Goats and horses as friends?

Question

Why do horses often have goats as companions. I heard that the saying "to get ones goat" comes from years ago when highly strung racehorses had goats as companions to calm them down. People who did not want the horse to win would steal the goat to upset the horse. Is this true or myth??

Answer 1

Horses are herd animals.  Domestic purpose inhibits natural interaction of horses in training.  Goats, chickens, dogs, and cats are some companion substitutes for herd mates.  Confinement for show and or racing can be boring monotony.  Smaller easy to keep pets can be useful pleasant distractions.

Kelso traveled with a dog and chicken.

Answer 2

Goats are therapeutic to highstrung horses.  My stepfather owns racehorses and got a goat to calm several of his younger horses.

Answer 3

Sometimes horses need to have another animal with them to calm them down a bit.  That's why you see lead ponies take racehorses to the starting gate.  When a horse is in his stall alone, sometimes he gets upset, but having another animal with them calms them down a bit.  It doesn't have to be a goat.  I don't remember which horse, but one of the triple crown horses this year has a potbelly pig as his companion!  If you've seen the movie Seabiscuit, you'll remember the particularly comedic moment when Tom tries to put a goat in Seabiscuit's stall to calm him down... the next moment we see the goat go flying out the window and runnning away... Seabiscuit didn't like his goat... so they let a horse into his stall and suddenly everyone was peaceful and happy!  :o)

Answer 4

No, it's not a myth.  I used to breed ponies.  When it was time for the mares to foal, I'd have to separate them from the other horses so I could monitor them and to ensure the other horses didn't hurt the baby.

Anyway, I'd put a goat in with the separated mares to keep them calm.  It really works.  One of my mares got so attached to her goat that she would let it "ride" her (it would jump from a platform in the barn onto her back and then she'd walk around).

Answer 5

everyone is right.  when my husband and i was training horses at ellis park a few years ago, we were down to one horse.  we also had  a cat and it was not uncommon to see the cat snuggled up to the horse when we would come into the barn.  we were happy that they made friends with each other until we had gotten some more horses.