• BastingChemina@slrpnk.netEnglish
    8·
    1 day ago

    It is not really to cross marshy ground but more to spot it and avoid it.

    It also helps to keep an eye on all the sheep despite all the tall grass around them.

    • Lightor@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      16 hours ago

      I haven’t seen this mentioned enough. If you’re job is to move and protect your flock then being high up and able to see further helps a lot.

  • Tikiporch@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    1 day ago

    This is not accurate. The stilts helped the shepherds avoid cracks, which would break their mother’s backs.

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPMEnglish
      173·
      2 days ago

      I presume it’s because getting up to your shins in mud makes it hard to draw your leg back out, whereas on stilts all your muscles and joints are above the stilt platform, allowing you to use them freely to draw the stilts out of troublesome terrain. That’s just a guess though.

      • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        23 hours ago

        Yes, and the thinness and smoothness of the stilts allows them to slide easily out of muck whereas legs with boots and clothes on them get stuck rather easily!

        • angrystego@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5·
          21 hours ago

          Doesn’t it also allow them to slide deeper in the muck than feet ever would? I’d think it would be better to wear something like snowshoes, yet here I am, looking at the picture and wondering.

          • Vandals_handle@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            14 hours ago

            I work in a salt marshes and traverse mud flats regularly, your take is correct, stilts could slide too deep and be exceedingly difficult to retrieve. This is a general statement YMMV (your marsh may vary) Stilts could potentially sink so deep as to exceed the legs range of motion and be impossible to extract, especially if both stilts sink in. Look at the feet of birds who live in marshes, they have oversized feet (like, as you said, snowshoes) to stay on top, avoid sinking in. Stilts advantage would allow seeing further in flat terrain.

          • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            21 hours ago

            Yeah it definitely would slide in deeper! I think that’s why they have 2 stilts for their feet plus an extra stick. In the picture they’re using the 3rd stick to form a tripod so they can rest but I imagine when walking they’ll use it to poke at the ground to make sure the muck isn’t too deep!