Horse Sense

Quahom1 · 08-18-2005, 03:13 AM

Exactly 2.34 miles from my home is a horse "farm". It is a place where city slickers and country folk with no extra room bring their horses to board. It is also where I keep my horses...

There are four distinct "paddocks" for horses. One for Mares, and a diet paddock for mares, one for studs/stallions/young bucks (that's what I call them), and one for the "fat-farm" male candidates.

Cutting down trees and scrub with the "Stiglers Farm" son in law, I noticed two "mares" almost in a dance. So I asked about it.

"See the one? She is blind. See the other? She is now her eyes."

Sure enough, the younger mare whickers, and the older mare responds back, then follows the sound of the first mare. To the trough, to the Timothy (good feed hay), to the barn, and to the field.

The two stand for hours hind end to hind end parrallel, with tails slapping at the other's various body areas, swooshing away the flys.

When apart, the younger mare "whickers" gently, quietly and constantly, just so the older mare keeps her bearings, and does not panic.

The older mare knows exactly how to time a tail slap, in order to keep the flies at bay, over both of them. (something the younger mare hasn't quite figured out yet).

The younger mare leads the elder to the rich Timothy left "especially" for them (after all the other horses are fed), and the elder mare feeds for a moment, then backs off. Then the younger mare literally prods the elder into feeding again. It's almost like a "you first, no you first, no you FIRSt", kind of game. All this time there is a quiet language of "whickering" going on.

These are friends. The young mare is fiercely protective of the other. The old mare almost laughs when we come into the field. The young one gets use to us after a minute or two (every time)

They constantly "talk" to eachother, quietly, and low. But should another encroach upon the elder mare in animosty...all hell breaks loose! The younger mare has no issue rearing and stomping, regardles of who it is.

They do get special treatment from the farm "owners", but they bide their time, in getting that special treatment. They never rush, and never try to get in the way of the other horses looking for the "best feed". The other horses in turn, do not consider them a threat to their survival.

The one never puts the other in harms way, while the elder "preens/grooms" the younger.

Quote:

Like the owners of these two horses, God does not throw us away
just because we are not perfect or because we have problems
or challenges.

He watches over us and even brings others
into our lives to help us when we are in need.

Sometimes we are the blind horse being guided by God
and those whom he places in our lives.
Other times we are the guide horse, helping others see God.

This is the truth. The Farm is Stigelers Farm, and I have watched this "dance" for almost a year.

v/r

Q

Quahom1 · 08-18-2005, 03:16 AM

Exactly 2.34 miles from my home is a horse "farm". It is a place where city slickers and country folk with no extra room bring their horses to board. It is also where I keep my horses...

There are four distinct "paddocks" for horses. One for Mares, and a diet paddock for mares, one for studs/stallions/young bucks (that's what I call them), and one for the "fat-farm" male candidates.

Cutting down trees and scrub with the "Stiglers Farm" son in law, I noticed two "mares" almost in a dance. So I asked about it.

"See the one? She is blind. See the other? She is now her eyes."

Sure enough, the younger mare whickers, and the older mare responds back, then follows the sound of the first mare. To the trough, to the Timothy (good feed hay), to the barn, and to the field.

The two stand for hours hind end to hind end parrallel, with tails slapping at the other's various body areas, swooshing away the flys.

When apart, the younger mare "whickers" gently, quietly and constantly, just so the older mare keeps her bearings, and does not panic.

The older mare knows exactly how to time a tail slap, in order to keep the flies at bay, over both of them. (something the younger mare hasn't quite figured out yet).

The younger mare leads the elder to the rich Timothy left "especially" for them (after all the other horses are fed), and the elder mare feeds for a moment, then backs off. Then the younger mare literally prods the elder into feeding again. It's almost like a "you first, no you first, no you FIRSt", kind of game. All this time there is a quiet language of "whickering" going on.

These are friends. The young mare is fiercely protective of the other. The old mare almost laughs when we come into the field. The young one gets use to us after a minute or two (every time)

They constantly "talk" to eachother, quietly, and low. But should another encroach upon the elder mare in animosty...all hell breaks loose! The younger mare has no issue rearing and stomping, regardles of who it is.

They do get special treatment from the farm "owners", but they bide their time, in getting that special treatment. They never rush, and never try to get in the way of the other horses looking for the "best feed". The other horses in turn, do not consider them a threat to their survival.

The one never puts the other in harms way, while the elder "preens/grooms" the younger.

Quote:

Like the owners of these two horses, God does not throw us away
just because we are not perfect or because we have problems
or challenges.

He watches over us and even brings others
into our lives to help us when we are in need.

Sometimes we are the blind horse being guided by God
and those whom he places in our lives.
Other times we are the guide horse, helping others see God.

