fminisation des sports questres qui a t note dans le monde entier semble tre au moins

partiellement applicable au Brsil, avec une participation importante et croissante des femmes, nettement

observable par les chercheurs et observateurs. En outre, les ides qui sont si souvent exprimes dans la littrature

internationale populaire, quant au rapport spcial des femmes aux chevaux et de lmancipation des femmes

grce lquitation, sont galement rpandues au Brsil. Dans ce texte, nous nous intresserons aux femmes et

aux loisirs questres. Partant de notre recherche prcdente mene dans trois milieux questres brsiliens

diffrents, cet article dveloppe de nouveaux arguments et considrations, fonds sur des entretiens avec cinq

cavalires amatrices ges de 29 54 ans, habitant la ville de Curitiba ou les municipalits voisines, issues de

diffrents milieux sociaux, prsentant des niveaux dtudes varis et pratiquant des activits questres diversifies.

Nous tudierons ce que le cheval reprsente dans leur vie, en lien avec les questions de genre et de loisir.

Riding for our lives: women,

leisure and equestrian practice in Brazil today

Monter pour exister. Femmes, loisirs et quitation au Brsil de nos jours

49J U IN 2 0 1 5 CHEVAL , TOUR I SME ET LO I S I R S

CHAPITRE I

I n many parts of the world, thetransformation of the horse, fromwork animal to sport and leisurecompanion, is now a clearly conso-

lidated social phenomenon

(Hedenborg, 2007). Leisure, in turn,

has become a major area of study

and interest in the social sciences,

reflecting the centrality it has taken

on in peoples lives during the latter

part of the twentieth century and

the ensuing need for research on lei-

sures relationship to individual and

collective well-being (Roberts, 2010;

Tomlinson, 2003). At the same time,

considerations on leisure uses of the

horse bring gender issues to the fore-

front, as international literature

demonstrates clear trends toward

the feminization of equestrian acti-

vities around the globe. While this

tendency is often met with enthu-

siasm by those who salute it as a

unique opportunity to increase gen-

der equality within particular socie-

ties and cultures, there are others

who as Plymoth demonstrates in

her discussion of the Swedish eques-

trian federation (Plymoth, 2013)

manage to find reasons for lament.

Our own research in Brazil has

identified equestrian sport as an

arena in which women have found

singular possibilities for enjoyment,

self-development and sociability.

The physical and emotional chal-

lenges involved in mastery of the

technical skills of riding and caring

for horses, as well as the sheer plea-

sure taken in learning particular

ways of being around these large

and powerful animals in out-of-

doors settings, seem to push beyond

the boundaries of normative femi-

ninity. Birke and Brandt, referring

to a European and North American

cultural context, have pointed out

that barn work engages women in

activities that pose a challenge to

gender stereotypes: Women wor-

king with horses must be tough,

capable and not mind getting dirty

[] In this world, women may have

to drive large trucks, lift heavy hay

bales, carry heavy water buckets,

not to mention handle large and

sometimes badly behaved horses.

Horsewomen spend a great deal of

time labouring outside in the wind

and the sun. Their faces are wea-

thered and hands calloused, their

clothes are worn and dirty, and they

are far from the ideals of feminine

style (Birke and Brandt, 2009, p. 191).

Although our years of research

in different equestrian milieux in

Brazil render a scenario in which

most hard barn labor is still perfor-

med by men, horsewomen in this

country known for its intense pro-

motion of (feminized) beauty cul-

ture sometimes portray their own

attitudes and behavior as different

from those of more conventional

women (cf. Adelman and Ruggi, 2008;

Adelman, 2010). Furthermore, female

informants who engage in leisure

riding (leisurewill be rather loosely

defined here, as activity pertaining

to the sphere of free time or

hobby, in contrast to paid work

and obligation) fiercely defend

their right to enjoy it. These findings

create an interesting tension with

regard to tendencies identified in

sociological literature, stating that

women have a harder time than men

in preserving this type of freedom

(McGinnis et al., 2003). The present

text, then, looks particularly at issues

of identity, subjectivity and sociability,

as developed and expressed through

womens equestrian activities whe-ther in mixed gender contexts and/or

within more women-oriented com-

munities of practice (Birke and Brandt,

2009, p. 190).

WOMEN LEISURE RIDERSAND THE QUEST FOR FULFILLMENT

For over fifteen years now, we

have carried out research inspired

by initial observations on how the

equestrian field provides singular

opportunities to study gender in the

construction of bodies, subjectivities,

identities and sporting cultures

(Adelman, 2010; Adelman and Moraes,

2008; Adelman and Becker, 2013).

