 |
Re: [RC] re: You should (was agressive kicker) - Truman PrevattI always get a chuckle with this discussion. Let me share a incident that happened to me many years ago. I was working in an agency of the US Government which will go unnamed. It was a limited access area with a fence around it. We had all sorts of physical security - supplied by US Marines. This was during the winding down of Vietnam and these guys were mostly coming back from a tour in Nam.I was working a time critical problem and was in one Sunday. I was down in the basement working on one of the large computers for the day. We heard what we thought was gunfire - it turned out it was gunfire. A Marine came to the door and told us inside to lock the dead bolt from the inside and do not come out until someone else comes and tells us it was safe. We heard what we thought was more gunfire - turns out it was. About a half an hour later, a Marine came back and told us all was clear. I went upstairs to leave and go home. In the walls of that particular hall there were bullet holes. Down a little further in the hall going toward the exit where my car was parked I saw blood on the floor. What happened? A young Marine guard - a 21 years old kid - had a flashback to Vietnam. He was at war. He was shooting at real and imagined people who were the enemy and trying to kill him. A crew of Marines had to find him and try to talk him down. But they ended up having to kill him. When I came in Monday morning - all was cleaned up. The walls were fixed. No one who wasn't there knew what had happened unless they were told. Those few of us that were in the building were given psychological counseling from one of the staff psychiatrist to help us better understand. I later got first hand a much better understanding about this phenomenon. This incident had a lasting and profound effect on me. No matter how well we think we can control other humans or animals, we cannot completely ever do that. No matter how good we think the veneer of socialization, civilization and training is - it is in reality very thin and fragile. Every person and every animal has his/her trigger. The civilization, socialization and training are nothing more than a thin veneer that covers thousands of years of evolution that has resulted in powerful instincts which will take over under the appropriate trigger. While we hope we can train that away - we can't fully ever train it away. We cannot in humans and we cannot in animals. The best we can do is manage it and recognize the triggers and do all we can to mitigate them. That's why we must always be alert to not only our horses but other horses around us. In that way we may be able to prevent something prior to a stimuli that sets off a trigger. Personally I refuse to be in an area where there is no way for me to get my horse out. Personally I don't trust anyone else's horse. Personally I expect if the wrong circumstances rise, my horse will react. Closed in crowed spaces and horses just don't go together. If I can't get myself and my horse out easily - I'm not going in without having a plan to get out. Or as you say "sometimes a human will be a human and sometimes a horse will be a horse - both acting out of powerful instincts." Truman Hoovinit@xxxxxxx wrote: I think some people forget, or don't understand, horses will be horses:) -- “It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong” Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|