Heat, Horses, and Other Musings
It's hot as hell today - as it was yesterday. The farm stand went well and after we hung out in the bar, eating pizza, goat cheese, and a salad I made from the left-over double-head of lettuce we forgot to sell. It was a delicious salad: fresh red lettuce, goat cheese, cashews, and French dressing. I love the bar because I can treat it like my house. Where the hell else would I just go in the back and make a giant salad for five people to share? Later, we all (Jodi, Joe, Aaron, Sol, me, and later Andrew) at our place. It was fun.
Still, it was hot.
Today we had a bunch of students from SMU (Southern Methodist University) come to visit and work on the farm. There were eight people in all, and, unlike last year, all the girls were nice and wore appropriate make-up. (Last year's smokey eye look seemed far more appropriate for clubbing than for shoveling shit, but that's just my opinion.) This year's group was good but, really, really innocent. SMU is so strange.
My Random Thought for the Day: This occurred to me the other say whilst driving with Andrew. I said something about Cody being born in the Year of the Horse* and how, not only does it fit him, but he works like one. Andrew looked out the window at all the horses grazing in fields and pointed out that, in his lifetime, he's really never encountered a horse who worked. Everyone has "hobby horses" or just horses that hang out in fields and do nothing.
And then it hit me: The socio-cultural and psychological experience of horses has somewhat paralleled ours in the past 150 years.
Seriously, think about it: One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, most Americans and even Western Europeans would be born into lives of work, hardship, and drudgery. Hours were long, work was difficult, and then there was nothing to look forward to in old age but poverty and possible starvation. The same was true of horses. Most horses were were worked hard (on farms, as transportation, etc.) until they died of injury, old-age (which usually meant the slaughter-house or glue factory), or exhaustion. But now? Rather that face lives of physical pain and exhaustion we face more existential matters like boredom, alienation, loneliness, and fear. And horses are much the same way. Not all horses, mind you, but many that I see every day are just chilling alone (or with one other companions) in their pastures and seem bored, lonely, and sometimes kind of psycho. Sure, they can run about, but they're fenced in so they can't run far. Half horse-owners I know don't even ride their horses or give them any stimulation at all. Hell, some of these poor things haven't been ridden or paid attention to in years. They just stand there eating grass by themselves. What a horrid existence! Granted, on some level it is far better than pain and physical suffering, but I think that our culture suffers in much the same way.
* Exciting and extroverted, vivid and animated, the Horse is the life of any party he attends. He is bursting with energy, always looking for the next place to kick up his heels and hang loose. He entertains friends and strangers alike with his humor and appeal.
Still, it was hot.
Today we had a bunch of students from SMU (Southern Methodist University) come to visit and work on the farm. There were eight people in all, and, unlike last year, all the girls were nice and wore appropriate make-up. (Last year's smokey eye look seemed far more appropriate for clubbing than for shoveling shit, but that's just my opinion.) This year's group was good but, really, really innocent. SMU is so strange.
My Random Thought for the Day: This occurred to me the other say whilst driving with Andrew. I said something about Cody being born in the Year of the Horse* and how, not only does it fit him, but he works like one. Andrew looked out the window at all the horses grazing in fields and pointed out that, in his lifetime, he's really never encountered a horse who worked. Everyone has "hobby horses" or just horses that hang out in fields and do nothing.
And then it hit me: The socio-cultural and psychological experience of horses has somewhat paralleled ours in the past 150 years.
Seriously, think about it: One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, most Americans and even Western Europeans would be born into lives of work, hardship, and drudgery. Hours were long, work was difficult, and then there was nothing to look forward to in old age but poverty and possible starvation. The same was true of horses. Most horses were were worked hard (on farms, as transportation, etc.) until they died of injury, old-age (which usually meant the slaughter-house or glue factory), or exhaustion. But now? Rather that face lives of physical pain and exhaustion we face more existential matters like boredom, alienation, loneliness, and fear. And horses are much the same way. Not all horses, mind you, but many that I see every day are just chilling alone (or with one other companions) in their pastures and seem bored, lonely, and sometimes kind of psycho. Sure, they can run about, but they're fenced in so they can't run far. Half horse-owners I know don't even ride their horses or give them any stimulation at all. Hell, some of these poor things haven't been ridden or paid attention to in years. They just stand there eating grass by themselves. What a horrid existence! Granted, on some level it is far better than pain and physical suffering, but I think that our culture suffers in much the same way.
* Exciting and extroverted, vivid and animated, the Horse is the life of any party he attends. He is bursting with energy, always looking for the next place to kick up his heels and hang loose. He entertains friends and strangers alike with his humor and appeal.