Story Notes: Marathon · 2:27am Jun 18th, 2018
Do you know how hard it is to find a picture of an earth pony stallion galloping? Nearly impossible.
Of course, I say that, and y'all will link me to hundreds.
This is story number 2 for the Rare Prompts group. The prompt was 'stallion on Earth.'
And I didn't have any ideas. I do have one currently unpublished story that's got a stallion on Earth, but it's currently over the maximum word count, and it's not even finished yet.
Sometimes I'll see a topic and know right away what I'm going to do; other times, I've got nothing. This was one of those times.
Plus, the prompt was posted during EFNW, so I had other stuff on my mind.
In fact, it wasn't until Heartshine published her blog about body language and non-verbal communication that I got an idea what I might do. It played into stuff I know, places I've been, and best of all, a little thing I've been wanting to put in a story for years but have never had the opportunity to. So let's dig in!
Besides Butterscotch and Francine, all the other characters were named using a list of common names from the 90s (because late 90s babies are the ones that are in college now [in fact, a large portion of this year's incoming Freshman class wouldn't have been born when I graduated, but that's neither here nor there]). Kid's names these days are weird. What happened to good old-fashioned names like Stephen and Thomas and Edith and Gretchen?
<gets off soapbox>
Francine is named for Francine Villeneuve, the famous Canadian jockey with over a thousand wins under her belt.
She seemed like the kind of person who would know a thing or two about horses.
Butterscotch is an OC.
There really are ink plants, although that's not actually what Butterscotch has. He's got a huckleberry plant instead.
As y'all would expect, there really is an Organismal Biology class at MSU, and of course the River Trail is real. I've ridden nearly all of it on my bike (I think the final section from Credo Park to MSU is the only part I haven't ridden completely, plus the fairly new southern extension into Holt [and I was going to ride that today but it was too darn hot]). It really does end near the fish ladder. These days, instead of fish ladders we've got salmon cannons. Such is the relentless pace of technology.
Putting bras over horses eyes is a real thing, too.
Supposedly, this can help a panicked horse, because now it can't see what it's afraid of. This can be useful in the case of a barn fire, let's say, or something else that the horse doesn't know how to deal with.
Why a bra? Well, they're about the right size, they come with straps already on them, and most of the time, they're easier to find than actual equine blindfolds.
"Marathon" is a somewhat grandiose title. The actual length of the trail from one end to the other is not more than 10 miles (assuming that you don't cover all the branching paths, as well). But it was a good title, and a simple title.
The total distance that Butterscotch galloped and trotted was between 7 and 8 miles. That's on the high end of possibility for an actual horse at a full gallop; they can't keep up a gallop for too long, but then can keep up a fast trot for quite a while. Given that he's an Earth Pony, I think that he could make it, but that's certainly in a grey area, at least with IRL equines.
Preemptively, I'm going to mention that one of the reasons that persistence hunting worked for our ancestors was because most animals can't sweat over most of their body to lose body heat easily. Fit humans could outdistance them, eventually.
Anybody who knows horses is well aware that horses can and do sweat. A lot. While I can't say with absolute certainty (all the research I've done on the subject has been inconclusive), I'd guess that a human probably couldn't persistence hunt a fit horse, but I'm not sure. One source suggests that a fit horse can travel with a rider 50-60 miles per day; Cliff Young averaged almost 100 miles per day in an ultramarathon. Certainly there would be easier things to chase, anyway.
Did you publish that story? I can't find it...
4884425
It just went live.
Is that why the cover picture is a Pagasus?
That Salmon cannon is kinda scary when you think about it.
That one is kinda controversial, studies showed that Human can't really do that. When I looked into it at some point, I found a few study report on both side. It was quite funn 'cause they were answering each other, so it was like watching a debate.
4884428
Yeah, it showed up on my feed after a minute or two.
I am not use to show up right when you publish your story, usually both the blog and the story are already there and all I have to do is sit back, read and enjoy.
4884440
Uh... not really. There is still a tribe in the Kalahari that uses persistence hunting.
There's a video by David Attenborough documenting a tribe doing a persistence hunt.
4884440
How the hay did I miss that?
Erm, I mean, no it's not. Anymore.
But awesome! John Oliver did a piece on it.
Yeah, I've kind of seen both sides of that debate, too. I just thought I'd mention it in the blog to let people know that I'd at least considered it when I came up with the pony outrunning the humans.
