"They shoot horses, don't they?"
All three horses are watching something. Like they agreed on where they were going to keep their eye on.
"They shoot horses, don't they?" is the title of a movie from 1969 directed by Sidney Pollack, based on a Novel written by Horace McCoy in 1935. It's about a dance marathon during the Great Depression and about humiliation and cynisism. Always when I meet horses this title floats through my mind. I think the plot is so up to date nowadays.
I have been meeting a herd of horses every now and then the past weeks. It's a gang of seven with a strict hierarchy. They are all quite young I think, and their job is to carry horsemen on their backs when they collect the cattle on the vast meadows north of Lisbon in Portugal. There is no dancing and no shooting. These horses confront me with the opposite of that movie title that comes to my mind so often. The horses come and greet me every time I appaer and they pose still and peacefull. They stay as long as I am with them, sometimes for more than 3 hours. And I do not bring them carrots or apples or anything they might appreciate. I always forget ...
Approaching to say hello, the leader in front, the others on a respectable distance. Is it horse-sense?
Horses in general do not like me very much. Probably because I do not have the right attitude of admiration and respect. That is the reason that I am carefull around horses. On the other hand I lack fear for horses as well and that makes the horses watching me with mixed feelings and I think it confuses them.
Anyhow, We have learned to trust one another on a proper distance and we developped a way of dealing with each other that makes it possible to be in the same place; their place. The leader of the gang has to mark her dominance and bites me every now and then. I react so the other horses can notice that she has everything under control.
That gives me possibilities to sit down and take photos from a lower angle of view without being scared that I get kicked. Let's face it... that would be peanuts for a horse. But I reckon it is the mutual understanding that, instead of being violent, they choose to pose for hours without getting anything in return.
The Gang
In the clouds.
I wonder what she is thinking about.
Two horses keep more distance. They seek cover behind the backs of the leader and her companion (to the left on this photo). But they are always in each other's company.
Funny, but not very flattering. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.