That Horse Has Extra Legs!

As I approached the wild mustang to feed her, I realized something was wrong. Through the early morning mist, I could see tiny legs poking out from under her belly… she’d had a colt during the night, and we didn’t even know she was pregnant! The change in the mother’s behavior since giving birth has been dramatic.

When we got her from the BLM a few months ago, they told us she might be pregnant since she was running with a stallion when they had captured her off the range in the fall. Because she was too wild, a vet couldn’t check her, so there was no way to know. Before giving birth, this mustang was completely crazy, startling at any movement and running wildly away when anyone even approached her. Now she is amazingly calm, allowing us to touch her - almost. My son has started training both together, and the mother is making remarkable progress. Notice in the video how she doesn’t run too fast so her colt can stay with her.

What accounts for this dramatic behavior change? I would have thought having a foal might have made her even more wild and protective. My theory is that having the colt made her more outward-focused. Before, she saw everything through the lens of self-preservation. Now that she has someone to care for, it has changed her perception of reality. Not everything is about her.

One of my favorite books is Leadership and Self Deception, a fable about the journey of a young manager leaving “the box” of self-centeredness and entering the world of noticing and caring about others. As leaders, we can become very task-focused and self-focused, which can breed a fear of failure. However, a whole new world of calm can open to us when, like this new mother mare, we focus on someone other than ourselves.