Horsepower

Horsepower

I’ve never been a horse person, they are beautiful animals and I have always admired them but whenever I have tried to connect with one it has always been awkward, they seem nervous around me and I have always viewed them as skittish unpredictable creatures which is odd because I love animals, I had dog and a cat as a kid and I was always bringing stray and injured animals home - and it’s no different now, what with 2 dogs and 2 cats to contend with.

A couple of days ago while out walking on Wicken Fen with a friend and our two young sons, we came across a herd Konik ponies, introduced to the fen in 2001. More or less wild, they are aloud to roam free to graze on the fen. The signs you’ll find at the visitor centre and along the walks tell you not to disturb or interact with the ponies so we skirted around them but a few began to following us. After a while we stopped and the ponies caught up with us and I was astonished how attracted to me they were, they stood around sniffing me and rubbing their heads up against me – it was truly a wonderful experience. We eventually moved on leaving them behind us.

As we walked along the high bank of the Lode in the direction of the visitors centre we caught glimpses of the herd beyond the trees to our left then suddenly I heard the rumble of hooves and although I couldn’t see them I knew the ponies where heading towards us, my son was about 4 or 5 meters in front of me on the path below the bank and my friend and her son were to my right, I shouted to my son to stay still but he turned and ran towards me just as four or so of the ponies came tearing out of the undergrowth at full gallop towards us, we clung to each other as they flew up the bank dividing and passing either side all of us. In contrast to our earlier experience this was truly terrifying, and ever since I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.

Watching TV tonight I caught part of a program called Horsepower with Martin Clunes investigating mankind’s relationship with horses, it an interesting insight into horse behaviour. It gave me much food for thought and I don’t feel so anxious about the incident now, I know the ponies weren’t trying to harm us, they were just frisky – chasing each other, and it was just unfortunate that we were in their path.