Herd Dynamics: Integration Behaviour The photo sequence shows how Totti (the piebald) mare has taken Marie and Cybele into the lane, while Mojo (the skewbald) gelding keeps Dex with him. Then Totti and Mojo seem to be conferring, and in the third photo the three new members are allowed to come back together again. Various members of the big herd have been separating out the new members in this way over the last few days. We have seen this behaviour every time more than one new horse enters the herd. It seems like the herd members recognise that the new ones look to each other for support instead of relying on the herd, so they separate them, and keep them apart. It is never for very long, often only minutes at a time, but it seems to change the energy of the relationships. The day before, Djinnie and Quaramba used the fact that these three new members wanted to go to the water to drink to exert the power of the herd on them. They separated them, and pushed them on past the water, and right round the lanes on the far side. They were leaping bushes and threading through the trees to keep the new ones away from the water, and each other. Maybe they waited for a sign - some kind of shift or change - but after about fifteen minutes Djinnie and Quaramba drifted away and let Marie, Cybele and Dex go back and find water together. Sometimes the separation lasts longer out of choice. For example when Djinnie was keeping Marie on her own another time, Marie chose to stay with her after the initial excitement of losing Dex, and they groomed and played together like old friends. The horses seem to sense wherever there is an unhealthy attachment which isolates individuals from the herd as a whole, and they seek to balance it out. There is a lot to learn from their patience. They know such things cant be fixed instantly. They also know that a little shift in energy will make big changes over time.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 21:19:18 +0000
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