--- In barefoothorses@yahoogroups.com, TheWVFarm@a... wrote in reply to a previous posting:
>>>Road rage is a manifestation of the powerlessness people feel in a society out of control. We are animals, and the longer we forget it, the more apocalyptic the manifestation of that repression....
Road rage, however frightening, is the least of our worries.
Way, way, way 'off topic'!
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REPLY:
Hmmmmm, let's turn this back onto "topic". Allow me to embark upon a wee dissertation on Human and Equine Psych and how it applies to our Horse Handling ...
Aggression is born from fear. We all know about a horse's fear. How many of us think about the panic and terror we feel when we're threatened and, at the same time, held captive, trapped? We want to M-O-V-E out of the danger! We want to take back 'control'. Horses are the same way only more so. Every cell in their bodies are woven with self preserving flight or fight instincts. They HAVE to move their feet when they feel any kind of situation that is threatening to them. How do horses take "control"?
***By moving their feet and by moving other horse's (human's) feet.***
How does this relate to trimming?
Think of the horses who are cross-tied, shanked, yanked, and held "captive" while having their most important defensive system (hooves, legs) held immobile? Imagine being tightly haltered and tied or shanked while an "angry", offensive predator is grabbing our legs, our feet (our means to get away) and shouting at us to "STAND STILL!" as we, more and more, feel panic rise to choke us? Rape comes to mind as I type this. Extreme? Possibly but sometimes extremely closed minds need an extreme jolt to their senses. Not that I apply that to anyone here but perhaps it will not only help to understand WHY a horse won't stand still and calmly lift its hooves, one by one, for humans but also help to understand human psyche one encounters a very negative, offensive human. Hopefully, too, this extreme written illustration will help remind us of the etiology behind the horse's behaviors as we struggle with a horse that does not stand still, wants to "move its feet" (ie. get away and/or take back control) and, sometimes, go to the next level of the survival instinct; fighting (striking, kicking, biting) It is by allowing the horse to move its
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