International literature that supports

this claim comes from several parts

of the world, most notably, from

North America (Burke, 1997;

LeCompte, 1993) and Europe

(Smythe, 1992; Lagier, 2009), where

biography, historical work and fic-

tion (for young people and adults)

have produced a wide range of nar-

ratives on womens and girls invol-

vement with horses and equestrian

sports (Nauleau, 2007; Smiley, 2004;

Pierson, 2002). From the history of

North American rodeo women and

the first Olympic show jumpers to

contemporary popular literature on

women and horses, we find an ever-

growing field of discursive produc-

tion that, in some of its most com-


MIRIAM ADELMAN

mon forms, may favor essential

notions of womens special connec-

tion to equines (Midkiff, 2001) or

promote celebratory narratives of

female equestrian athletes who

triumph against all odds (Burke,

1997)(1). There is also ample historical

record of women, who from the end

of the 19th century took on a pio-

neering role within circus and rodeo

equestrian performance, placing

themselves firmly within the emer-

ging entertainment industry. Thus,

the recurrent signification of horses

and women in modern Western dis-

course is cast in somewhat ambiva-

lent or contradictory terms, with

the woman/horse pair alternatively

or simultaneously evoked to signify

independent free-spiritedness and/or

an eroticized, heteronormatively-

desirable female body.

As mentioned above, worldwide

tendencies toward the feminization

of horse sports and equestrian acti-

vities have consistently demonstrated

that women outnumber men in lei-

sure riding, at least in the United

States, Canada and several European

nations such as Sweden and France,

where systematic data on horses and

riding is provided through a network

of equestrian federations and govern-

ment ministries (Guibert and Pickel-

Chevalier, 2014; Rgnier et al., 2012;

Cochrane and Dashper, 2012; Plymoth,

2013)(2). In fact, both equestrian fede-

rations and the horse industry have

clear interest in understanding the

diverse needs and desires of those

who ride or could become riders.

Scholars, interested for their own

purposes in uncovering the social

dynamics and contradictions that

prevail therein, have also begun to

look more carefully at who engages

in leisure riding and why. Cochrane

and Dashper (2012), for example,

have examined the British case,

emphasizing the construction of

identities and subjectivities emerging

within this particular community of

practice: Participants enjoy riding

in social groups, valuing the oppor-

tunity to socialize as they travel

round the route, including admiring

and talking about each others

horses. The sense of community is

often carried through in membership

in affinity groups such as riding clubs

and online equine forums. The rein-

forcement of social bonds within

the leisure equestrian network also

helps to buttress peoples self-identity

as horse lovers (Cochrane and

Dashper, 2012).

Given the fact these people are

largely women, another series of

questions emerge, linked to a politics

of daily life and leisure in which gen-

der asymmetries and inequality also

play themselves out: objective

queries that may aid us in describing

the population of women engaging

in equestrian activities in terms of

age, marital/familial status, occupa-

tion, income etc., are connected in

turn to subjective and qualitative

issues of womens particular needs,

interests and experiences in a leisure

activity that provides sociability,

physical activity and challenge and

perhaps, as we have suggested, a

unique terrain for self-development,

fulfillment and widened horizons.

Like many other countries, Brazil

boasts a longstanding and diverse

equestrian culture and heritage.

Nonetheless, academic or literary

texts focusing on or dealing speci-

fically with womens experiences

within Brazilian equestrian culture

and practice are extremely scarce.

There are numerous popular eques-

trian magazines in whose pages

women appear quite frequently, and

wherein their equestrian expertise

may be exalted, although from a

point of view linked more to horse

industry promotion than to concerns

for gender equality. Womens increa-

sed participation in medical and

scientific professions involving horses

and other animals has been extre-

mely significant, garnering a thematic

issue of the Brazilian Federal Council

of Veterinary Medicines journal in

2013 (CFMV, 2013). There are a gro-

wing number of academic studies

of the rodeo world which highlight

issues of masculinity but are not

devoted to a specific examination

of womens participation (Costa,

2003; Andrade et al., 2009). Mary D.

Midkiff, the American equestrian

and writer who is well-known for

her Women & Horses workshops,

visited Brazil in 2010. Her book

extolling the woman-horse relation-

ship, She Flies without Wings (2001)

was translated into Portuguese and

launched on the Brazilian market

(Midkiff, 2010), indicating industry

recognition of audience potential.

There is at least one book although

from the decade of the 1990s dea-

ling specifically with women in cam-

peira equestrian culture. It tells the

story of a number of women of dif-


CHAPITRE I

ferent backgrounds and social classes

whom, in the southern state of Rio

Grande do Sul known for its long-

standing horse tradition (linked to

Gaucho pampa culture and cattle

ranching) subvert common mid-20th century notions of Gaucha

women as delicate and domestic by

recognizing their involvement in

work, leisure and sporting practices

that are to this day signified as male.

Against the grain of a masculine

imaginary, the books author clearly

portrays these Gaucha horse women

as people who present a challenge

to deeply-rooted forms of homoso-

ciality(3) and gender prejudice

(SantAna, 1993).

