Horse Human Bond

Horses form strong pair bonds and this is one of the domestication sugars that allows humans to bond with horses. Zebras are not this way, nor are Przwalskis, and therefor, despite repeated attempts, neither species fit the domestication construct of merging their social structures with humans to be trainable and confineable.

To train your horse, pair bond with her, as that is her nature. Pair bonding requires time and establishment of familiarity. To establish familiarity, spend time with your horse. If you spend all day for days on end with your horse, you will get to know one another deeply, and a true unity can develop. Time is required for pair bonding, time and brushing and rubbing and riding. Time caring. Show your horse you care for her, and she is likely to readily pair bond.

For a horse to pair bond with a human, she must first learn to pair bond with her mother. That is why we support the undisturbed development of the mare-foal pair bonding in the critical development phase after birth. After pair bonding with the mother, the foal learns to pair bond with cohorts. Horses that are taught to pair bond by the herd are the horses who subsequently readily pair bond with their human partners and guardians. It is important to facilitate and nurture the mare/foal bond in the the early hours and days. This is not the time to interfere, as this is the imprint phase where the foal learns to be a horse as taught by the mare, the most qualified to teach at this critical development stage. Imprint training is to be avoided, as invasive interference is inappropriate and unethical during the early hours and days of life. The pair bond between mare and foal is held sacred, as it is the development of this bond that allows humans to later bond with the horse.
Pair bonding is predicated on familiarity and predictability with the other. The horse and human can bond together only after each becomes reliable and predictable to the other. Some jockeys I know can bond with their horse in an instant, Calvin Borel, say, a new father these days, bonding with humans now!

Dr Voith mentioned that because of the strong pair bonds that horses develop and prefer, that sometimes even a pastured horse with a herd can be socially deprived if not paired with a suitable partner in the grooup. As well, horses will bond with humans, and thus we have domestication, a shared sociality.

Depending on the bonding issue, she sometimes suggests adding a compatible horse, or adding a suitable mare in the herd to resolve the social pasture issues, which can include stereotypies, narcolepsy, unthriftiness, untrainability, and other issues.

Just because we believe we have adequately socially enriched our herd does not necessarily mean we have succeeded, at times, it seems, the good doctor points out.

There is talk that horses are a matriarchal society, and that mares are important and necessary to facilitate normal expressions of social behaviour. 

From the behaviourist's perpsective, a herd of geldings is somewhat socially deprived, especially if it is an odd-numbered herd.

A mare stabilizes the herd.

This goes back to precociousness. 

It is the mare that teaches foals to be horses, and much of the teaching takes place in the first days. Most all horses seek the guidance of mares through life, it seems, imprinted to mares as most all horses and mules are.

A mule is like a horse, only more so, thanks to the teachings of the mare. What is that creature called who is sired by a horse and raised by a donkey and why are they not so popular? 

When not pair bonded with your horse you may get bucked off. Rather than buck, Zebras get people off their back by running and rolling, and that was not the domestication sugar African humans were looking for.

Cats may have merged with humans in northern Africa and Mesopotamia, but many of the other domestication mergers occured in Asia.

Why weren't any wild animals, save the kitty cat, successfully domesticated in southern Africa where man and zebra and canids galore co-existed for millions and millions of years?

What was it about Asia that facilitated domestication of the wolf and tarpan, the merging of dog and horse and man? 

When did the stirrup emerge?

The metal bit?

How did domestic dogs help facilitate the merging of horses and humans, please, anyone?

Regards,

DrSid  

  

Dr Gustafson is a practicing veterinarian, equine behavior educator, and novelist. The application of behavior science enhances optimum health, performance, soundness, contentment, and longevity in animal athletes. Behavioral and nutritional strategies enrich the lives of stabled horses. Training and husbandry from the horse's perspective result in content, cooperative horses who are willing to learn and perform.