Welcome to my thoughts
So many eloquent things come to me when I’m in the bath. I used to have a personal recording device with me allot of the time, I’ll have to dig it out again. I haven’t seen it for a while but I glimpsed it when we moved in 2022. I always find the words when I’m alone with my thoughts.
I’ll try to remember this time…
Horses are simple beings, they want to be in a wide open space so they can see/hear predators. They need allot of water, they need to be eating pretty much non stop cause they’re digestive system never stops, gotta keep everything moving towards the tail (unlike ours). They are intensely social, sort of like a soap opera, (much like humans lol) They are the only species that their spleen is bigger than their brain, which has served them well, gallons of adrenalin can empty into their bloodstream in seconds. Under no circumstances what so ever will they risk falling down, so weird looking terrain is to be avoided at all costs, and if there’s no choice, leaping over is best. They see black and white contrast really well, which makes sense living outside in wide open spaces. They are intensely curious which you could argue doesn’t serve them well, but being a scorpio I can relate to the temptation “what’s that?”
Yet very wary of anything physically changing in their environment from one moment to the next. They hear extraordinarily well, best to hear it and flee before you see it, for sure. All very simple and straightforward survival skills and they’re very physically adapted to thrive in their environment.
Humans are captivated by horses, they’re so free, I think we crave that, I think we marvel at how they get to live in the moment (and must live in the moment or get eaten) They’re so big and powerful, yet are really really sensitive to small touches and expressions. Horses are completely connected to their environment, they feel the vibrations in the ground, they hear the slightest noises, its argued their eyesight isn’t amazing but its serves them well if they’re in their natural environment. Their eyes are oblong and they lift and lower their heads to focus on things close or far a way. The higher their head the farther away they can focus. Hence the up and down they do when trying to recognise if something is scary or not. When they’re grazing their eyesight is perfect right in front of their noses, it works. For myself, when I saw my first pony, I saw something so strong and steady, yet it was curious and sensitive, sooooo beautiful to me, I couldn’t leave….I had to though, I was 3, had to go somewhere, not sure where but not staring at the pony lolol.
Horse smell, a dirty horse outside in the grass and dirt, really got me. Almost like I could feel the simplicity and serenity of the grass through the smell of the horses eating it, I was aware of the sunlight, the wind, the time of day really.
I think humans are drawn to horses in a way we really don’t understand cause we do things that are very counter intuitive to and with the horses. Its odd. We know where horses are from, we know where they thrive, yet we do things that don’t make any sense to the horse, we don’t keep that in mind enough when we involve them in our lives. I think the horses question us allot, but I’m not sure humans notice why.
I’ve been in horses for 40 years now (really 50 but I was a kid then) Lots of things have evolved but mostly horses haven’t, like at all.
So as we engage with each other on all the different ways we interact and have horses in our lives, we must understand, all the discussion is about how humans are interacting with the horses in our human context of what we understand, like and dislike, but our reference should be horses and how they thrive, there is enough information out there (I mean ALLOT) that no one needs to guess. Maybe you find it boring how horses thrive, but it is what it is and if humans need more excitement than that, engage a different species or change your expectation.
Horses are magic. I don’t know why they let us do what we do with them, but they oblige. Cherish the gift of them not killing us when they could. Use the miracle of them thinking a little rope around its face actually stops it from answering its natural instincts, learn about that, that’s the magic, there’s trust there for some reason, take that to heart and learn about it.
That’s all.