It seems that urban middle-class

women with disposable income are

now attracting considerable horse

industry attention in Brazil, as a gro-

wing market for equestrian tou-

rism and other forms of leisure

riding. Information provided by the

firm Cavalgadas Brasils states that

65% of the clients of Cavalgadas

Brasil first Brazilian travel agent

specialized in equestrian tourism,

which programs riding trips to natio-

nal and international tourist desti-

nations are women , stirring, as

can be expected, a greater desire to

detect and cater to what could

emerge as specific interests per-

taining to them. Rural and semi-

rural women who, as our own

research indicates (Adelman and

Becker, 2013) have often moved

spontaneously (through family and

community connections) into the

world of popular equestrian prac-

tices, remain less visible than their

middle-class equestrienne counter-

parts, although it may be safe to

surmise that, numerically speaking,

they constitute a more expressive

contingent. Nonetheless, the few

scholarly articles that we found dis-

cussing the leisure pursuits of rural

and semi-rural women portray them

as absorbed in familial roles and

imbued with a family-oriented mind-

set. Thus, they have been portrayed

as relatively uninterested or unen-

gaged in leisure time and activities

of their own, with the exception,

perhaps, of church-based community

activities. One such very recent article

Illustration 1 Girl riders chasing a calf, rodeo in southern Brazil

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MIRIAM ADELMAN

summarizes it this way: Leisure is

thus configured as an element that

corresponds with womens and

mens roles as they are asserted

within the rural milieu in which a

woman is raised and even self-edu-

cated to take part [only] in activities

that do not place her emotional and

physical constitution at risk, such

as going out with her children or

visiting relatives. In mens case, the

situation is quite different. They seek

the highest levels of emotional exci-

tement within the realm of leisure,

and in so doing assert their masculine

identity, which including manifes-

tations of violence and the desire

for adventure and risk, within the

context of a performance that rein-

forces the visibility of their macho

traits. Thus, we can affirm that lei-

sure is constituted as a vehicle for

the reproduction of models of femi-

ninity and masculinity (Andrade et

al., 2009, p. 48, [our translation]).

Yet our examination of the CTG

(Centro de Tradies Gauchas) or

Gacho traditionalist rodeos that

are characteristic of the southern

region of the country point to quite

a different scenario. Observing and

examining girls and womens growing

participation in rodeo sport within

this context (cf. illustration 1), we

suggest that important changes have

been underway for over a decade,

and that it is no longer possible to

presume such lack of interest or enga-

gement on womens part. Rather, we

must begin to look more carefully at

a reality which for many years was

seen through a naturalized and natu-

ralizing lens (Adelman and Becker, 2013).

Thus, we have perceived that

horses continue to be important

symbolic and material resources

within rural traditions and commu-

nities throughout Brazil, and many

popular equestrian activities mix

not only genders but social classes.

Both the Gaucho rodeos that pre-

vail in southern Brazil and the

Country rodeos that bear the

imprint of an (imported) US

Western equestrian style and tech-

nology attract large weekend crowds

and stimulate participation of dif-

ferent sorts. While the former are

increasingly integrating women in

calf-roping competitions (a deve-

lopment that seems to have picked

up since the beginning of the new

millennium (Becker, 2011), the

Country rodeo circuit has created

one particular type of competition

that is increasingly marked as female

(barrel racing), while others calf-

roping and bronco riding are mar-

ked as masculine and generally pro-

mote womens exclusion (Costa,

2003). Popular horseback proces-

sions and trail riding are, on the

other hand, a moment in which

women and men, children and adults

and sometimes people of different

social origins take part in shared

outdoor leisure.

Furthermore, English or classi-

cal riding, such as dressage and

show jumping, is also moving from

more restricted elite practice to acti-

vities that afford riding opportunities

to include a wider range of people

from the urban middle classes, as

equestrian centers spring up in ever

increasing numbers in or near

medium and large Brazilian cities

(cf. illustration 2).

The equestrian tourism mentioned

above attracts more women than

men, as may also be the case for endu-

rance riding, a competitive option

that is open to many people who

might not be inclined toward com-

petition that is perceived as more

risky (such as show jumping or calf-

roping). Yet the contention that eques-

trian sport has an uncanny democratic

potential, promoting the mingling

people of different ages, classes and

genders, is both a heartening and

provocative assumption, one that in

itself justifies looking more carefully

into peoples actual experiences.

While sociologists and gender scho-

lars such as ourselves may have an

understandable interest in probing

just how realistic this assessment is,

it might be added that not only indus-

try (the horse and tourism sectors,

primarily), but also public policy

makers, might have reason to encou-

rage exploring such potential.

