Lessons from the Wild Horse

Andrew Lang, D.V.M., ASPCA, Manager Animal Health

The wild horse is more than a living symbol of the spirit of our land. Thousands roam across the western United States. Underneath the ongoing debate over how many horses are to be preserved and how their populations should be controlled is a strong feeling that they belong here. These remarkable animals deserve protection in their own right, but also for the inestimable value of what they can teach us. Molded by natural forces and living in harmony with herd and habitat, the wild horse is a standard to which the physical and emotional health of domestic horses can be compared. Six experts, all with experience among wild horses, reflect on the importance of these animals as models for health, husbandry and training.

AW: What is missing in the lives of domestic horses compared with those in the wild?

Coates-Markle: Opportunities for more natural social interactions and freedom to participate in at least some daily decisions which pertain to their well-being.What is generally missing is the opportunity just to be a horse — without anthropomorphizing their needs, wants and actions.

Hyde: Freedom to select one’s own diet, one’s own friends, and to laze or run as befits their energies.

Sussman: Domestic horses often do not have the opportunity to develop close relationships with stable mates. This creates a very unhappy horse, who by nature is an extremely social animal.

Turner: Captivity lacks the driving forces of the need to survive in the open wilderness: long distances between water and food, predator threats, and harem band competition. Domestic horses lose the edge that is daily sharpened in wild horses by being frequently challenged to survive.

AW: What horse health problems are less common in the wild? Can simulating more natural conditions prevent some of these problems?

Hyde: Two major problems in domestic horses are obesity and behavioral problems caused by boredom. There are far more overfed horses than underfed. Domestic horses need regular exercise and sensible, varied food intake.

Sussman: Rarely do you see wild horses weaving or cribbing [abnormal behaviors caused by inactivity and confinement]. In the natural state, wild horses are not bored. [They] love to roll in mud puddles. It feels good and serves a purpose such as fly and pest control... My hope is that we begin to look at the psychological elements which ultimately create disease and disharmony both in humans and animals.

Jackson: Many health problems are not seen among wild horses. The natural lifestyle makes the difference. Some ways to simulate the natural habitat and lifestyle of wild horses include feeding and watering at ground level, mandatory pasture rotation, more diverse diets and barefootedness. It is a myth that horses need to be shod; they don't.

Floyd: Hoof diseases are a continuing problem [in domestic horses] as hoof shape and size depend on trends in hoof care. A natural hoof is different from a domestic hoof and superbly adapted to the environment.

Turner: Wild horses are very active, often traveling 10 to 25 miles in a day. Such traveling, mostly in rocky or sandy terrain, keeps their hooves in excellent shape and keeps them highly fit, with tendon, muscle and bones maintained in top condition. It also avoids the localized build-up of parasites such as can occur in pastures.

Floyd: Horses in the wild have a vast array of plant material to graze; many of these are medicinal or supply large quantities of vitamins and minerals. Domestic horses only have what we provide them and frequently the diet is unbalanced. Horses allowed to graze on diverse plant life and remain outdoors in all weather conditions with shelter available would benefit.

AW: There’s been a growing interest in training without the use of force. (See "Training with Trust," Animal Watch, Fall 1998.) Many at the forefront of this movement have based their techniques on watching wild horses. How does understanding natural horse communication and social behavior lead to more humane handling?

Coates-Markle: Dominant-subordinate relationships form the core of wild horse society. “Buddy systems” are often formed by similarly ranked animals and these relationships can be long-lasting and nurturing. In these relationships, day-to-day decisions are often shared between both horses. I have long felt that greater success in training endeavors might be achieved if horses were treated as more equal partners and occasionally allowed the liberty of making choices for themselves. An astute trainer might create an atmosphere that allows the horse to “perceive” that he is the decision maker. The effort might create a more willing and confident partner...

Sussman: In some of the newer methods we have a beginning of understanding communication with horses on their terms. However, many of these types of training go wrong because of a limited understanding that in wild horses, there is a pecking order, but there is also respect.

Turner: I have observed “natural” approaches to training as well as “breaking” methods. The former is like swimming with the current and the latter against the current. The trainer benefits in the “natural” approach by establishing a bond of trust, not fear. The horse benefits in being treated with respect and living without the stress of fear and a daily life of submission.

