A Life of Swoop

I watched the new horse frantically pace back and forth within the confines of his pen.  “You need to get him a buddy” I explained.  The people stared blankly at me.  I tried a different angle.  “He’s going to get a stomach ulcer with this much anxiety.  Horses are herd animals.  It is not natural for them to be alone.  They don’t feel safe.” “Nope, magnesium, chamomile or ace won’t fix him.”

We know horses are herd animals.  But I recently caught a glimpse that helped me understand more.  It came playing at liberty with a horse, when I suddenly got “swooped up” into the web that is a horse’s normal existence.  If you have never felt the bliss of it, it is hard to know what you are missing.  But a horse does.

The best I can describe it is like that yummy feeling of being swooped up in Gretna Green. 

For those of you who do not know about Gretna Green, it is a village on the Scottish border.  It became a haven for young lovers following the 1754 Marriage Act introduced in England And Wales.  Lovers under the age of 21 were forbidden to marry without parental permission.  So, young lovers began eloping to the Scotland border village, where it was much easier to marry.

The daring escape to Gretna Green is reenacted in a gymkhana game we played as kids. One person stands waiting.  The other person races on horseback rounding them at a full gallop.  The person waiting jumps on, getting “swooped up” with centrifugal force landing effortlessly on the horse’s back behind the other rider.  All 3 make the exciting dash to the finish line (border of Scotland).

I always loved being the jumper for the thrill of swoop.

Horses swoop each other along all the time.  It is how they exist.  In connected movement with one another.  The feeling of swoop never goes away in a herd.  Horses move as an interconnected web.  That builds and sustains itself energetically.  From a delicious feeling rooted strongly inside. Beyond what any individual could do. The herd web is a living breathing dynamic entity. Sweeping everyone within it along.

Being part of a horse herd is more than just pleasant company, as us humans might imagine.  Or someone reliable to watch out for a cougar while you take a nap.  Tracking the herd is a constant source of sustenance, like breathing or blood pumping.  For a horse it is primary to function as a herd.  It cannot go away.    

To lose the herd would be like … a drug addict in withdrawal … having an ounce of strength instead of 100+ synergistic engaged dynamic pieces … a world without dancing symphony, martial arts, and what we love the most all rolled up in one … replacing heaven with hell.

Hmm, to gain a herd would be the opposite.

For us humans who live a more separate life of existence, it is hard to imagine constant swoop.  Some of us are quite happy alone.  Happier yet eloping with a lover on a dashing steed. On rare occasions, we may feel a heightened love for everything and everyone around us. But it is not yet a life of constant swoop … that the growing thunder of herd is inviting us into.

Photo credit: Dr. Penny with her big lens catching a distant glimpse of very wild horses of South Dakota.