WOMEN LEISURE RIDERS: A PILOT STUDY

For this pilot study of womens

use of leisure time and construction

of identity and sociabilities within

the equestrian world, we interviewed

five women between the ages of

3054. All of them belonged to ourcircle of contacts considerably wide

as a result of fifteen years of research

within different equestrian milieux

in or around the city of Curitiba.

Conversations with our informants

were based on a life history method


CHAPITRE I

which encouraged each of them to

tell their own story, from childhood,

focusing on the role of horses and

riding within their lives. Wherever

necessary, we asked specific ques-

tions to elicit discussion of subjective

elements, regarding issues such as

where horses and riding stood in

relation to other aspects of the infor-

mants life, as well as more objective

questions regarding how our infor-

mants acquired and managed the

resources needed to support their

riding activities. All of our informants

were native Brazilians, current resi-

dents of Curitiba or neighboring

municipalities. They came to us from

a vast pool of friends and acquain-

tances, on the basis of their own

availability and our desire to include

women from different social and

educational backgrounds. Diversity

(differences in urban and rural,

middle and popular class womens

access to and relationship with eques-

trian practices) was a primary

concern, given our basic hypothesis

on the inclusive nature of equestrian

practices and our interest in further

comparative work to test it. The dif-

ferent types of riding that are repre-

sented in this pilot study are consis-

tent with the findings of our earlier

researches (Adelman and Becker, 2013;

Adelman, 2010; Adelman and Moraes,

2008; Adelman, 2004) indicating that

equestrian practice takes on different

forms in different segments of

Brazilian society, from more elite

forms (which, although a minority

practice, have more general cultural

visibility) and the widespread and

popular forms whose existence many

urban middle-class city dwellers are

completely unaware of.

An apparent coincidence, none

of our informants were married at

the time we conducted our inter-

views. Three of them, however, had

children whom they were still all or

partially responsible for, and four

of the five reported current invol-

vement with boyfriends or (non live-

in) male partners. Moreover,

although they constitute an initially

small sample, the feelings and

ideas that they expressed regarding

their relationship to horses, eques-

trian culture and equestrian sport

mirrored those of the women inter-

viewed in earlier research (Adelman,

2010; Adelman and Moraes, 2008;

Adelman, 2003), studies which inclu-

ded married women and women

who rode professionally.

The five women whose narratives

are analysed in the following para-

graphs, include a full time low status

worker, two professionals, a single

mother currently at home with a

young baby and a young woman

who is finishing a law degree. At

present, all of them can be roughly

categorized as leisure riders. Yet

all are very seriously devoted to this

hobby and the possibility of

future professional activity that is

linked to it is a possibility for at

least one of them.

Elisa(4), age 54, divorced, has wor-

ked as a lawyer for twenty-eight

years. While her own children, a

grown son and daughter, still count

on her moral and sometimes financial

support, she reports having finally

gotten to a phase of greater freedom.

This has enabled her to finally fulfil

her long-time dream of acquiring a

horse, which she postponed it until

Illustration 2 Girl and her instructor at a lesson, elite social club in southern Brazil

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MONDES DU TOUR I SME (HORS S R I E ) J U IN 2 0 1 5

MIRIAM ADELMAN

54

Quite another life story, and a

different riding history, comes from

Francisca, a 33 year old woman

from a working-class background.

Francisca spent her early years in

the urban periphery of Curitiba,

living in a number of different neigh-

bourhoods characteristically popu-

lated by people who have made the

historically-recent migration from

rural to urban areas (a movement

of rural exodus that has been well-

documented, picking up steam and

reaching its apex during the 1970s).

When she finished high school, she

took work at whatever jobs were

most readily availablewaitressing,in particular. She says, Ill do any

kind of work, any kind. You see,

Im not afraid of working, I roll up

my sleeves and do what I have to

do! Although her brothers have

ridden horses since childhood,

Francisca only began riding in her

twenties, but was immediately ready

to throw herself into the fray: muc-

king stalls, grooming, staying up at

night with sick horses or whatever

it was that taking care of the horses

that her family kept in their own

backyard involved. While her bro-

thers are ropers, she characterizes

herself as a non-competitively-orien-

ted leisure rider: I love horses, I

really do. I just dont spend more

time with them because I dont get

a chance. But as soon as I began my

own life of, you know, being able

to have fun on the weekends and

so forth, I chose horses. Cause I

could have gone out dancing and

drinking at all of that, but no, never.

Well, not that I never do, but I prefer

weekend competitions. She sees her

riding as that which enabled her to

move on with her life at a crucial

moment, referring to the period after

her marriage broke up in these terms:

I was taking a lot of medication,

too much, and I was given an anti-

depressant, and all I did was sleep.

