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| like a crowd of people... |
I'd gone over to see Frankie, to take him some carrots, but found these sheep there instead. As I walked slowly towards the gate, they all started to move away. When I got to the gate, they all stopped...then started hesitantly back towards me.
The two heavily pregnant sheep in the middle of the photo were alternating the lead. The one on the left would take a slow couple of steps forward and then stop. The one on the right, now half a metre behind, would then tentatively take a few steps, then stop...and so, en flock, they crept towards me.
I was hoping that they'd come all the way to me, if I just stood there and let them...but then the one on the front right of this group looked away to her left, then after a moment, turned that way. The one on her right immediately followed, and within a couple of seconds they were all skipping away across the field.
Curious creatures...
I suppose you have flock/herd/shoal species (which are always prey) at one end of the spectrum, and lone hunter species (always predators) at the other. Man is somewhere in the middle, I guess...we have some herding instincts, and some hunting instincts.
Politicians and marketing people know how to tap into the herding instinct, fully understanding the power of peer pressure...hence the term sheeple, meaning the unthinking masses, people behaving like sheep.
Perhaps most of us unwittingly choose one or other of these mindsets...or perhaps our pre-existing mindset determines whether or not we will be drawn along with the crowd. The current can be powerful, with a strong undertow...sometimes you have to pull really hard to get clear of the torrent of mainstream propaganda, and social and cultural conditioning - if that's the course you wish to pursue.
I'm not sure which road is better - maybe whichever path we choose is by definition the right road for us.
Personally, I do feel strongly the urge not to conform, not to go along with social convention.
This makes me relatively unsuccessful - by conventional measures. However, if you measure instead on some kind of subjective criteria such as, oh I don't know, how happy I am, or how happy my home is, or how much I enjoy life?
Well I think I'm doing reasonably well for myself thanks. ;-)
All that said, I'm a little concerned about Frankie.
When Jazz and I went down to the bottom of the field, he was standing up on the bank. He soon started to make his way over, but seemed very uncomfortable on his feet, as he slowly hobbled towards me.
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| do you remember me? |
He seemed interested in carrots, and appeared to be clear eyed...but shifted his weight a lot, often holding one hoof or another off the ground.
I think Frankie has laminitis, which can be a very serious condition in horses. Tellingly, it can be brought on by eating lots of fresh new grass...
At the weekend, I will try to find out who owns him and whether he's seen a vet.
I'll keep you posted...
:-/
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