Wersja polska: Rozmowa z Lynne Gerard
Lynne Gerard keeps a preserve for Sorraia horses on Manitoulin island. The preserve helps to save wild horse from Iberian Peninsula, known as Sorraia. For more information, visit her blog Journal of Ravenseyrie. In our conversation Lynne answers a few questions about her experiences and observations.

How do the horse-human interactions look like at Ravenseyrie?

Our interactions with the horses look like the way good friendships look…supportive, nurturing, empathetic – always with a desire for heightened understanding and greater mutuality.

Are your horses wild?

What seems like a simple question is actually quite involved to answer, mainly because there are two conceptions one can hold regarding wild horses. Our Sorraia and Sorraia Mustang horses are considered to be surviving offspring of the indigenous wild horse of southern Iberia.  Their genetic and phenotypic make-up is that of a naturally occurring fauna and not that of a man-made breed.  They are a wild horse type (Equus ferus) as opposed to a domestic type (Equus caballus).  Likewise they differ from those domestic horses that escape captivity, become feral and sustain themselves in the wild without the intervention of humans…feral horses typically are of mixed ancestry with much genetic and phenotypic variation.  So our horses are wild in the sense of their biology and would continue to be, for the most part, even if they were kept in modern stables (as is the case with many Sorraia horses in Portugal).

What people can learn from horses, and how?

My experience is that horses are exquisitely sensitive in a multi-layered way and utilize a much more holistic form of intelligence in their lives than we humans do.  Humans have exchanged holistic intelligence (which could be described as cognition gained from the combination of all our senses) and operate primarily from the linear mind using a combination of reductionistic analytical reasoning that compartmentalizes and mechanizes an otherwise united, sentient and flowing universe.  By simply observing horses* (or any element of nature) for a long period of time, we come to appreciate their exquisite means of perceiving the world around them and are lead back to the realization that we yet possess this holistic intelligence ourselves and would benefit greatly by relearning to operate from such a heightened perception.

*I should mention here that horses kept in unnatural settings often suffer from atrophied intelligence and develop abnormal responses to the world around them.  To fully appreciate horses is to observe them interacting among their own kind in a wilderness setting.

What is important for horses to learn?

I feel it is important for horses to learn that they are equal beings, not lower than humans or higher than other life forms – a recognition they are likely born with, but which is suppressed by typical human intervention in the lives of horses.  This is how I approach them, with this type of egalitarianism whether young or old.    It is important for horses to learn social skills among themselves as horses and among us as humans.  It is important for them to learn to use their bodies and minds in optimum ways.

Recently I’ve read a statement, that “it’s obvious that horses should be accustomed to people, because their job is to serve people”. Is it a good point of view?

It is neither a good point of view or a bad one because it depends on what the people are like and what type of services they ask of the horses.  For myself I do not feel horses exist to serve people, so it is not a premise I begin with when developing a relationship with a horse.  For me it is more important that I become accustomed to horses–that I learn their ways and fit myself into their world–and as we grow in our relationship all that we come to do together is mutually agreed upon.

Do you know methods of training horses, and the goals of these methods?

Of course.  My primary training was in the world of dressage, first with a desire for competition and later as a classical art form.  The goals of these methods are to bring a horse into a capacity for collection under the complete obedience of the rider and they make use of restrictive, coercive and punitive means to achieve the horse’s submission.  No matter how skilled and kind a trainer is, to train in this way imposes things on the horse and does not encourage learning via concepts of shared leadership–the horse is not allowed any initiative and must always be the submissive member of the horse/human partnership.

Have you used any of them, and how did you feel about it?

Yes, I definitely trained in the manner of the classicists and bit by bit began to migrate toward a different way of being with horses because I took no joy in riding through resistance or fighting and arguing with my horses until they yielded to me.  Some horses “go along” with what humans impose on them and others are mentally insulted by such things, all the more so if irritation or pain is involved.  It was my horse, Mistral who prompted me to find a different way to develop our relationship and training, because of his inability to “go along” with things that didn’t feel right or have good meaning for him.  Mistral would fight ardently rather than yield willingly.  The deep love and admiration I have for this horse made me realize that training in the traditional manner was an affront to his being-ness and made for a very perverted friendship–so I had to learn how to relate to him in a better way, as a true friend and not as a dominant being subjecting one of lower rank.

Do you think that horses have imagination?

I feel that horses, like humans, like all elements of creation are players in the mundus imaginalis, a field of consciousness with unlimited imagination and from which realities are birthed into being via creative expression.  So, yes!  Horses have imagination!

How do they perceive the world?

It is presumptuous of me to think I know how horses perceive the world…at best, watching them live their lives in a natural setting I gain clues into what stimulates them and prompts their many fascinating behavior responses to the world around them.  As such, it seems to me that horses have tremendous (maybe even transcendent) awareness of themselves, the world around them and where they fit into this world.  Often when I am with the horses I feel a shift in my normal way of perceiving and experiencing time…in those moments I feel I perceive as they might perceive–that within the breeze that lifts their manes as they graze among wildflowers (completely aware yet also dreamy-eyed, and drugged) an entire, fulfilling world is experienced.  I don’t think horses want as much from life as humans seem to…I suppose what I mean to say is that they do not need to build great edifices to enhance their lives, rather, like zen masters, they feel the perfectness of the moment.  Perhaps it is something I feel from them because the horses at Ravenseyrie are able to explore the fullness of their equine nature here, whereas a horse locked in solitary confinement in a dark stall cannot.

Do your horses have some specific individual abilities, and what are they?

Since setting up our Sorraia Mustang Preserve, I have found myself, at least for now, taking up the role of “observer” and “supporter” rather than trainer (although each time we interact with horses training takes place whether we are aware of it or not, so it behooves us to take great care with our interactions with horses!)  As an observer, then, I can relay that within the domestic group as well as the primitive group, I’ve noted special aptitudes displayed by each individual.  For the sake of brevity (for there are presently 16 equine individuals here at Ravenseyrie) I’ll quickly list some of the skills, abilities, predilections, etc. which I see regularly.  We have a master of the croupade, a steadfast sentinel, a reliable partner for rough & tumble games, multiple adepts at natural collection and all of them in possession of an exquisite capacity to understand me on a “heart to heart” level, where much of our “training” now takes place.

Are horses more independent in the wild, than other domestic animals?

It would sure seem so, judging by how readily escaped domestic horses have adapted to life in the wilderness (like the feral mustangs in North America.)

Which animals need more contact with people?

Animals may or may not need contact with people…but it sure seems people need contact with animals, doesn’t it?  For those animals that we have taken out of their natural environments and prevented them from their normal means of fulfilling their “life purpose”–these animals surely need a lot of empathetic devotion, intellectually stimulating interactions and loving physical contact from people.

What should people do to get the most out of their encounters with animals?

Always approach the animals with the heart of a loving servant with the desire to assist in their self-actualization.

Will horses be endengered as species, if they don’t serve people anymore?

This is certainly a possibility, just as when people evolve in ways where they no longer eat the flesh of cattle, then the number of bovines in the world would likely decrease drastically.  On the other hand, if we evolve as humans, no longer eating animal flesh and no longer making slaves of animals to serve us, it is also probable that we will have room in our hearts and lives for animals as companions, as well giving back a lot of the landscape to them to fulfill their lives independently of us.

Lynne Gerard
Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve
Manitoulin Island
Ontario, Canada

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