Then my doctor changed my medi-

cation, and I was always irritated,

bickering with everyone. Another

doctor said I had a vitamin defi-

ciency, and then prescribed a ton of

vitamins, and that made me gain

weight six kilos and that really

drove me crazy ... And things went

on like that till the day I started

riding, and from then on I always

felt fine, the nausea and fainting

stopped, so its even a question of

health, in addition to being some-

thing I love, and if there is ever a

week that goes by without being

able to ride because of work, I start

feeling bad ... I have been horse-

crazy since I was a little girl ... Erica

portrays her daily life is an active

one: she rides weekday mornings,

before going into the office (fortu-

nately, the club the Hpica is

conveniently located in relation to

downtown Curitiba) and after a

busy workday, she takes evening

classes toward an MBA degree and

studies German. She characterizes

herself as someone who is always

on the move, Ive always been like

this, I cant stand not being active.

And, when asked about what makes

her the happiest in life, she readily

responds that happiness to her has

two basic ingredients: her work and

her horses.

her daughter finished collegeanexpense that had fallen on her shoul-

ders, since her ex-husband had long

since stopped paying child support.

She has become the proud owner of

a young Quarter Horse mare; now,

rather than occasional riding on rental

horses or taking lessons, riding her

own horse has become her major lei-

sure activity. Elisa and her horse have

also recently begun to participate in

endurance riding. She says she enjoys

the adrenaline of competition and

sees endurance riding as offering

more of it, since sports like barrel

racing and jumping competitions are

over in a few secondswhile in her

chosen mode, the ride goes on for

hours. She explains, I identify with

the sport, which is a sport in which

you arent allowed to mistreat your

animal ... and the landscapes out on

those trails are absolutely marvel-

lous!Elisa relished in describing the

evolution of her relationship to her

mare, Cocoa. Cocoa, she says, came

into my life to fulfil ... a need, the

need to feel special to someone. [After

I got her] ... I never felt lonely again!

Erica, an established lawyer in

Curitiba, age 34, divorced, could

also be seen as the epitome of pro-

fessional success and independence.

When, as she puts it, she became

single again, she took up riding at

the Sociedade Hpica Paranaense,

an elite riding club that is part of a

national show jumping circuit coor-

dinated by the Brazilian Equestrian

Federation. Since then, Erica has

become an accomplished show jum-

per, riding every morning before

work and participating regularly in


CHAPITRE I

and her two brothers (but not her

sister) followed a tradition that had

most often been passed down from

grandfather and father to son. In

her own family, gendered patterns

of childrearing were present, but did

not close the equestrian world off

to her. As she puts it: My dad used

to say So, if you kids are good this

week, therell be rodeo for you on

the weekend! So we were perfect,

you know, so that dad wouldnt

have reason to get made at us, not

take us, like No, you guys did this

and that! And it was so nice, because

we did our schoolwork, the house-

work ... you know since I was a girl,

I washed dishes for my mom, kept

the house clean, did everything right

so I could go to the rodeo on the

weekend.

In Cristianes case, horses and the

rodeo world have been a driving

force and a non-negotiable passion

in her life. She did a stint as a bronc

rider the only woman in the state

who took part in bronc riding at

that time, she says. Mostly, though,

she has taken part in roping com-

petition and enjoys pleasure riding.

She has built her life around horses

and the social milieu of the rodeo,

which stands in contrast to her

overtly pragmatic relationship to

paid employment: mere obligation.

She makes reference to the physical

pleasure of riding and amateur com-

petition including the adrenaline

of bronc riding. Traditionalist rodeo

activities, such as frequent weekends

spent camping at the parks where

rodeos take place, bring her family

and social life into a unique whole


At present, she says, she still does

her part of the stable chores, so that

her workday is not over when she

jumps off her motorcycle at the front

to be out in the country, helping

with the horses. My middle brother

for example likes motorcycles, jeeps,

thats what he does. I could have

chosen that but I didnt ... I went

the other way, chose horses. So come

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, when I

have free time, I can be with the

horses. Do what I want. Go to the

rodeo, I love that. My brothers are

rodeo riders, you see. They go, ride,

camp out. We go there, hang out

with our friends, laugh, see people

we like!Currently devoted to caring

for her new baby, Francisca is uncer-

tain about her work future. Single

mother of two children, she none-

theless harbors idyllic plans for the

future: to move further away from

the city, to the place in the country

that her mother and stepfather have

purchased, and to devote herself, in

upcoming years, to raising her

daughters and tending to horses and

farm work.

Cristiane, also in her thirties, is,

like Francisca, from one of the many

Brazilian working or popular class

families that could be placed somew-

here between rural and urbanwith roots both in the countryside

and its cultural patterns and the

rapidly urbanizing and industrializing

world of latter 20th century Brazil.