Chapter updates are nice, because they're instantaneous. New stories, it depends on the length of the queue. I actually published the story while I was still finishing the blog post, and put in close to the right amount of delay.
4884452
Ya know, Epona is basically the newer games' replacement for the pegasus boots... so in a way there's still a pegasus there. Metaphorically.
edit: or ya'll could be talking about the story and not the image I saw when clicking this blog, and I could just be a featherbrain. Again.
Oh yea, like dolphinarium trainer, dolphinarium director and dolphinarium vet know a thing or two about dolphins: how to exploit them, how to ignore them, how to lie to everyone and themselves about their true role .... sorry, but those optimistic assumptions doesn't sounds funny for me. Back to reading, but still ...will you forever assume those exploitative types of humans actually OK source to draw your 'knowledge' from?
A standard Earth pony, horse cant gallop for long, or have stamina etc, but whats to say, now that the wide range of hybrids for Griffons is now canon, that a wide range of cutie marks related to hauling, transport, delivery, etc are available.
The Train haulers must be top end because theyre doing the Big Three, Load, Speed, Distance, and I didnt see water pipes in place of reins though it would be intresting for that simple addition of lines for duration especially through a desert.
Maybe Troubleshoes is from that line of Ultimate Haulers, Atlas, Arienne, and the mythical One Big Pony and his twin brother, Mungo. Hail Ming.
Psst, Epona is a mare.
4884642
What's your problem mate.
4884725
Like I said, nearly impossible.
4884726
Also froth isn't quite the same thing as a human's sweating.
4884451
That's the funny thing, the camp "againts" persistence hunting basically said that the documentary is a phonny. Something about that tribe being actually unable to do succesful persistence hunting even using modern tech to help.
4884731
What tech? All we saw was shoes.
4884642
First: Get off that high horse you're riding. (hehe puns)
Second: Horses are literally domesticated animals. Their only purpose in life is to eat, drink, sleep, poo, pee, mate, serve Humans and then die.
Dolphins are wild animals. Furthermore, the intelligence gap between a dolphin and a horse is insane. It's like trying to claim a lobster and a Human are on the same level. They're not.
Don't get me wrong, horses can be clever, but they're nowhere near the level of dolphins.
Furthermore, in order to effectively exploit something, you need to know about it. So even if she was exploiting a horse (she's not since they're literally work animals), your point is moot since she undoubtedly knows more about horses then you do.
In order to train an animal, you have the be able to read them. So you're still wrong and I can guarantee you that even the most abusive dolphinarium trainer still knows about dolphins then you do.
They just elect to not care.
Possibly the only valid claim you have. Generally, administrative positions do not require as much in-depth knowledge as field positions do.
Now of course, however, their grasp on dolphin knowledge is still going to be better then the average layperson.
M8o? R u havn a fekin checkle?
A dolphinarium vet absolutely certainly knows more about dolphins then you do.
Listen, a sick or dying dolphin does not make a profit. It costs the dolphinarium money to get more dolphins for the dolphinarium if the dolphins they currently have die. They're not going to hire Joe Schmoe off the streets with no knowledge of dolphins to keep the thing making them money alive.
Back to horses and horse racing. Is it exploitative for the Amish and other sub-civilizations who choose to be low-tech to utilize horses to pull people, carts, sow fields, etc? Is it exploitative for people to use horses as transportation?
Working dogs! Is it exploitative for disabled people to utilize mobility dogs, or for someone who suffers from seizures to utilize a service dog? Blind people to use guide dogs? What about sled dogs?
Horses and dogs are domesticated animals. Their purpose is as beasts of burden. Racing is no different from everything else I just listed. It's a job for the horse.
No good jockey is going to ignore their horse. This is like claiming a pilot ignores their plane.
A jockey and horse's job is to win. They can't win if the horse is running slower due to an abscess in the mouth. A jockey is going to report any abnormalities in the horse to the owner, who will take it to the vet.
The level of care race horses receive is insane. Their owners want them in tip-top shape because they want to win the race. You can't win a race if a horse is in pain, or suffering from malaise.
What is there to lie about being a jockey?
"I'm the person who directs the horse during a race."
Maybe it's because you didn't apply a single ounce of logic to jockeys, horse racing and dolphinariums before writing down your inane comment.
I would literally take advice from Hitler (Godwin's Law: Activate!) about horses sooner then I would you.
Starlight_G, I think my problem with
4884747 (KaBar42's long reply to me)
is ... it NOT just internet trolling. Humans really think like this.
4884805
Refute a single point I made besides dodging it and equating it to trolling.
