anthropomorphism and horses

Over and over again, I read and hear horse people saying, "I don't want to anthropomorphize, but..."  Or it's used as a cautionary statement, "You shouldn't anthropomorphize your horse."

What IS anthropomorphism anyway? And why shouldn't we do it?

One definition from dictionary.com defines anthropomorphism this way:

The attributing of human characteristics and purposes to inanimate objects, animals, plants, or other natural phenomena, or to God. To describe a rushing river as “angry” is to anthropomorphize it.

On some level I agree that we shouldn't make a habit of attributing human characteristics to anything other than humans. However, the case for not anthropomorphizing our horses has become a way to say they don't have human characteristics, therefore they don't think with logic. They don't feel emotion. They don't share affection. They can't truly bond.

My frustration with this mindset is that we assume all those characteristics are human in the first place! How presumptious!


Back in 1927, Pavlov wrote that animals should be viewed "without any need to resort to fantastic speculations as to the existence of any possible subjective states." 


That makes it really easy to subject them to both experiments and a kind of treatment in training and caretaking that we wouldn't dare apply to our children or other family members.  Yet this approach is all too common in horse training the world over.

That kind of training works, but at what cost? If we merely observe and seek to shape a behavior without also looking at underlying emotion, we discount an entire layer of a horse's state of being. 


Darwin wrote:


Even insects play together, as has been described by that excellent observer, P. Huber, who saw ants chasing and pretending to bite each other, like so many puppies.

Many of us who live with horses see on a daily basis the complex emotional responses they are capable of: playfulness, affection, annoyance, anger, loneliness, fear, compassion. The list goes on. 

Why then are we discouraged from saying: my horse loves me, or my horse misses his buddy, or my horse is afraid of the umbrella?


Probably so we can feel okay about selling the horse when he gets too old to ride, or too expensive to keep, or his buddy gets too old or too expensive, or so we can feel just fine about shoving the umbrella in the horse's face against his will in the name of de-spooking him, all the while considering that any movement away from us, self-appointed herd leader, is disobedience.


Do I sound frustrated? I am. I've been reading anecdotes of horse people saying I don't play with my horses, as if doing so might make them less 'professional.'


And that when helping a young horse learn about fly spray, you put him on a halter and lead line and never stop spraying until he stops moving, because god forbid you reward him for his fear.


To eschew anthropomorphism allows us to also eschew empathy, and to do things in the name of training we would never do if we had to consider the emotional impact of our methods.


Frans de Waal wrote:

To endow animals with human emotions has long been a scientific taboo. But if we do not, we risk missing something fundamental, about both animals and us.

So yes, the next time someone suggests I'm anthropomorphizing Keil Bay, or Rafer Johnson, YES, I will say, ABSOLUTELY.

Because every time I open my mind to the reality that these equines are thinking, being, loving, intentional creatures, I allow the beauty of real relationship to blossom and flower.

My life, and theirs, is richer for it.

equine ice lollies

The frozen yogurt I am enjoying today got me thinking, and I did some online searching. I've adapted a recipe I found which looks like it might be a nice, cool treat for the horses and donkeys on a hot summer day. I'll report when I try this out, or if anyone tries it first, let us know!

1 cup carrot juice
1/2 cup apple juice
carrot shreds
apple diced into small cubes


Mix the above and put in the container of choice. Ice cube trays, paper cups (you can peel them off for serving), or popsicle molds would all work. Slice a few carrots into uniform stick-like pieces (matching length to your containers) and use them for the popsicle sticks!

Freeze and serve.

beat the heat with some good books

Rainy days are good for reading, but so are these extremely hot, humid summer afternoons we're having. Here are a few books I've got lined up to get me through the blitz of mid-high 90 degree days we have coming up:

Tish Cohen's The Truth About Delilah Blue

Joshilyn Jackson's Backseat Saints

Jon Clinch's Kings of the Earth

Vanessa Woods' Bonobo Handshake

Lauren Baratz-Logsted's The Education of Bet

If I had more time, I'd download cover art and flap copy for you, but now that morning chores are done, my sweat has dried, and I've eaten lunch, it's off to pick up Moomintroll's homeopathic remedy from our vet, to the feed store to stock up on flaked oats, wheat bran, alfalfa pellets, and beet pulp shreds, and somewhere (if I'm lucky the feed store will have these items too) for a new spray nozzle for the hose and a new scrub brush for the water troughs.

If I'm really lucky Angelina will have whipped up some fabulous Greek frozen yogurt flavor for today and I can treat myself. (NOTE: yes! just checked the menu for today and this is the frozen yogurt flavor, made with local blackberries: orange blossom with crushed frozen blackberries!)

Go to the bookstore of your choice and check out the above books - although I have not yet read them, I am confident they will all be good reads.

summer solstice 2010: the honey moon

The longest day of the year is going to be a very hot one here, but even so, we celebrate the turning point, when the days begin to get a bit shorter and we move toward our favorite season, autumn!

The summer solstice is a wonderful day to go out and take conscious note of the bounty that exists for many of us during this time of year. Green grass, many flowers, abundant wildlife. And the vegetable gardens that are offering so much produce.

Pagans referred to the summer solstice as the "honey moon," and since we've just celebrated the apache moon here, it's nice to move into another special lunar time.

I invite you to share any rituals, readings, etc. that have to do with the summer solstice. I may add things throughout the day if I get a chance!

an apache moon night and the black mare's song

When the moon gets to the point that it looks like the moon on our painted pony's left flank, we say it's an Apache Moon... and we have one of those this evening. The moon is a bit over half full, and lying on its back, as Isak Dinesen wrote in her book Out of Africa:

If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?

November Hill's evening song today included pulling out spent squash plants to make room for new ones, being joined by two donkeys and a black mare who love to help weed, finding the toad prince in the barn aisle, and listening to Back Porch Music on NPR while the horses ate their dinner tubs.

The best part of tonight's song happened as my husband and I, along with Dickens E. Wickens, cowboy cat, walked the path from barn to back gate. My husband called out good night to the equines, and Salina whinnied in response: wait - something's not right.

So we turned and went back to the barn, realizing that Rafer Johnson had not been turned out with the herd. He was standing by the gate to the front field, and Salina was letting us know we needed to come let him out.

The black mare knows the song of being a mother, and we have learned to listen when she sings.