The Iron Horse

Horses by Wendell Berry

"I learned the other tongue
by which men spoke to beasts
-all its terms and tones.
And by the time I learned,
new ways had changed the time.
The tractors came. The horses
stood in the fields, keepsakes,
grew old, and died.Or were sold
as dogmeat. Our minds received
the revolution of engines, our will
stretched toward the numb endurance
of metal. And that old speech
by which we magnified
our flesh in other flesh
fell dead in our mouths.
The songs of the world died
in our ears as we went within
the uproar of the long syllable
of the motors. Our intent entered
the world as combustion."

Two of the three horses on the farm

Gus brought the first horse to the farm.  It was a long walk from the horse's home in Sunnybrae to the farm, over 24 hours.  The path to the farm at the time was even challenging to walk on and was slow

going with the horse.

I found through my years of riding, especially in the later years when I did dressage, that the union between horse and rider was riveting.  There is a merging between horse and rider as they move together through their tasks. 

Gus with one of the farm horses.

With the arrival of the machines on Ferme Fleur de Lys the horses were sold except for one that died on the farm.  The "uproar of the long syllable of the motor" is such a different sensation from breathing in the softness of a horse.  I would find just standing amongst my horses to be deeply calming.  

However, in the machines' defense, they moved through the work on the farm at a much faster and steadier pace.  As my father noted he could clear land so fast that he ceased to give thought on how to use the wood.  The machines that Eddy used a lot did develop a character of their own and an affection of sorts would grow between worker and machine.