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[RC] Chalk and Cheese (was: Boldness in horses) - k s swigart

Donna Coss said:

I am not certain if it is result of nature /
versus nurture, but I find that the horses that
I raise out in a herd situation, on at least 40
acres, so there is room to roam and interact
much as a wild herd would, gives me horses
that are extremely self confident!
...
There is something about being in a herd from
the time they are foals, sometimes even with a
stallion, but mainly with horses of varying ages,
and learning to live in this environment that develops
a sound mind and the ability to handle stressful
situations. They also trust their people.

I have two horses (half brothers, same sire) who were born about 1 month
apart, and they were different from each other with respect to
"boldness" "self-cofidence" or whatever you want to call it, from the
day they were born (and subsequently raised in a herd situation on 100+
acres).

The first hid behind his mother when anything even remotely scary
approached, while the other walked across a tarp on the ground away from
his mother in a gale force windstorm when he was three days old.  When
the first was one month old and the second was one day old, the second
had already had more interaction with humans (because he walked up to
them instead of running away from them).

Despite the fact that to look at them they were peas in a pod (few
people today can tell them apart, in baby pictures, I am one of the few
that can), disposition-wise they were and are as different as chalk and
cheese (despite the fact that the coward is still a stallion, so
presumably has testosterone to give him courage, and the bold one was
gelded at the age of two).  Well, not entirely different, they do both
share some of their sire's disposition traits, but even so, their
inherant dispositions is something they were born with.

Additionally, I don't believe the living out in a herd situation on
large space with other horses is what teaches horses to trust people.
It is interaction with people that does this.

kat
Orange County, Calif.
:)



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