My Wild Cousins and Me: Discovering Wild Horse Traits and Behaviors

By “Nellie” and Heather Bell, Horse Welfare and Social License Committee; Part of the #HappyHealthyHorse Horse Well-Being Initiative

Hello, I’m Nellie. I am a wise mare with a lovely—if I don’t say so myself—golden coat. Okay, I may be a bit stout, though. I still foxhunt and take members to their D certifications. I am everyone’s favorite horse. Even though I am a horse, I dream, just like people. And wow, I had one heck of a night “mare” last night!

With my legs twitching and my nostrils flaring, I dreamt that I ran through tall grass with my herd mates. I was scared, but I somehow knew that running was the right thing to do. It felt, well, primal.

All I could hear was the pounding of hooves and fearful, ear-piercing whinnies. I could feel my breath flowing into my lungs with each gallop stride I took. I was running from a predator I could not see. But I could smell it. The smell of impending doom. I could feel hot breath on my hocks. My brain screamed, “Run away.” With my fast legs and thumping heart, was I going to outrun it? Would I survive? Would others in the herd make it? I don’t know…because at just this moment, I snorted and woke myself up.

Whoa Nellie! What brought on this nightmare?

Last night, I heard my Pony Club person, Marissa, talking about a class project to discover their ancestry, genealogy, biology, and traits. What about me? Could I find out about my ancestry? Sure! And I will call it my “horseology.” Here’s what I learned.

My Ancestral Wild Cousins

As prey animals, ancestral wild horses (known as Equus ferus) required several things to survive. They were grassland herbivores with plenty of predators, and as such, they needed friends—other horses to act as lookouts while some slept or ate, a horse to move them to water, to where the best plants grew, and where ridgelines or trees were available to shelter from extreme weather.

Mares needed herd members to fight off predators trying to kill their foals. Young stallions needed “play” to practice fighting off a rival stallion. Socialization, then, was key to maintaining the bonds of the herd, and thus, survival. Horses back then would mutual groom each other, whinny to each other for communication, and might scream when their buddy left the pasture. Of course, hierarchy behavior, such as pinning their ears or raising a hind leg to let another horse know they are not welcome to dinner, was important. I am sure you can name others (feel free to comment below and share some examples).

By continuing to move while they grazed, the horses’ movements were unpredictable to predators—a herd could easily cover 20 miles in a day. For this, horses needed endurance. To escape hunting predators, they needed speed as well. They required fast, long limbs with only tendons and ligaments at the bottom of the leg that helped increase their speed. To navigate a grassland habitat, the developed a single digit with a hard outer surface (hooves). They needed large lungs and a strong heart. In addition, they needed innate “flight” behavior coded in their DNA, but what about “fight” behavior?

Sure, they needed that too. But that meant the predator or rival stallion was way too close! Other survival mechanisms included super amazing hearing, an unbelievable ability to smell and identify a friend or foe from far away, sight that scanned near and far for some new “thing” that wasn’t there before, and night vision that was decent enough to find their way over grassland without bumping into a tree.

No wonder my nightmare felt so primal! I was living like my ancestors in my dreams.

Now if you can do me, Nellie, a favor, tell me how you liked my first ever blog in the comments below!