4884734
Water bottle, mainly. The core argument was that human need to stop for water a lot and could not really carry water efficiently till the middle age.
4884866
lol
Humans have been using the bladders of animals to carry water since forever. Not to mention there's other containers as well. Horns or plant shells such as a coconut.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that water can be carried in a hollow container.
4884854
ha, infamous "internet debate". Not like I can change anyone's thinking (real thinking, not just typed replies). My point was your post was typical example of real human thinking. I'm sad about this, but I can't fix this. My comment was angry, but Admiral Biscuit know how to use google and how to look up more underground/non-mainstream views. I can only add you can search for some equivalent of Nevzorov on your continent. They will provide additional point... Or use your thinking over some names/links I already posted in my (short) blog here. All those books and papers have holes in their reasoning, surely. But by now I know my side and apparently can't leave it (but again, just having some position in vacuum quite useless, position must be confirmed by some real-world life course, I did this for dolphins (and some dogs), may be I really must do the same for horses, but not with such catastrophic results ..)
4884458
So what you're saying is that she's a pegasus at heart? I like that.
Yeah, the original cover art (before I fixed it), the stallion was a pegasus--that was what Conflicting Views was actually referring to.
4884642
I mean, obviously there are people who exploit animals under their care, that's a given. I can't argue that there aren't. But that's not the kind of thing that I want to watch or learn from.
I can't say for sure what the animal things about being in captivity/domesticated, nor what it thinks about working to earn its keep, and I don't know if anyone can. Most animals in captivity or that are domesticated of course give up some part of themselves in exchange for generally better food and care and safety that they can get in the wild. Obviously, of course, the animal doesn't get to choose its life.
The first thing I thought about, reading the comment, was one of Barry Hook's videos, where he said "You know, you've got to know what you're doing and we owe it to these horses dear God in heaven they'd lay their life down for you, they'd work until they fell down on their knees, they'd do anything for you, they're beautiful, beautiful animals and all they want is a bit of kindness, a bit of time, a bit of love, and a bit of discipline. And this, to my mind, is a partnership."
Likewise, on another channel, Sandra documents her experience riding her horse around the Wexford coast. Their trip ended when the horse tripped, and Sandra made sure that the horse was okay and not badly injured . . . and later found out that she'd broken her own leg, but that was less important than that the horse was okay.
4884672
I'm sure that there are a wide variety of haulage cutie marks, livery cutie marks, etc. And I think there would have been for a long time (blog post on that topic coming soon). Likewise, there are probably lots of ponies that do that as a side job.
My own take on that is that that's an unusual thing: the train broke, so they're pulling it to the next town. We do see the same ponies pulling AJ's wagon in that one episode (Over a Barrel, IIRC). Trains of any sort are typically easier to pull than wagons (steel on steel is low friction), and the first railways were wagonways, where the carts or carriages were pulled on rails by horses.
That's possible. He could certainly get a job hauling stuff if he wanted to.
4884730
Equine perspiration serves the same purpose as human perspiration: to cool down. I'm sure that chemically they're not the same, but that's really irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Most animals can't full-body sweat, but horses and humans can.
4885015
excuses, excuses... humans generating self-excuses, and failing to be sharp on themselves. Like , 99.95% (99.99%? 100% in any given small enough field of interest?) of them, not those just "95%" as popular saying tells us .... so, guess /me finding some _another_ unexcuser in my life quite small ..
More in-tune with this site I think end of this story https://www.fimfiction.net/story/247031/the-mare-who-once-lived-on-the-moon - may hint you at what's wrong with us. You see, in story (dark alternative to Equestria we like..) thoughts of Celestia (and everyone down from her, indirectly) constantly rewritten in real-time by some kind of parasite being. After reading Anthony Weston's description of "self-validating reduction" I think humans IRL also have their thoughts sort-of "corrected" in wrong way, so they tolerate more and more of things they shouldn't tolerate at all, all quite smoothly (and without any specific parasite to remove, if you don't count re-examining and attempting to re-alter your "own" thinking itself ..)
4884872
Once again according to the studies (plural, yes) I've read, it would not have been enough for a true persistence hunting.
The other main argument was that tracking animal while keeping up a good pace is not possible. And in the case of ancient human, archeological evidence show they mostly populated aera that were forested at the time, thus making it even harder.
What they say would have been possible is to do opportunist hunting on injuried or sick prey that would've been easier to catch up to.
