Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for December 24, 2014

Actually, horses don’t just ‘mind their own business’ in a herd. There’s a lot of communication that puts each horse in its place, so to speak; nipping, nudging and finally brief fighting if one stallion is challenging the lead stallion to try to take over. The dominant male may even drive off one of the younger stallions who is challenging him. -But I guess this particular arc is just about how humans misuse their brains to twist technology into weaponry, and not about the fact that all nature has hierarchies…

They’d give us the horse laugh.

The horses had better hope that mankind IS good enough to not use the ultimate weapon in nuclear bombs. Or there will not be any men or horses left to laugh at each other, ever again!!

probably goes something like – danger danger, oh was just a paper bag, sorry about that – danger danger …

Unfortunately it’s about 60 years too late for that. Pandora’s box is open and all the world’s but jobs are scrambling to get their fingers on the treasure.

Also holding a horse by his tail puts you in a much more precarious position than the horse is in!

Unlike some people, Lucy knows when she’s won…..

“A horse is a horseOf Course, of course.And no one can talk to a horse, of course.Unless, of course, the horse, of course,Is the famous…..”

(I forget)

The herd hierarchy isn’t just about the males. The mares have status as well, and they have status over some of the males as well. It can be incredibly painful if you put yourself in the wrong place, wrong time, as I have.

While I would not argue that humanity’s humanity is sorely lacking (moreover, I hope we learn), there is a strong argument that horses were very nearly in danger of no longer existing before humans found them useful. The sole remaining species are the remnants of the last, and declining, branch. And not to just gloss over the issue that had they gone extinct, that would likely be of our doing, as well.

Actually, the herd has an alpha mare, who runs the show… the stallion typically has to stay at the periphery. He fights off intruders and predators and has a pretty tough life. The alpha mare is the horse the herd listens to about which way to go, when to run, etc. Stallion is there to make babies and keep everyone safe.

Merry Christmas Wiley.

They’d say, “get to your nearest Studebaker dealer and check out the new Larks.”

Now let’s see, about horse sense, what? So we illl wait, more coming.

@FlyerTomA horse is a horse, of course, of course,And no one can talk to a horse of courseThat is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mister Ed.Go right to the source and ask the horseHe’ll give you the answer that you’ll endorse.He’s always on a steady course.Talk to Mister Ed!

Horse or rock? One makes messes, one doesn’t.

Snort!

QuiteDragon: There are quite a few species in the genus Equus still around, even wild species of E caballus (Przewalski sub-species) plus the feral mustang and bromley, not to mention E assinus, at least four extant zebras, tarpan, etc.

I highly recommend Kurt Vonnegut’s book, Galapagos……It chronicles the evolution of humans into sea mammals a million years from now……….

Those who consider themselves to be ‘horse whisperers’ would tell you that horses do communicate with us.-And those who spend a lot of time with horses learn to read their signals. Ears back is a warning sign, for example.