Greetings from St. Vincent!
I have been busy developing our Climate Compliance Program but nevertheless here is a delayed “Friday” blog. I posted this video in an online Horse Group I am part of and the discussion is going and is very interesting.
I learnt so many lessons from my wild herd of horses; the roles in the herd, how the roles were changing, how the lead mare in this herd was operating…
Can you see what is happening in the video?
The reason I put the question rather than tell is that I think you might observe better and learn more from it. The situation is like this; It is a normal day, the herd has been separated in two groups for 2-3 weeks they are meeting at the moment of the filming.
This is a lesson I give at my clinics where I separate the herd, then put them together, and we observe and discuss the roles in the herd and why which horses is doing or not doing what they are doing.
The very first Sahaja 2015 Clinic Group is forming and I am very excited. It’s the first of this kind of clinic I will give. During the clinic, which starts 6th of December, we will spend time with the herd, walk the rainforest, ride, learn about herd dynamics, share lessons, study sustainable horse keeping and enjoy the amazing island of St. Vincent!
Much sunshine and RAIN!
Stina
Stay, Hike and Dive with us at
Richmond Vale Nature and Hiking Center
Yurumein Horse School (St. Vincent) 
What amazing video, love to see horses running so wild and free. It looked to me like Darling was trying to separate Jack from other mares all the time and then it looked like she was making sure all other mares were keeping up and staying together at all times. Couple of times I saw Darling was doing leading from behind and at the end Stina with her body language tried to calm horses down and lower hers and horses energy by kneeling down!!!
Hi Kristine!
That’s right! Darling has headed the herd with her, Jack and Spirit – and Elena has headed Gaia, Magic and Moonlight. Darling is telling Elena where her place is and that Jack should also know where his place is. But mainly it is Darling telling Elena that she needs to get in line now when the herd is together.
In the beginning I asked the horses to move where after I had to let the run off some steam. Then I would have a chance to “talk” to them.
Can’t wait to see you!
Kind regards Stina
Nice to capture this on video so that you can study more careful. Yeah, I also think that Darling is organizing the herd so that she and the other horses knows their position in case of danger. It seems like she wants to keep Jack a little bit for her self though. I hold my breath every tome the horses slip and fall ! But the grass seems pretty soft 🙂
Hi Jonna,
Yes you know Darling by now and how she can organize. The roles in a herd is changing, remember the lesson where Jack chased Darling and I went into “unite” them. This can happen when Jack is with Spirit for a while and Darling with the other girls.
Yeah – it’s amazing how they fall and just get up again. No problem with any bones…
Kind regards Stina
Hei! Å studere kommunikasjonen i en flokk med hester er virkelig spennende! Jeg klarer ikke å si noe bestemt om hva som skjer i denne videoen mens hestene løper rundt, men jeg har lest hva de andre her har observert og jeg tror Stina prøver å få Jack til å roe seg ned å begynne å gresse på slutten av filmen, og det samme med den andre hesten som kommer bort til henne etter Jack:)
Hi Marjam!
Yes I agree with you it is so fascinating to study what is happening in a horse herd – at the clinic we will look at this video and study it together. Then I will tell you about the different horses and their role in the herd and their pecking order system.
As the horses were in their own world and you can say out of human control, i would not be able to call them over before they had their time to run around and “organize” themselves.
Thanks for commenting and stay tuned for the next blog lesson!
Kind regards Stina