Animals don't know deceit, vindictiveness or manipulation. Please validate the behaviour of your animal friends - we may not know how it serves them but we can be sure it serves our relationship to be generous in the stories we create about why they make the choices they make.
I had spoken to this gorgeous grey gelding from Germany once before and his ethereal presence was paradoxically delicate and robust - he knew about timeless things, yet drew attention to minute details. His person wishes to remain anonymous so I won't be referring to him by name.
He recently underwent a lot of change - housing, herd members and health. Sometimes I connect once and all that needs to be shared flows onto the page. Other times I connect repeatedly and a sense of completeness still eludes. This horse shared over 2 weeks and he wanted events interpreted for his person.
One of these events was an extended period of fence walking, eyes unfocused, unable to be interrupted, whilst surrounded by the herd. I asked him how this served him and his instant reply was 'rhythm'. I got the sensation of self-soothing through rhythmical movement. I knew at the time he wasn't in an overtly stressful situation, so I asked why he felt the need to do this and he said 'I get stuck'.
When I shared this with his person she confirmed he has done this a number of times and that if you interrupt the behaviour, he will go back to it when he is able. It seems he is compelled to satisfy an internal cycle of trauma release in a trance like state. He hasn't had an easy life and narrowly escaped the slaughterhouse in his early years, so it's not a stretch to imagine he wasn't able to express flight patterns when he felt the need to. 