Leslie Nichols Moyna Smeaton I was about to post, and then I read your post and it summed up my position perfectly! In most situations, we keep horses in an unnatural way- that doesnt mean that its bad, necessarily, it just means that its off-center from what they would choose for themselves. The biggest difference is that most horses in most situations are living with horses that they would not have chosen. Natural herd member selection is not allowed to occur- horses are thrown together and they have to work it out in all kinds of ways- except the one that they would typically employ- and that is to banish some horses from the herd, or horses would leave the herd to join another herd. And course theres the geldings- which dont make sense to any of the horses- including and especially, the gelding! We humans intepret equine behavior through our lenses. If our lens is a more masculine or yang type of lens- then thats how we interpret equine behavior. If we are of a feminine or ying type soul- we interpret behavior through that lens- which allows us to see the harmony and cooperation within the herd. Regarding pressure and release- its a paradigm and way of viewing equine behavior- but again, it is a lens. I look at the same behavior, and I see communication between horses Go away from me, and if you dont, I will act out physically. The other horse either accepts the idea and backs off, or decides to take on the strong-minded horse- and this will be resolved in one way or another. To my way of thinking, its not pressure and release- its an exchange of ideas and behavior that results from those ideas. Herd hierarchy is another topic of course- its very human to think in terms of top-down power and status. Herd relationships are situational and very dynamic- anyone who sits and watches herd behavior can see this very readily. The larger the group of horses that are living together, the more fluid and ever=changing the relationships become. The aggressive, grumpy horse (the bully) that everyone always remarks is in charge... is usually not in charge- the other horse steers clear of this horse because they dont want to get their teeth kicked in.! And horses form alliances all the time, but these alliances are also situational.... what happens at playtime is very different than what happens at feeding time... I could write for days on this topic, so I wont- suffice it to say that it aint so simple as some would have you believe.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 19:48:42 +0000
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