ARE DOMESTIC HORSES
UNKNOWINGLY ABUSED?

The answer to this question can only be found after studying a horse living in the wild. The further the horse’s lifestyle is from that of a wild horse, the more we can conclude that that particular horse is abused. The reasoning lies in the unnatural lifestyle to the horse. Systems of digestion, appetite, physiology, mentality, and instinctual behavior are altered when the environment that God designed for them to live in is taken away.

In the wild horses are not abused by man. Wild horses take pretty good care of themselves. They stand in the breeze if they please, or under a tree for shade or protection from the snow. When thirsty, they are free to go find water. They pick their own grasses, herbs, weeds, and whatever it is the system needs. 

Horses are social, nomadic herd animals. Our concept of isolation in a stall for hours in a day has far removed the animals from their natural state of well being. Naturally, horses rely on each other for companionship, community establishment and protection in numbers. Herd hierarchy is designed to give horses a sense of security and order by having leaders as well as specially designated individuals to “watch and alert” for predators through out the day. Without the herd, horses become insecure, lonely and easily distressed. It is a mental as well as a physical need for the horse to move with his herd.

Physically, the horse’s stomach is designed to have small amounts of food in it ALL the time. Moving around a pasture and grazing is the natural way for horses to eat aiding in digestion, rather than in the amounts of two or three times a day. How can a stalled horse move around to accomplish this?

Our question then, is easily answered after reviewing some basic concepts about horses. The farther you take a horse from his natural environment, the more mentally and physically disturbed he becomes. This results in a form of abuse, in which many cased is simply from a lack of horse knowledge.