How can any of you be attracted to horses on anything other than a sexual level? (self.zoophilia)
submitted 2015-05-23 02:41:57 by [deleted]
Their entire social structure, even greetings, revolves around constantly trying to terrorize eachother into submission in an effort to become a higher rank in the herd. It sounds like a version of hell. I don't understand how anyone can love them, they sound absolutely awful.
I assume if you spent time with one, you'd understand there is more to it than just that.
Funny enough, I have this study that says everything you just said is result of confirmation bias.
If you don't post it then I don't believe you...unless it's one of those "you need to make an account here to see the studies we have" situations. I hate that.
No, I forgot where it was.
Well if you happen to come across it again then I'd like to read it.
I was once told that the handshake is a method to establish the dominant party. The goal is to display your strength, assert yourself, and test the strength of the other person.
It has also been written that the simple act of sitting often becomes a power display as each male attempts to take up as much space as possible and display his genitalia to any potential rivals.
These are things believed by real human psychologists. If you think this sounds ridiculous, that is exactly how people sound when they claim every move by a dog or horse is an attempt to dominate and control.
The 'dominance' model is ridiculously simplistic, anthropomorphic, and hideously mutilated beyond belief.
Maybe it's ridiculous when people say dogs are like that, but I've seen AND read that horses attack eachother upon greeting one another.
Hm... citation needed.
I'm extremely skeptical of that claim for a few reasons. It would put the animal at risk of injury and death for a social herd animal to attack its own species in greeting. It also would make these animals extremely difficult to domesticate and nearly worthless as work animals if greeting caused fights. Aside from that, I figure this would be something that would be brought up everywhere that discusses horse behavior, but it simply isn't.
Individual horses can have psychological, behavioral, and/or neurological problems that can appear as aggression. A poorly socialized animal might not understand appropriate interaction with others. Trauma, confusion, and hormones can cause aggressive behavior. Humans also can cause aggression by keeping animals in too small a space creating competition for food, water, and personal space.
Oddly, I have seen dogs do that, but not horses. Either way, yeah, that's what you think and it is simply not true. Fer instance, horses often sleep together, the act of mutual grooming, guarding each other, and so on. It sounds more ridiculous to me to hear you say this about horses and say that it doesn't happen among dogs when dogs kill each other and I've never heard of a horse doing so.
I honestly do not expect you've ever been in a pack of dogs.
I don't really like dogs either. I seriously meant "maybe" as in "yeah, maybe, I don't really know".
I disagree with what you are saying. Horses often do mutual grooming. Horses often have a buddy that they stick with. I have seen a horse stick with a blind horse helping her. I like when a horse walks up to me in a paddock wanting me to groom her.
Horse lover here.
Some horses are cranky, bitter, spiteful creatures. The vast majority that I've interacted with are not. My girlfriend (If you'll indulge me in calling a horse a girlfriend) is part that vast majority.
If you're looking for pessimism, it's all you'll see. I don't think you deserve the harsh reaction you've received here, but I'm going to paraphrase /u/Rannoch2002; if you can, I think you should spend some time around horses. You might find that they're not as bad as you think.
I'm scared of them. I once had the chance to interact with one, but I got scared and backed away from the fence when it approached me. I felt like I couldn't tell whether or not its ears were pointed backwards.
Being able to interpret body language is central to being a zoophile. It's how our partners communicate with us, and in many ways it's how we communicate back. Relationships are built on communication, and since our communication is body language, most zoos are quite particular about understanding it.
It's not your fault that you're afraid of horses, or that you couldn't understand what type of message one was giving off. But it's worth noting that many of us are quite comfortable around horses, and those of us who have spent a fair amount of time around them can typically get a feel for what they're saying.
Based on some of the things you've said in this thread, it sounds like your misgivings towards horse lovers are coming mostly from personal fears. There's nothing wrong with being afraid of horses. I'm not fond of deep sea creatures. But if others think anglerfish are fascinating, then I don't judge them for their interest in something that weirds me out.
If that is so, how does that differ from humans? Except humans additionally are able of cunning lies and deceiving, sabotage, being evil etc etc.
What a weird question.
that's not the norm, those humans are defective and hated. Human's social lives don't revolve around constantly terrorizing eachother. Humans who are perpetually aggressive and threatening are considered assholes.
In a stable herd no horse is "constantly terrorized" either. Only new introductions need to be included into the rank structure. Horses are extremely good at watching and interpreting posture, behavior and rank. So the new guy picks someone about his rank (guesstimate), there's a little haggling over it between those, and depending on the outcome everyone in the herd figures 'ah, newbie belongs on rank 7 now'. There's no knock-out tournament with everyone. Any "aggression" then usually occurs for transgressions of rank structure which don't happen often in a stable herd. Everyone has their rank and lives by it, so everything is fine. You ate sneakily before a higher member, you get a nip in the butt. If I drive too fast on the highway all the time because speed limits are for suckers I will get a ticket. Same thing.
I like how direct horses are. They like you or don't and show it. They won't lie to you for years in order to get a stable meal-ticket. They won't short change you as much as a human can. They won't apply psychological Weapons of Mass Destruction as I have seen women do several times with friends of mine. They won't burn down your house. They won't sleep with your friend just to stick it to you etc etc.
Humans are on a whole different level. And I am quite sure you have either never seen horses over a sufficient span of time, or you have a phobia of them.
I'm really scared of them. I'm afraid that if I try to interact with them, I might accidentally do something wrong, and they might think "You just did something which I interperet as disrespecting/challenging/threatening me! I need to punish you for stepping out of line". Then they might bite or kick me and accidentally seriously injure me because they don't know humans are extremely fragile compared to them.
horses are almost like big dogs...
I've heard that's a really bad misconception, and that if you think of them like dogs and treat them like dogs, you'll fail to get along with them. But you're with a horse, and you're saying that isn't true. Maybe your girlfriend is an exception, or you're lying, or the sources where I read that from were lying. Maybe things are completely different in a sexual/romantic relationship. The places where I'm getting my information and opinions from are dedicated to owning horses and not having them as sexual/romantic partners.
Also, since you're with a horse, I figured you'd know the answer to this; is it true they know how to make out and give blowjobs?
Who knows...
As someone who spends a lot of time around horses I can tell you this is absolutely ridiculous. Most horses are very friendly with each other and love socializing. Anyone who has spent 5 minutes around horses could tell you this. They are very loving and affectionate animals.