Wild Horse Research

[Marsha Cassada]

When I have a conversation with my hoof trimmer about feeding/nutrition, she tells me about all the research done with wild horses. How they don't eat oils, or all the vitamin/mineral things we feel horses need as domestic animals are not really available or even necessary to wild horses. How we are not letting our horses live naturally...

So, does anyone know what research has been done about how long horses live in the wild?

Would my 15 year old driving horse be considered an old man in the wild?

There is so much conflicting information, it is hard to make an informed decision about horse keeping.

 

[chandab]

In general, horses in the wild aren't expected to do what domestic horses are. Horses in the wild aren't ridden, driven, clipped, kept on minimal acreage, etc.

Wild horses usually have access to multi-species prairie, so they can pick and chose what to eat. Domestic horses are usually grazed on one-species or limited species pastures or fed hay consisting of only one or two species on plants; it sometimes takes those vit/min to make up for what the limited forage varieties lack.

I'm sure there are wild horses living to ripe old ages, but I'm sure its a tough life.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I agree there is very little to be gained form comparing domestic to feral horses, except maybe to understand behaviour patterns and dietary needs and the reasons for them. For instance it is thought that the pawing some horses do is caused by the need to move forward as they eat, as in natural grazing, and that as the horse has evolved to live on rough pasture it has a need for almost constant fibre passing through it's gut. Even though you know your horse is well covered and well fed, it's instincts are telling it it is starving, if it does not have hay or hay substitute in front of it- hence a lot of the wood chewing!

As to your 15 year old, well, I am pretty sure he would be long dead, the life of a feral horse is not all that easy, and even in my youth, a domestic cart horse would be considered "aged" at twelve, and thus well past it's prime, whereas we now think of these horses as just coming into their prime!

The reason we feed the dietary additives (and I actually agree with your farrier that a lot of them are not needed) is mainly that the horses we keep can no longer roam and find their own dietary additives, and partly just hype on the part of the sellers. We do feed too much grain and such, no question, we do often over load our animals to the point of founder, and you do not get foundered ferals, as, quite simply, they do not recover, so do not breed.

I think we can learn from these studies, but I think we need to keep foremost in our minds what Chanda says- domestic horses have different requirements, pure and simple.

 

[Ann knight]

I took an Equine behavior course last year which was really interesting . The main item that sticks in my mind is that horses need friends, forage and locomotion . Stereotypical behaviors ( cribbing, weaving etc) are caused by horses not having enough to do, for example horses that are stabled . They are trickle feeders which means they walk and eat as they go . Also the diets we give them including concentrates and grain are not what they would eat naturally . I know diet has been talked about frequently and our mini's do have a tendency to gain weight easily but with my guys once they had hay all the time they began to limit themselves and eat normally . Dentistry is something else that doesn't happen in the wild . Pasture is ideal , and while all of us don't have that available , hay also works keeping the teeth in good shape . I realize that bite plays a huge part in whether a horse needs dentistry but I don't think they need dentistry yearly , jmho. I won't even touch vaccinations or should I say overvaccination

cheers...Ann

 

[circlesinthesand]

Well, here is what I know from my own personal and observations. I'm lucky in that the size and variety of my pasture is basically untouched for many years it's mostly native grass in a rich and fertile area with only a few improved sections that were overgrazed at certain points. I also have ample land to graze year round in an extremely mild winter climate but they are still confined to their pastures. Wild horses are not generally confined to a small acre pasture that most horse owners provide for their horses. They're able to roam and seek what they need as for as minerals go so yes I do think it's very likely that the way we treat our animals is not very natural in that aspect. I also believe we personally do things to ourselves that aren't very natural either...but this is the world we're living in. I try to keep things as natural as possible both for myself and the animals but often I am not able. mostly because of unavailable resources. The same as our domestic horses, who are living only on what we provide them. However, having raised several generations of horses with very little feed and very little forced vitamin/mineral supplementation (and usually only free choice at that) I do think that often we do kill them with kindness. Most horses tell you if somethings missing, if they're acting strange or have problems maintaining a healthy weight (under or over!) My old mare is 25, she has no arthritis and has never been on a joint supplement of any kind. Over 80% of her life has been purely on forage, even when I showed her heavily she was mostly on pasture. I feed grain only during the winter when forage is low, she looks better during the summer months than she dreams of looking during the winter. What's missing during winter? forage. Plain and simple. All the feed in the world won't replace it. People are only now discovering that forage is better for the horses gut but it was never a surprise for me. So yes we do need to feed more naturally when it's available.