Jackson: Knowledge of natural equine behavior opens the door to the way horses see, hear and respond to their world. This knowledge allows the natural rider to share in the emotional life of these animals and to understand such matters as why they fear things the way they do, so that later, through training, the rider can help them to overcome their fears in an ambience of compassion, mutual respect and trust.

AW: How has your experience with wild horses affected your life? Has it changed the way you deal with other people and other challenges?

Jackson: My experiences with wild horses have enabled me to understand their natural world, and to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of contemporary domestic practices. This has brought me into conflict with some people, and accord with others.

Hyde: My life with wild horses set me free from the burdens humans are saddled with. My thoughts went outward to the horses where I thought in terms not of dominion but responsibility. I am far less patient with those who are merely critics and fail to provide answers.

Turner: My field studies with wild horses have bonded my life with theirs. Living in their habitat for a month or two at a time has allowed me into their daily lives. They have a gentle nature, with some squabbling thrown in, like many people.

Coates-Markle: My experiences have brought me, among other things, to a greater level of appreciation for the delicate balance of ecosystem processes. Despite my passion for the horses, I recognize the need for those forces that control populations in order to benefit the entire ecosystem, where each component has inherent value and should not be measured simply by “more is better.”

Floyd: My life has dramatically changed. I have become a lot more supportive of humane treatment and better communication between horse and owner. I have tried to get owners to see where they are miscommunicating their desires and how their horse often misunderstands their intent. In the wild, chastisement of a subordinate animal by an alpha animal is swift and timely and followed by forgiveness. We don’t communicate this well with our horses, much less other people.

Sussman: I have come to believe that I am honored to be in their presence for they have become my teachers. If we were as honest as wild horses we would have less problems in our society. If we had to communicate without words, maybe we would be better off.

AW: Beyond what we can learn from them, what is the value of wild horses? Why should we care what happens to them?

Sussman: They are our National Heritage Species, so declared by Congress. Today, many wild horse and burro herds are so small that genetic viability is at stake. This is why our crusade continues. We admire their purity, their beauty, their freedom. They are a part of nature and we must allow that to continue. They remind us that life is more than greed.

Jackson: The value humans place on wild horses varies widely in our society. For some, they are scourges upon the land to be done away with entirely. Others see them as models to study, as a source of breeding stock and animal companions or specimens for exploitation. Personally, I rest my case in their intrinsic wildness. On that ground alone they are worth protecting.

Coates-Markle: Within the wild horse herds we have, in some cases, remnants of early equine ancestry that are still being shaped by natural processes. What we have now may have been diluted by human intervention, but the wild equines remind us that the origin and early development of the horse did happen in the absence of mankind. The horse has inherent value, simply as a species on its own.

Turner: The wild horse is one of the most magnificent animals on earth, a symphony of power, grace, speed, agility and endurance. Most importantly, the wild horse is a pinnacle of adaptiveness, thriving and reproducing in habitat from near-barren desert to muck-filled salt marshes, from sea level to 12,000 feet and in temperatures from 120 degrees Fahrenheit to 60 below.

Hyde: Wild horses represent freedom and are a great genetic pool of equine health, diversity and smarts. They have contributed, more than any other single factor, to both Native American and United States history. In a time of extreme specialization of bloodlines, we will need a source of wild blood. Anyone who works with both wild and domestic horses has to worry about just where people are headed with their breeding programs.

Floyd: Beyond the untapped gene pool and the wealth of information they can teach us, I would answer your question with a question: Why care what happens to anybody? If we are a sentient life form, shouldn't we share this earth and act with respect and dignity to all other life forms?

Karen Sussman is president of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros in Scottsdale, AZ.

Dr. John Turner, Ph. D., works on developing vaccines to prevent conception in wild horses at the Medical College of Ohio.

Linda Coates-Markle is the wild horse and burro specialist in Montana and the Dakotas for the Bureau of Land Management.

Dayton Hyde founded Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary and the Institute for Range and the American Mustang.

Andrea Floyd, D.V.M., is an equine veterinarian in Virginia who has studied hoof diseases of wild and domestic horses.

Jaime Jackson is a holistic hoof care provider and the author of “The Natural Horse.”