Persistence hunting is a fairytale some people use to make themselves feel better about not having been born furries, horses only exist to serve man, and dolphins are violent sea-rapists who belong on the canned meat aisle.
Come at me, bro.
4885530
How so?
Modern horse might predate modern man. They certainly haven't been serving us for more than ten thousand years.
theinfosphere.org/images/thumb/6/63/Dolphin_meat.png/225px-Dolphin_meat.png
4885868
That's mostly a jab at that one guy who almost always goes completely apeshit whenever someone implies that maybe prehistoric humans, with their comparatively massive, calorically expensive brains and their average at best physical stats, would have generally been disinclined to waste precious energy chasing down prey on foot when scavenging and ambush predation are both easier and more efficient means of staying fed. Okay, sure, in the vastness of human history I've no doubt that at least some peoples somewhere loved nothing more than to run down game by brute force, but the same could be said about almost any activity. That doesn't mean it's something to be proud of.
You misread that.
img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aV3YbV2_460swp.webp
Kidding aside, modern horses exist because we, humans in general, want them to exist. They were bred for specific purpose, and in absence of that purpose they're generally allowed to go extinct. The only real way to avoid that is to keep them in use in whatever ways we can. I'm not advocating abuse here, just pointing out that our favorite, modern breeds do not exist in nature and will cease to exist entirely without direct human interest.
4886036
Without cracking any books or looking at any studies, I can imagine places where that might have worked. Places where animals were reasonably easy to track, and pursuing animals that are a lot slower than average humans. Like, to use a really extreme example [really extreme], tracking alligators through snow. It's certainly more likely than directly running down many kinds of fit prey, cheetah style. But I have to figure that by the time our ancient ancestors had figure out how to make things like sharp sticks, other methods of hunting became more productive.
Oh, I see, you're going Mares of Diomedes style here.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/6/13/1177723__safe_artist-colon-made-dash-in-dash-donuts_rainbow+dash_escalator_eyes+closed_fetish_giant+pony_human_imminent+vore_it%27s+a+trap_kids_macro_o.jpeg
That's true. Horses can do well without us (I mean, assuming that we aren't hunting them), but naturally any breed distinctions that exist would disappear in reasonably short order as they adapt to their feral living situation.
4886579
That depends on what you mean by "well" and "without us". To me that implies that a species can survive on its own, without or in spite of human intervention. This in no way describes the horse. The only extant wild horse, the Dzungarian (which may not actually be wild after all), was technically extinct for a while, only being reintroduced to the wild from captive stock relatively recently. Of the rest there are only ferals that continue to survive because of protective legislation and purpose bred stock that literally exist to suit human whim. So yeah, horses could survive without us, but only if there was no more "us" to survive without. Which I think raises some interesting ethical questions regarding our moral obligations to the species we have domesticated to the point that their existence is almost completely tied to our own. Or not. Either way.
4886615
I think that it really depends on how you describe human intervention. You make good points, and I don't disagree with them. I was thinking more along the lines of either 'humans disappear completely somehow' or 'humans never interfere with horse roaming grounds in any shape, form, or fashion.' All the wild horses in the Americas are descended from domesticated horses, and I've heard that the only horses believed to be pre-domestic horse aren't really (but not an expert). As long as there's humans interfering with wild horses (and the same applies to all animals, of course), they're pretty much surviving at our pleasure.
In general, I think that the majority of domestic horses wouldn't do well in the wild if they were suddenly set free, but I also think that since they are capable of learning, some of them would adapt, and those horses would produce offspring that were better suited to a feral condition, and so forth. The 'wild' herds in the Americas are descendants of domestic horses that escaped, after all.
I mean, those are really questions about every animal that's been domesticated, and to an extent those that have not. Some animals have thrived as a result of humans; even when we're not actively trying to help. Lots of rodents have benefited from the easy food sources we provide as well as our removal of their natural predators, for example.
Persistence Hunting is most certainly a realistic tactic. When I was young and in cross country running shape, I ran down deer several times by simply not having to rest and being halfway decent at tracking. A panicked deer leaves a very easy trail. After a couple hours (and maybe five or six miles) the deer was too tired to run anymore and I could walk right up to it.
4985649
It’s not impossible, IMHO. Most animals have trouble getting rid of heat, since they can’t sweat like we humans do.
Equines are one of the few exceptions to this; like humans, they can full-body sweat. I’ve poked around the topic before and haven’t come up with any conclusive answer as to whether it would be possible to persistence hunt an actual equine, or if this was ever done.