When commenting on her child-

hood, she underscored being raised

within southern Brazilian traditio-

nalist culture(5): My father was a

traditionalist and we got that from

him. So it was like this: during the

week, school, normal activities, nor-

mal life; come the weekend, if there

was a rodeo, there we went! She

Illustration 3 Pole bending competition, rodeo in southern Brazil

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MIRIAM ADELMAN

56

door of her house in a Curitiba peri-

urban region. Yet she poses the

hard physical work that barn work

entails as a labor of love. She sees

the sheer experience of being out in

the country with her horses as the-

rapeutic: Today I say: there is no

better therapy for a person than that,

lets say, on the week-end, if you

have a place in the country. And

you go there, talk to your animals,

talk to your horse, and it seems like

it understands you. You know, it

seems like youre in another life ...

the whole week, exhausted from

work [but now] you dont even have

to get that close to your horses ...

you just look, you see they are there,

and its such an opportunity to be

there in that world. Like me, no

stress, no cars honking my ears off,

none of that. Just the horses whin-

nying from the pasture, you know?

It is so good, for those who really

appreciate it, who know what I am

talking about, right? Because the

sensation they [the horses] give us

is so good, its extraordinary! ... I

wouldnt exchange this life for any-

thing; on the contrary, I tell everyone

to go, spend a weekend, every two

weeks, holidays: go somewhere in

the country where you can enjoy

these things, because nothing on

earth is better!

Lia, at age 29 the youngest of our

interviewees, is from a middle-class

Curitiba family. Lias mother, per-

ceiving her daughters love for horses,

signed her up for riding lessons when

she was 9. Over the years that fol-

lowed, Lia mastered the basics of

English riding, did some jumping

and also began to learn to ride

Western, as barrel racing a

Western sport coming to Brazil

via the US and often signified as

standing in contrast to Brazilian

popular rodeo traditionbecameincreasingly popular in the region.

A landmark moment was when, at

age 15, her mother bought her first

horse, a young colt still far from

training age. Unfortunately, within

little over a years time, the country

was struck by a period of economic

instability that made it hard for her

mother to manage the colts upkeep.

Having to sell the animal was, for

Lia, a traumatic experience. And

thus began a twelve years hiatus in

which she had little contact with

horses and no opportunity to ride.

It also roughly coincided with her

first love, a boyfriend with whom

she spent many years, from adoles-

cence and into adulthood. Lia is cur-

rently finishing a law degree that

she is not particularly invested in

and is in the process of making plans

to do the entrance exam for a private

university where she hopes to carry

out her dream of studying veterinary

medicine. She has two horses, one

she rides regularly and a colt who

is rapidly approaching training age.

Like Cristiane, she portrays her

connection to horses as much more

than a hobby and perhaps with

certain complexities that go beyond

the boundaries of leisure par-

ticularly insofar as she dreams of

turning her hobby into something

more along the lines of a life project:

My relationship to horses is this:

in the future I would like to work

with horses, or if I cant do that,

then have my own place to raise

them, or maybe a training barn,

something so that I wouldnt have

to make a living off it but it would

be [central] in my life. Those are my

intentions, short, middle and long

term, to have a place [for horses] of

my own.

At present, however, horses and

riding remain a very absorbing lei-

sure, around which she has construc-

ted a network of friends and a social

life in which, she says, she is oftenagain, as in her childhoodaroundmore guys than girls. Although

she acknowledges the existence of

a lot of machismo in the eques-

trian world (and here it is important

to cite the fact that today she is pri-

marily involved in Western-riding,

rather than the more feminized

world of classical equitation and

showjumping) and believes that

women should be allowed more

space therein, she states that, given

her own personal story, she is com-

fortable in homosocial environments.

My [male] friends just see me as

another one of the guys.

INITIAL FINDINGS

As we have shown above, our

five interviewees vary in terms of

class origin, educational level and

life trajectory. Yet there are some

important similarities and compa-

risons to be drawn regarding the

place they have given to equestrian

activities in their lives and the benefits

they see as accruing from them.

Furthermore, the cross-class cha-


CHAPITRE I

racter of this albeit small sample

also provides insights into some

social processes that are currently

underway in Brazil, in which signi-

ficant changes in gender and culture

shape not only elite womens sense

of entitlement to pleasure and leisure

but acquire a wide-reaching scope

and touch the lives of women across

the social spectrum. Thus, our study

constitutes revealing evidence of

how women from different social

segments negotiate personal auto-

nomy, desire and control over key

aspects of their lives, from work and

reproduction to sport and leisure.

Of course, paths to change are

here and everywhere paved with

conflict and contradiction, yet we

have sought to explore the evidence

that horses and riding are in fact

offering many women and girls a

unique space and singular oppor-

tunities for fulfilment, self-affirma-

tion and empowerment. The latter,

we argue, is centrally linked to the

physical challenges that riding and

dealing with horses offer and as

we discussed earlier possibilities

for constructing subjectivities and

corporealities less constrained by

normative notions of the feminine.

