19/08/2024
* DOMESTICATION VS EVOLUTION - WHY WE CAN'T EXPECT HORSES TO JUST FIT IN WITH DOMESTIC DEMANDS *
"Most standard texts on horse behaviour present the horse as a social prey species, which survives by fleeing from predators. Although this is undoubtedly true for some horses, at some times, in some locations, this tends to disregard many important features of horse behaviour.
Over simplification of the definition of ‘normal’ behaviour risks some aspects of equine behaviour being labelled as abnormal when in fact they are normal, adaptive and have ensured the survival of the species for 65 million years. When the horse was domesticated some 6000 years ago, humans began taking horses from environments in which they had evolved, and managing them under conditions which were convenient to humans. Six thousand years ago at Dereivka in the Ukraine (Levine 1999) domestic horses were initially maintained as a food source in herded groups within their natural environment. However, as the role of the horse in human culture changed and diversified, the constraints of domestication began to restrict many aspects of horse behaviour.
Today we may restrict horses’ freedom to roam and their freedom to choose food, shelter, mates and social companions, depending on the purpose that horses are kept for. We also expect horses to accept and interact with us, and to understand our instruction, even though we evolved as predators and our own behaviour has been shaped by a very different evolutionary history. Therefore, if we are to begin to understand why the domestic horse behaves in the way it does, we must first understand something of its evolutionary history and how horse behaviour is adaptive in diverse and changing environments (...)
(...) evidence that the behaviour of the horse has changed very little during 6000 years of domestication is provided by the success of many feral populations of horses around the world. Feral horse populations can provide information about many aspects of adaptive equine behaviour, e.g. social behaviour, mate choice and reproductive behaviour, habitat selection and
foraging behaviour." - ✍️ The "Welfare of Horses", Waran et al., 2002
Before we start judging the behaviour of our horses we need to ask ourselves a question - do we truly understand the horse's natural ethogram ? As seen in the above text horses behaviour changed little during their 6000 year domestication. We can't expect horses to stop acting the way they do as their 65 million of evolution prepared them with the set of spiecies specific behaviour to ensure survival.
We can't expect horses to change the mechanics of their gut so they can fit in with the regime of restricted feeding so often forced upon them in the domestic settings.
We can't expect horses to feel safe and secure when we purposefully isolate them for whatever reasons knowing that social behaviour is their evolutionary strategy to enhance survival.
We can't restrict their movement by stabling them for many hours a day and then expect them to "behave" when we take them out for exercise while they have so much energy build up and at the same time their body is stiff due to the forced lack of movement.
We can't expect them to co-oporate with us, don't fight us or to "be easy to handle" if we utilise training techniques that are based on force, fear and dominance knowing that their evolution shaped them to avoid or escape aversive stimuli that indicates predation or other dangers.
We can't expect them to just load onto the trailer or go into the stable when we know that their evolution prepared them to avoid closed places; we can't expect horses to keep their cool and not react when faced with novel , aversive stimuli when the evolution prepared them to react upon any sign of potential danger.
We can't expect horses to just fit in with domestic restrictions and arrangements - we can however prepare them to adapt to these in the most horse friendly , humane way while also respecting that some of the behaviours should be maintained in the most natural way that we can provide such as forage , friends and freedom to move.
By meeting these basic needs we can build a foundation for emotional and physical balance that we can then use for preparing horses to deal with domestic life that requires husbandry procedures and fulfills human needs for being close to these animals either through spending time together, ground work or riding.
Horses behaviour has been shaped by their evolution and their success of survival is in their ability to adapt to vast environments and situations. It is our responsibility to ensure that this ability to adapt is not compromising their emotional well being , that we do not shut them down or create learned helplessness but instead promote and create a positive learning environment that allows for choice, control and autonomy.
Photo : semi feral New Forest Pony in his natural habitat surrounded by the blooming heather