However, I don't buy into the whole wild horse barefoot trim hype that has come about in recent years. A balanced foot is a balanced foot, 'barefoot trim' is just another catch phrase like 'horse whisperer' I think that when you put the pressure of work even a mustang needs some help in the trimming department. In all my years, between showing, following dad (farrier) around to farms and ranches with many breeds, varieties and situations, I've only seen one horse who wore perfectly to the point she didn't ever need to be trimmed even when being worked heavily. She had the most perfect set of legs I've ever seen on a horse. Textbook straight. Absolutely Perfect! I have never seen better and her wear patterns showed it. Very few if any of the mustangs I've ever seen come close to this kind of structure. She was as far from being wild as you can get. My dad owned her granddam (who we also owned into her late teens,) I raised and still own her dam (my old mare), her and I raised her son who I still own as well. Of all those mares, they all had good feet but only she was like that and she didn't produce it. Her son has an odd shaped foot and battled lameness on and off for 2 years until we were able to keep him sound.

So for me, 'natural' is a mixed bag. There is really nothing 'natural' about what we ask of our horses but keeping them as close to natural as possible is usually a good thing. Kinda like eating fresh greens vs fast food Dunno about you but I feel better when I eat right.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

If we can't compare our horses to feral ones, why do people constantly do it? I'm pretty tired and discouraged with people begining a sentence with " but horses in the wild..."

btw, when I was looking at the BLM wild horse site, I saw the government is doing lots of research on wild horses, especially reproduction techniques on mares. So if the government is doing research on wild horses, maybe they are not so natural after all...

According to the site, they are rounded up every few years and ones 10 and older are removed.

Jane, a domestic DRIVER of a cart in the pre-auto days didn't have a very long life span, either! So, is that an argument for nutrition, man or beast?

 

[rubyviewminis]

I have to jump in here since I live in the middle of mustang/feral horse country. There are various groups studying mustangs, for various reasons.

1. The BLM studies them to try to minimize their numbers in as easy a way as they can, which is why they have studies, ecological impact.

2. Barefoot trimmers of various trades try to study the wear of mustang hooves to better understand the natural hoof. They are not trying to emulate the mustang hoof. Just to bring domestic hooves a little closer to *less problems* and better understand the proper function of the hoof. MY horses in Arizona, all Quarter Horses and Arabians, went without shoes in summertime and we discovered that their huge sandy wash "pasture" if you will, and the rocky, steep hill to the barn and feed wore their hooves absolutely beautifully. Just like a mustangs. And that is when we decided to go without shoes. Never had a problem after that and we rode rough country. Every horse is an individual just like people,, some still need shoes, they carry unnatural weight, etc. etc.

3. I also must interject this: Many mustangs live well into their 20's. Most of them are fat and healthy, they lose weight and look terrible after the stress of capture, being penned up, and hay they are not used to.

4. Everything about the feed comparison between mustangs and domestic horses is very well stated here.

5. They are not rounded up every few years and removed. The BLM has a lot of mis-information out there on purpose. There IS NOT an excess of mustangs on the ranges. Check out the territory yourself and you will see a lot of cattle but not that many horses. It takes them weeks to gather the hundreds they do wasting your tax dollars to support a huge number of these horses in holding pens forever. Many die in the course of the roundups unnecessarily. It is well known in these parts how corrupt the BLM branch of the govt. is. The whole subject is a complicated can of worms, and the losers are the horses, and the taxpayers.

6. If mustangs have physical abnormalities, they sure wouldn't last long, especially since we now have wolves out there. And a lot of the "mustangs" people see, aren't. They are bred from a BLM mustang by someone. They also are not a breed, and the only *papers* they have are the BLM adoption papers to match their freeze brand.

Go on facebook and take a look at Mark Terrell's work on mustangs. KBR, Mustangs 4 us, there are many sites to inform yourself.

 

[circlesinthesand]

I have to jump in here since I live in the middle of mustang/feral horse country. There are various groups studying mustangs, for various reasons.

1. The BLM studies them to try to minimize their numbers in as easy a way as they can, which is why they have studies, ecological impact.

2. Barefoot trimmers of various trades try to study the wear of mustang hooves to better understand the natural hoof. They are not trying to emulate the mustang hoof. Just to bring domestic hooves a little closer to *less problems* and better understand the proper function of the hoof. MY horses in Arizona, all Quarter Horses and Arabians, went without shoes in summertime and we discovered that their huge sandy wash "pasture" if you will, and the rocky, steep hill to the barn and feed wore their hooves absolutely beautifully. Just like a mustangs. And that is when we decided to go without shoes. Never had a problem after that and we rode rough country. Every horse is an individual just like people,, some still need shoes, they carry unnatural weight, etc. etc.