We have seen that horses represent

a range of things to our interviewees:

signifiers of freedom and mobility,

of taking the reins of life into

ones own hands, of connection to

nature, emotional relationship to

another living being who is in need

of care and attention and whom can

be relied on to give back in the

same measure that it has received


This was expressed by our inter-

viewees, time and again: Elisa, for

example, went into great lengths to

describe how her young mare was

initially indifferent and perhaps a

bit afraid of people, and how it took

several months of relationship buil-

ding before a breakthrough: the

day the horse showed the first signs

of recognition that Elisa was

someone special to her.

Similarly, Francisca spoke proudly

of the way she cares for the family

horses, and how her mare has com-

pensated that with her curiosity and

affection: My brothers want to go

to the rodeo [calf-roping] every wee-

kend and they go, I go with them.

I ride around, take care of the horses.

At home, Im the one who does the

barn chores. If a horse gets hurt,

Im the one who calls the vet. Im

Illustration 4 Riding and managing horses, perceived asa metonymy of taking the reins of yourlife whatever is the social status of women

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MIRIAM ADELMAN

58

the one who orders the feed. The

one who brushes them. I take care

of them much more than my bro-

thers do, all they do is get on, ride

off, go to the roping tournaments.

Theyre rough with the horses, Im

more affectionate ... My brothers

mare, when I was pregnant she

would always come around sniffing

my belly. I give her sugar, salt, she

eats bread from my hands...

In the passage transcribed above,

Francisca provides an earnest des-

cription of how she sees her own

and her brothers relationship to

horses. As many authors have poin-

ted out, horse-human relationships

are frequently signified in highly

gendered terms (Birke and Brandt,

2009; Pierson, 2002) and statements

that contrast men and womens atti-

tudes in handling horses, often reso-

nating with the common clichs

that associate women with sensitive,

care-giving roles and men with more

instrumental relationships to their

horses as mounts, were not altoge-

ther absent from our conversations.

They tended, however, to focus

more specifically on the benefits

and pleasures that women reap in

their life with horses, rather than

reproducing simplified binaries.

Elisa noted that women tend to

treat their horses with greater care,

bringing to fruition a relationship

that is more cooperative, pleasurable

and productive. Lia, while gende-

ring her own relationship to

horsesthe sensation that ... a fra-gile woman can master an animal,

such strength and such fragility, is

something I find moving, the most

beautiful thing on earth!, avoidedcommon generalizations on mens

and womens attitudes, and was

quick to point out that there are

members of both sexes who treat

their animals with sensitivity and

kindness, or in more brutish ways.

When our informants narrate the

role horses have had in their lives,

their speech echoes much that we

have heard elsewhere throughout

years of research: the notion of an

almost magical attraction that horses

have always had on them. Those

who had less contact with horses in

early childhood (for example, from

urban and non-horsey families)

spoke of an enigmatic connection

springing from nowhere or from

who knows where! and often beco-

ming a dream patiently nurtured for

many long years before horse-owner-

ship could become a reality.

Economic factors are also at work:

horses and equestrian culture are,

as we have stated above, important

in Brazilian popular culture and thus

many women and girls from humble

rural environments have some access

to both, but for urban residents,

boarding a horse can be expensive.

Although today boarding options

run from fairly inexpensive caban-

has to fancy hpicas, two of our

informants mentioned an extended

wait until the moment came in which

resourcestime and moneyweremore readily available. Yet, both

for those whose access to horses had

been harder and for those who

favoured by family-based access, the

enchantment factor was portrayed

as strong and enduring. Thus, horses

were signified as an element of emo-

tional stability, physical and mental

well-being, and even an element len-

ding a certain consistency to life,

mending frayed edges and restoring

coherency to the tatters of existence.

This was expressed in recurrent

tropes such as finding in your horse

a companion you can always

count on [when others (may) let

you down] ... A feeling, we might

suggest, that is not to be belittled

in a world that is increasingly per-

ceived as fluid, turbulent, uncertain,

inherently complicated, as in

Marxs famous all that is solid

melts into air and contemporary

sociologist Baumans liquid

modernity (Bauman, 2000). Horses,

then, become reliable connections

in a challenging and sometimes

overwhelming world. The acknow-

ledged open-endness of life projects,

personal trajectories that must be

built in the face of social constraints

and the general unpredictability of

human relationships are also

fraught, furthermore, with the ten-

sions of gender change and conflict.

Elisa and Erica seem to see their

horses as filling in empty spaces

in their lives, yet even so, frame

this in terms of choice and agency,

not as Piersons critique also

points out (2002) to be reduced

to a discourse that labels closeness

with animals as a deficient sub-

stitute for human relationship.

Furthermore, the relationships that

our informants develop with their

non-human companions unfold

within human contexts of sociality

that they cite as highly rewarding.


