Horse lovers, care-givers...?

Question

I don't own a horse, but love all animals and enjoy watching Animal Planet. I see the neglected horses on the "animal cops" type shows who can't eat because they haven't had their teeth floated, or can barely walk because they haven't had their feet cared for. My question is what do the wild mustangs and other wild horses do? Is there something in their environment that naturally takes care of these things, or do they just not live as long? What about rain rot? I don't think horses groom each other, and there's no one to brush them. If there's no remedy for these things in the wild, shouldn't we rescue all wild horses rather than leave them in this "natural" setting? It would seem cruel to let them starve, go lame, suffer skin infections, etc. if they have no means to cope with these things.

I'm just curious, and thanks to all who answer!

Answer 1

Wild horses wear down their feet naturally in their environment.

Their teeth are worn naturally because they graze all day unlike most domesticated horses and totally different then those starving horses you see on TV.

Most horses do not get rain rot if left naturally, as humans we wash and clean our horses too much and apply chemical products to them that lessen their natural oils and ability to stave off this fungus.  Rain Rot is a fungus. BTW  horses do groom each other they are very social animals.

Wild horses have better immune systems as they are not exposed to all the man made stresses (unnatural diet, unnatural work, unnatural homes, vaccinations etc)

It is survival of the fittest, those that are weak or ill or lame are eaten by other animals so the strongest breed the strongest to produce the best offspring.  It is man that produced animals taller then 14 hands.  Most native breeds (excluding draft breeds) are small.  Egyptian Arabians, the 5 native pony breeds, mustangs, perzwalski's horses, the wild ponies in Mongolia etc.  In our breeding we have selected animals based on criteria other then mother nature.  We breed for speed, looks, color and other characteristics that mother nature would opt out in favor of stamina, agility, alertness, strength, the ability to survive harsh conditions, to name a few

hope this helps.

Answer 2

they don't live as long but they still don't die really young.

usually what you see on animal cops is horses crammed in small pens and little stables. They don't have room to run. Horses need room. Mustangs roam for miles a day which wears their hooves shorter, and the grasses they eat helps take care of their teeth. Same with horses living on huge ranches that don't get ridden much. Mustangs aren't going to be in the same shape though as cared for domestic horses.

Answer 3

Great question!

Horses in the wild have developed physical traits that allow them the most success - if you see them, they're usually more rangey and not as refined and pretty as domestic horses - because humans breed the best things out of them in favor of looks.

Their feet are constantly worn down by rough terrain and the miles and miles their territory covers to graze and drink.  They walk many miles a day to find the proper grazing grounds, watering holes, mineral licks and shelter from weather and bugs.

They do, in fact not live as long because they don't have the vets to float their teeth, but it's a fact of nature and they don't know any different.  people think it's awful to watch a big cat take down a deer or awful to think of it being taken down by a big cat - but that's the cycle of life the way mother nature intended it.  Horses have very low pain and fear tolerances which are given to them to allow swift and painless deaths.  They expect no different.

They smell out and find places to l**k the dirt to get the salt and minerals they need - other animals like deer and all of them do this same thing.

The horses do groom each other - in the spring when their coats are coming out, they stand head to tail and scratch each other with their teeth and they find limbs of trees to scratch themselves on.  Quite often things like rain rot are non-existent because nature takes care of these physical deficiencies - animals that exhibit a trait like this are often more likely to become prey than a healthier one, they are less likely to pass on the gene that makes them prone to such a shortcoming.

Ya know, there's lots of people who think the way you seem to be - that we humans should save the animals from their natural lives.  What we live is natural - what if another being from a bigger, stronger planet came to Earth, thought we were pitiful creatures in need of "saving" put us all in separate cages and chose who we'd breed with to produce offspring to their liking - took away all our choices and the way we naturally did things?  Isn't that just like what you are suggesting by asking if we should save all the horses from nature?

There's a natural order to the Earth - life, death, dying - predators exist to take out the weak and infirm allowing the strongest bloodlines to go one and reproduce.  I don't like to see a predator take prey anymore than you do, but I realize the part it has in the natural balance.

Man has often come along and disrupted this balance - and then tried to reconstruct it in most hazardous ways.  If you feel this way about the wild horses, why not the wild monkeys, birds - even down to the wild mosquito who has a purpose in life.

Let's compound my little scenario of the aliens coming and caging us up.  Let's say they never take the time to learn our language and ways - or are incapable of doing so- or don't want to and they think they're being kind by even going so far as tying us in our cages for our own safety so we can't walk much.  What would happen to us?  What if they didn't know how our bodies worked and they never allowed us enough food or enough fruit and our teeth all fell out?  Would that truly be savings us from nature?  Let's picture these little aliens being about a third or even a tenth our size and using things like maybe tazers to control us and prod us to do what they think we should - would we fight back and scream and yell?

