One day we will learn that there is a genetic component to the intense psycological draw that some people have to horses. Deer avoid consuming poisonous plants, not because they were taught to do so by their mothers, not because they reasoned the matter out to a successful conclusion, but simply because those that, for whatever genetic quirk, were not drawn to the taste of the poinsonous plants livd longer and produced more little ones to spread that genetic quirk. Those who did not have that genetic quirk happily dined on poisonous plants until they were greatly reduced in the gene pool.
The phenomenon of a person being "horse crazy from the moment I saw my first horse" can be similiarly explained. No animal has improved the lot of humans throughout history as much as the horse. Those who were drawn to horses instantly had access to more game to hunt, could relocate easier in a drought, could leave areas of pestilence, could conquer and pillage their non-horsed enemies and would raise a disproportionate number of healthy off spring. This would cause the genetic draw to horses to explode from being a relatively small mutation to something that becomes very widespread.
Civilization reduced significantly the genetic advantage that the horse lovers had over the horse fearers. Horse fearers in agrarian societies could now leave large numbers of offspring. The horse lovers were not erased by the horse fearers, but their numbers were greatly diluted.
This theory might seem absurd but I have no better explanation of why some people find more peace in a hot, dusty horse lot than they find anywhere else, or why some people can communicate more effectively with horses than with people, or why some people only feel that they are walking on firm ground when they are sitting on a horse.
Of course, it matters whether a child is socialized into riding. No debate on that. But the inexpicable draw that some people instantly have to horses may very well lie in our dna.
No guess whatsoever as to why Lydia loves Amos, my huge boar hog, so much.
History repeats itself. Wait. There is only so much oil, and quite a number of folks who are simply unable to learn from those who went before. If we don't wipe ourselves out completely, the day of the horse will rise again. It is already starting..Observe the rise in the number of publications about using draft animals in small scale natural agriculture, and the sharp increase in the intrest in natural horsemanship, and natural hoof care, and the slight decline interest in high dollar horse barns. In Re: Horse Barns, If you don't build it, they will come.
ReplyDeleteOn a similar vein, there is a facebook group of which I am a member, All Things Oxen..a sharp recurrence in the use of oxen has occurred over the last few years. See also, Tillers International. -Lloyd
Once in the ensuing years since this was written, I was referred to by a friend, as the only horse crazy teen girl with a beard she had ever met.
ReplyDeleteShe was joking...but I was immensely flattered by that.
-Lloyd