What's New!

For the last month many of us have eagerly awaited the public release of the GAO's report on the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

Read more:

FOREVER WILD AND FREE
By Craig C. Downer, Wild Horse Ecologist

Speech for Wild Horse Summit, Las Vegas.

Read more on the Events page

BLM proposes to "euthanize" 33,000 wild horses and burros held in holding facilities.

Read more:

Wild Horse and Burro Behavior

The structure of wild horses versus burro society is quite different. While wild horses live in year round family groups called bands, wild burros are, for the most part, solitary or intermittently social but do not have a classic band structure.

What we mean by a classic band structure is that a dominant stallion, usually 6 years of age or older, will be in the company of one mare or a group of mares 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. He sires the offspring and these foals are with their band for at least one year, usually two. Many times the band has a dominant mare who will be responsible for leading the family group in their grazing. She will lead the family to the water hole and to the mineral lick where they dig for these dietary supplement. She will guide them to sheltered places out of the wind when winter storms howl. When you see a group of wild horses moving across the landscape, normally the stallion will be in the rear. His main job is to protect the group from attack by another stallion.

Occasionally, a 2 or 3 year old will still be with their band, but generally the stallion will discourage a young male who is coming of age from consorting with the band. Young females may be driven off by their mothers or they simply may choose to leave when they come into estrous. They may select or be selected by another stallion who will breed with her and guard her vigilantly from rivals. By encouraging their offspring to leave the band, wild horses avoid inbreeding. It's interesting to note that most wild horses are more genetically diverse than any of our domestic horse breeds. In other words they are more able to deal with changing conditions and environments over time and can resist extreme drought or cold better than their domestic cousins.

This complex social dynamic holds the wild horse bands together. Each individual knows their place in the order and rules of band behavior are carefully followed. Punishment to a young animal is swift, usually just a head movement with ears laid back or a nip or gentle kick. Affectionate displays of mutual grooming (simultaneously nibbling each others necks and backs) are frequent between family members, occasionally even between the band stallion and his juvenile sons. Mutual grooming feels good and lessens tensions between these powerful, large mammals.

Burros, on the other hand, do not live in a band social order. Because burros and asses the world over live in marginal habitats with semi-arid or arid climates, it is more beneficial to their survival not to move about in large groups, but in smaller units (i.e. a jenny or female burro and her foal). The male tends to guard a small territory with a water source. If a jenny who enters this small territory is in estrus, the male who guards the territory will breed her but they will generally not stay together for an extended period of time nor will the foal born to this jenny be guarded by the male. The female must raise her young alone or in the company of other jennies, some of whom may be her sisters or mother.

Both horses and burros, however, do share certain communication signals. When there is a female in heat males will lift their upper and lower lips, inhaling deeply to bring the scent of the female into their vemeronasal organs. This is commonly called a "flehman" display.

Body posture is another way horses communicate feelings. A stallion will lower his head to the ground with his ears laid back and his neck stretched out and move toward his band, signaling that it's time to get moving.

Watching a horse's ears can tell you a lot about what they're thinking. Pinned back ears usually signal anger or submission. A foal that is being disciplined by its elder may pin his ears back and open and shut its mouth repeatedly, a behavior called teeth clacking. It's as if the youngster is saying "please don't hurt me, I'm little."

Young stallions who are ejected from their families form bachelor bands. These lively adolescent males are endlessly fascinating to watch as they practice the fighting skills needed to one day win and keep mares. Just as there is a social order in the wild horse family bands, there is a social order in the bachelor bands. Who is allowed to groom with whom, who is allowed to enter the water hole first, all this is determined by ones social ranking in bachelor society. Bachelors that appear to be the most dominant may be those individuals who may one day succeed in becoming band stallions.