CHAPITRE I

This is so for the women who grew

up within families connected to the

Brazilian popular rodeo culture as

well as for those who moved into

equestrian circles on their own,

such as Lia and Elisa, who unders-

core their own increasing absorp-

tion in horsey circles. Francisca

has built a social life in the urban

periphery area she lives in around

horsesher comadre and com-padre(6), a young couple close to

her in age, origin and interests, run

a barn, not far from her house, and

she signals this as the place she pre-

fers to hang out whenever possible.

She is also heartened by the fact

that her elder daughter adores

horses, and mentions the fact that

the girls teacher has noticed the

calming effects that a weekend

near equines seems to have on her.

CONCLUSIONAgain and again, women empha-

size the personal benefits and plea-

sures of a life around horses: emo-

tionally strengthening, encouraging

independence, a type of end in itself

that mobilizes psychic investments

as well as considerable investment

of time and/or resources some-

thing they are willing to work for

regardless of what it costs or what

others think. Perhaps, as horse

enthusiasts ourselves, it is hard to

resist the trap of a facile or naive

notion of womens empowerment,

such as that which characterizes

some contemporary self-help type

women and horses literature. In

this terrain as in all other arenas

of social life and culture, conflicts

of different types are played out.

Gender stereotyping and hetero-

normative policing of women in

equestrian sports have been docu-

mented (Adelman and Knijnik, 2013;

Birke and Brandt, 2009), and social,

cultural and financial constraints

often mark the scenario within

which human and human-horse

interactions unfold. Birke and

Brandts analysis of North

American and British contexts leads

them to conclude that The pre-

sence of horses enables a subversion

of dominant gender practices par-

ticularly at the localized (private)

level, while at the same time enables

a reinscription of traditional gender

ideals at the global (public) level

(Birke and Brandt, 2009, p. 189).

Women themselves contribute to

the latter when they resort to or

reproduce a women and horses

discourse that essentializes special

bonds between human females and

equines. Furthermore, some of the

most intense conflicts are located

precisely at the private level. Within

the context of heterosexual rela-

tionships and marriage, for

example, women contend with all

the contemporary pressures that

feminist family scholars have been

documenting for several decades

(Gerson, 1986; Vaitsman, 1994; Arajo

and Scalon, 2005); those who parti-

cipate in equestrian activities are

often forced into difficult choices,

or difficult negotiations (Adelman,

2004). The five women we spoke

to in this pilot study were chosen

on the basis of our desire to begin

with a socially heterogeneous group

and it is perhaps, as stated above,

no more than coincidence that all

were single at the time we spoke

to them. Yet whether in relation

to current or past relationships or

simply with regard to their personal

use of time and space, all made it

clear that horses and riding are

non-negotiable aspects of their daily

lives and interests. Partners, hus-

bands, boyfriends and companions

who do not share this passion must

nonetheless accept and respect it.

Generalizing claims comparing

women who ride to those who cul-

tivate other leisure pursuits are far

beyond the scope and purpose of

the present text. Yet the brave res-

ponses that many of those we have

interviewed here and elsewhere

(Adelman and Becker, 2013; Adelman,

2010; Adelman and Moraes, 2008;

Adelman, 2004) stand out in terms

of the notions of womanhood emer-

ging from them: the quest for self-

determination and autonomy, a

belief that a womans body, life,

sexuality and pleasure are her own,

a search for new forms of connec-

tion to men and women, children,

animals and nature, as our research

and that of many others in different

parts of the world seem to suggest(7).

The tentative findings from the pilot

study we have presented here are

also indicative of deep and often

tempestuous changes that are swee-

ping Brazilian society today, as res-

trictive notions of gender and the

norms of conventional nuclear

family and heterosexual marriage

are increasingly challenged, and

sometimes transcended. n


MIRIAM ADELMAN

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NOTES

(*)The author thanks Mara Ferreira, docto-

ral candidate in sociology (UFPR), for her

contribution as research assistant, with

interviews and transcriptions.

(1) Pierson (2000]), on the other hand,

provides a subtle, nuanced and often ironic

view of essentializing approaches to

women and horses in her marvellous text,

Dark Horses and Black Beauties: Animals,

Women, a Passion.

(2) Unfortunately, in Brazil, equivalent data

is not readily available.

(3) Following Sedgwick (1985) who argues

that homosociality is the common format

taken by modernitys public sphere activity.

(4) All names given here are pseudonyms.

(5) In another recently published text

(Adelman and Becker, 2013), we discuss

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re-signification of historic regional patterns

linked to South American pampas culture

and economic (cattle range) activity.

(6) Terms used in Latin American coun-

tries to denote a particular type of fictive

kinship, referring specifically to the relation-

ship that is established with the godmother

and/or godfather of ones own children,

and suggesting a sort of co-parenting; in

other words, substantial bonds of recipro-

city.

(7) See Adelman and Knijnik (2013) for

discussion of studies which come to similar

conclusions.


CHAPITRE I

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