This is the truth. The Farm is Stigelers Farm, and I have watched this "dance" for almost a year.

v/r

Q

InLove · 08-18-2005, 03:58 AM

Where may I apply? Sounds like Heaven.

lunamoth · 08-18-2005, 04:25 AM

Nice story, Q. A heart-warmer, thank you.

lunamoth

Quahom1 · 08-18-2005, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lunamoth

Nice story, Q. A heart-warmer, thank you.

lunamoth

Hmm, You're welcome. Got pictures, but I'm not sure how to post them here without doing the bandwidth overload thingy. It really is a sight. for sore eyes.

Give me a few, and I'll figure out how to present them.

BTW: wish we could do video uploads. Now that would show all as is!

v/r

Q

path_of_one · 08-18-2005, 07:55 PM

Lovely, Q. I've heard of this happening with other blind horses too. What an example for us humans, eh?

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine · 08-20-2005, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by path_of_one

Lovely, Q. I've heard of this happening with other blind horses too. What an example for us humans, eh?

I've heard/witnessed this phenomenon with my favorite species ( :kitty: ) where a "normal" :kitty: will pair up with a "blind" one. True, it doesn't always happen, but the same can be said about any species (especially, alas, homo sapiens sapiens.)

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine

smkolins · 08-21-2005, 02:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quahom1

...
"See the one? She is blind. See the other? She is now her eyes."
...

A couple other interesting animal behaviors I've seen over the last few years....

We live in countryside amongst farms of various kinds. Every now and then cows manage to get out of their fields - possibly a tree fall broke a fence, or the fence just gave in.... Most cows that escape tend to hang around others of the herd and they bunch up to stick together. But one day there was this single cow out away from any fenced field. It was playing. There is no other word for it. Around here hay bailes are round - and this cow was bumping it along and prancing after it.

It made us laugh!

One day of many visits to the area Zoo we managed to catch view of an elephant remarkbly close to the public view. As we drew close, quitely, tentatively, we noticed TWO were right close - it was the elder and younger females of the group. And right after we figured out who they were the elder female spotted us. She was in behind the younger one from out view and facing away. She moved away alittle, turned around, came back inbetween the bushes to the younger female, and bumpered her along away from us - and one bump didn't do - the younger female kept stopping and had to be bumped again and again....

:-)

InLove · 08-31-2005, 03:07 AM

This is so beautiful, Q--

I think it is a blessing for those of us who are young (if we can indeed see it) and a confirmation for those of us that grow "older". And the blessing goes round again, then...

Thanks for this post

(<---posted a smile, because, ummm, LOL, I do not have a heart

)

It is a narrow road, is it not? It may not be yellow or even brick, but it is eventually paved with gold.

InPeace,
InLove

smkolins · 09-01-2005, 02:30 AM

I'm confused - I thought this was posted not long ago and I even contributed to the thread....

yeah - here it is http://www.comparative-religion.com/...ead.php?t=3606

wassup?

InLove · 09-01-2005, 07:08 AM

Likewise, smkolins--

I did think it was strange that the "replies" column for this thread shows "zero".

Hmmm....

Anyway, thanks for the reference.

InPeace,
InLove

seattlegal · 09-01-2005, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smkolins

I'm confused - I thought this was posted not long ago and I even contributed to the thread....

yeah - here it is http://www.comparative-religion.com/...ead.php?t=3606

wassup?

I believe there might be a glitch with the board software, maybe. Another forum I belong to also has a problem with double posts, as well as some formatting problems.

Thomas · 09-01-2005, 01:48 PM

Wonderful story.

During WWII my mother's house was collapsed by a flying bomb. The walls remained, but the roof caved in and brought the floors down with it. The family had taken shelter in the garden (in a purpose-built shelter) but the family cat was not found in time. She'd been in the house.

The cat was buried under the rubble, quite mad and yowling like a banshee. My mother dug her out, and in the escape the mad animal tore up her arm, then started running round in a wild circle over the rubble, yowling all the time.

The family dog (an alsatian) trotted up, and stood for some bemused moments watching the cat make her wild gyrations. Then, as she passed by, a paw flashed out and caught the cat behind the ears, pinning her to the ground. She howled. She struggled.

He licked.

He held her down and licked her clean, 'for hours' it seemed to my mum at the time. He held her and licked her until she stopped howling, then licked her some more, until she recovered her senses, then he let her go, and then both toddled off to find something to eat.

Thomas

lunamoth · 09-01-2005, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InLove

Likewise, smkolins--

I did think it was strange that the "replies" column for this thread shows "zero".

Hmmm....

Anyway, thanks for the reference.

InPeace,
InLove

I noticed when Q put this one up that it was a double post. You all replied to the other copy. Should have pointed this out right away. Sorry.

lunamoth

seattlegal · 03-13-2008, 05:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lunamoth

I noticed when Q put this one up that it was a double post. You all replied to the other copy. Should have pointed this out right away. Sorry.

lunamoth

Deja-vu all over again.