This is what those neglected horses you see on TV have had happened to them.  A human has thought they could make a horses' life better, but not taken the time to fully understand what they physically need, how they think nor how they communicate.  The horses try to fit in, try to communicate, but can't  and the humans maybe even tie them cruelly or beat them to make them mind - because they don't find it important to understand or care about them.

So the answer isn't taking all the wild horses off the range - the answer is controlling their population and allowing the best suited to reproduce to control the population of the herd.  

The answer to keeping horses off our TVs that are neglected is to take them out of the hands of the people who treat them badly, abandon or neglect them.  To further educate people on what it takes to understand the horse's language - how to make it understand what we want and work together rather than subjugate and dominating him.  then people would realize it's not easy to raise a foal, it costs lots of money to feed them - we'd have less horses to become neglected if people really thought about and took seriously the 10-30 years commitment in acquiring a horse. Sure you might be able to scrape up enough pennies today to keep one, but what if you lose your jobs tomorrow?  How stable is your job should the economy turn?

I hope you don't take offense to anything I said and I hope I painted a clearer picture of why the horses wild on the range don't deserve to be captured and subjugated to the wishes of humans.

Answer 4

Wild horses groom eachother, and the moving around all day on grass and dirt keeps their hooves the right size. Besides, horses were around for thousands of years before we came along. They can survive without us, we just domesticated them.

Answer 5

Many wild animals are afflicted with infestations like fleas, etc. and fungal infections may occur, but wild animals are well adapted to those things and unless they are starving and weakened as when droughts occur, their immune systems are able to resist the worst effects of infections and infestations that would affect domesticated horses far more extensively.  Wild horses also don't have to look as pretty as we want our domestic horses to look, so their scarred and thick skin, etc that are part of adaptation to the wild are not a concern.  I see your point, and I do wish the funds were available to help to keep them fed and monitored in the wild.

Also, wild horses do not eat grains that we feed domestic horses....they eat grasses, so their teeth don't get worn into the sharp points that grain-feeding causes.

Answer 6

Wild mustangs are tougher and hardier than domesticated breeds. The rough terrain usually keeps their hooves short, and they live with the cracks and chips. Their hooves are tougher, too.

They don't get babied and pampered and eat the grains and feeds domestic horses do, and if their teeth get so bad they can't eat properly, they die. It's a fact of life, but usually a horse needing its teeth floated can't chew grain well and it drops from their mouths. Hay and grass is a little different.

Rain rot? That's something I just can't answer. I know raqin rot is more of a cosmetic thing than something that makes a horse miserable.

I think God knows more about what wild animals need than people do. Wild horses suffer no more than deer, bears, foxes, snakes, etc. so we should just leave them alone and let  them be horses.

Answer 7

I think most of your specific questions got answered but no one really mentioned the teeth. It's not because they graze 24/7 my horse eats grass 24/7 and still needs yearly teeth floating. I believe it's WHAT they graze on. Wild horses get more "roughage" in their diet that wears down their teeth. Also, unfloated teeth don't bother them as uch anyways because they don't ever have a bit in their mouth. One of the reasons teeth floating is so important is because the bit is constantly in contact with their mouth and teeth, or pulling on it if they have a rough, unskilled rider.

Answer 8

Naturaly they care for each-other. And if we rescued all of the wild-mustangs out there, we would be interfearing with their enviornment. I own a horse ranch and now lots about horses. That's why wild horses get injured so easily, and they're affraid of people.

Hope I Helped!!!:D

Answer 9

Wild horses would be naturally evolved differently anyway.

They have different defences and that sorta stuff against diseases and stuff

They're galloping around all day on hard ground, so trim their own feet

And they find their own feed, for example, a horse locked in a field can only eat so much grass before its all gone, but a horse in the wild can just go somewhere else to find more food and shelter

Hope this helps your curiousity :P

Answer 10

I assume when you mean "wild horses" you are refering to mustangs and the horses that can be found on the barrier islands of the east coast.  These animals are of domesticated stock brought to North America by the Spanish, Colonists, and pioneers.  There is only one existing species of true undomesticated equine and that is in Asia.  Horses became extinct in the Americas thousands of years ago.

I think that mustangs and other "wild" horses do just fine on their own as long as people don't mess with their habitat.  Horses still retain the instincts and skills they have always had and would not have survived if they were not suiteed to their environment.  No animal living in the wild will live as long as one kept in captivity, but that is the price of freedom.