3. I also must interject this: Many mustangs live well into their 20's. Most of them are fat and healthy, they lose weight and look terrible after the stress of capture, being penned up, and hay they are not used to.

4. Everything about the feed comparison between mustangs and domestic horses is very well stated here.

5. They are not rounded up every few years and removed. The BLM has a lot of mis-information out there on purpose. There IS NOT an excess of mustangs on the ranges. Check out the territory yourself and you will see a lot of cattle but not that many horses. It takes them weeks to gather the hundreds they do wasting your tax dollars to support a huge number of these horses in holding pens forever. Many die in the course of the roundups unnecessarily. It is well known in these parts how corrupt the BLM branch of the govt. is. The whole subject is a complicated can of worms, and the losers are the horses, and the taxpayers.

6. If mustangs have physical abnormalities, they sure wouldn't last long, especially since we now have wolves out there. And a lot of the "mustangs" people see, aren't. They are bred from a BLM mustang by someone. They also are not a breed, and the only *papers* they have are the BLM adoption papers to match their freeze brand.

Go on facebook and take a look at Mark Terrell's work on mustangs. KBR, Mustangs 4 us, there are many sites to inform yourself.

Let me clarify my thoughts as maybe this was a response to some of them...

I am not uninformed as to the state of mustangs, I am well aware of many of the things you've stated, including the can of worms.

Referencing #6 The mustangs I have seen are actual BLM Mustangs, not those bred by someone. I have been to the territory and there are several BLM adoptions here each year. I have traveled many hours to go to adoptions and I have been to many of them over many years, long before the mustang challenges brought them into the spotlight. I always thought about getting one, I have the skills, in fact many local people have adopted them (freeze branded) then brought them here for help because they didn't have a clue as to how to start them. But it never fell where I liked any of them that were available and eventually it lost it's appeal. Even skinny doesn't hide bone structure and I was not going to adopt just for the sake of having one. They may not have physical abnormalities that limit their life but I'm pretty picky about what I think would make a good useful horse. It would need to fit my requirements and I have never found one who does. As a farrier's daughter, I definitely look at feet first...always. then work my way up the body, I rarely get to the neck, they fall apart long before that.

#2 I am also aware of barefoot benefits, I never said that I disagreed with many of the principles, I said I disagreed with the hype surrounding it. Balanced is still balanced. You trim to the shape of the foot and you shape the shoe to their foot as well. It's the 'mustang mystery' and 'new' aspect that fools people into thinking their 'bare foot' trimmer is better than a good skilled farrier that I disagree with. FWIW all my horses are currently barefoot, many have shown barefoot, others like the mare I mentioned had been barefoot their entire life. During show seasons when I need sliders I often pull them and put them on depending on when the shows are coming up. One of the many benefits of having a farrier at my finger tips...."Daddy, I need plates, please pretty please?"

I also don't buy the terrain stories that go along with mustangs and why we should shoe horses that do not live on this terrain. I do not live in sandy or rocky country. I live in a big flat mud hole, seriously, it's an old crawfish/rice field, it's still possible to keep them barefoot. In fact it's preferable...ever have thick clay mud suck the shoes off of a horse? that will destroy a foot faster than leaving them barefoot, any day of the week. The fact is it doesn't take sandy rocky soils to find the benefits to a bare foot and that has nothing to do with mustangs.

 

[Windhaven]

As mentioned above, mustangs get to graze and pick what they want or need in the forage before them. Now I have adopted 4 wild mustangs. Were they fat, not really. I am sure some of that is from being hauled (stress) and kept in captivity. But do thier coats glisson like a lot of horses that you see today and have good overall muscle tone, no. But are they healthy yes. After I had them for a while they did look a lot different and more healthy. Their coats glissoned and they were filled out.

You have to remember, that mustangs are not subject to all the things that domestic horses are. From showing, trail riding, not enough space to run and forage and close dirty quarters. Or from owners going over to places that have horses and bringing germs back to them. So do mustangs need the help of vaccinations and vitamins like domestic horses, NO. But do domestic horses, in most cases YES.

Domestic horses are kept on pastures that lack in nutrients of some kind. They have constant contact with worms and virsus and more which mustangs don't. Everyone should look at what their property lacks in nutrients and where their hay comes from because where it comes from might also lack in some vitamins or minerals that horses need in their feed to keep them healthy.