undulate, undulant fever, ungual, periungual, ungulate, John Wayne, Freddie Francis

undulate: [L. undula, small wave; diminutive of unda] to move in waves.  

   undulant fever the coming and going of fever

   an undine is a being inhabiting water

ungual [L. unguis nail, hoof]  pertaining to the  nail

     periungual: around the nail (a medical term)

ungulate:  [ungula, hoof; unguis, nail]  having hooves.  A horse is an ungulate.  

    

    On my daily late-night walk in the cold, I was thinking about these words,  hooves and horses, and my lack of connection to them.  And yet, a few thoughts arose as they always do on these silent, meditative walks:

     My Father-in-law, an Irish leprachaun filled with the joy of life, loved horses.  Since his childhood, he would frequently draw them; he delivered newspapers on a horse-drawn sled in the winter in Orange, NJ; he took care of  horses at a neighbor’s stable and had dreams of being a cowboy.  He would bring his family to rodeos, dressing them in boots and cowboy hats as he dreamt of cattle ranches in the far West…and he was an industrial realtor…in New Jersey.   

     One of my favorite films is The Shootist by John Wayne, and I am not even a John Wayne or Western afficianado …except for this exquisite film.  His horse  plays an important part in the movie and draws the viewer towards empathy for his character as he slowly rides into town in search of Doc Hosteder (Jimmy Stewart).  (footnote 1) 

    A very beautiful film is Horseboy, a story of a young boy diagnosed with autism.  His free-spirited parents notice that he starts to talk and relate when he is placed on a horse’s back.  They then set out for Mongolia to meet a Shaman among the wild horsed there in search of a cure.  The movie is a surprising portrait of the intimacy of these parents as they undergo rituals by the shaman.  Their son is a true product of their love for one another.  

Footnote 1: The opening shot in The Shootist is a one frame camera shot that lasts for several minutes, as you gradually realize it is John Wayne riding across this prairie, the mountains as a back drop.  Reminiscent of the incredible camera work in The Straight Story (David Lynch, director, and the incredible Freddie Francis as the cinematographer) and also the recent, “one camera shot for the entire film” Birdman  with Michael Keaton.