(Clicking on the image will open the image in full resolution)
This post is not meant as gratuitous violence, but rather to demonstrate that the free-roaming horses live dangerous, and occasionally deadly lives. No animals perished in this video; the foal Avi was fine in a few days, however, he did not survive the winter. His dam, Madison, is not a maiden mare; she had a foal Juanita Rae in 2019 who survived.
After the band comes to water. Madison immediately heads to water ahead of her band. Nursing builds a considerable thirst. Her foal, Avi is left alone.
Avi standing on the berm, is approached by a bachelor stallion. You can see his mother in the lower left of the photo, and Josie in the center.
Two stallions approach Avi. Generally, when a foal is approached by older, or more dominant horses , foals will “clack”. Clacking/snapping is when a foal (and sometimes older horses) extend their neck and open and close their mouths; the term clacking comes from the sound of teeth striking. This is a subordinate behaviour that tells the dominant horse that they represent no threat. Avi did not do this during any interaction with any strange horses. Also of note is the injury to Avi’s left foreleg and left hind leg. These injuries occurred prior to the bachelor’s attack.
Avi’s band stallion Eddie, the grey (white) stallion, confronts the curious stallion(s). Avi showed some signs of submission by extending his neck, he did not open and close his mouth audibly.
A scuffle ensues, and note that Avi is directly behind Eddie.
The three bachelors leave, and Avi wanders off to the left. This is fairly unusual foal behaviour. Foals tend to stick close to the band members.
The stallion Shooter begins to cross the waterhole. (Warning: If you don’t wish to see the foal being struck, scroll past the video below. There is no blood.)
Shooter strikes the foal. In truth, he could have easily killed the foal, but he did not. It is unusual that he deliberately went across the pond to confront the foal.
The foals walks/limps back to his band, his mother waits.
You can see the mud from Shooter’s strike on Avi’s chest. In this photo he is just over one month old. He was spotted/named on June 18, 2020 and this photo was taken July 27, 2020.
Gypsy, an older mare in Eddie’s band comforts Avi.
The foal Avi was fine a few days later. We saw him running with his band, as well as walking with no sign of lameness. His behaviour was unusual from wandering a considerable distance from his band, as well as not behaving in a subordinate manner when approached by strange stallions.
Why are bachelors aggressive? As a rule, stallions are more aggressive towards colts over fillies (Górecka-Bruzda, 2023). This makes sense because colts are future adversaries and competition for bands. A common explanation for infanticide is that the new stallion cannot afford to use his energy to look after another male’s offspring, and some may kill foals when a band is taken over (Gray, 2008).
Avi’s most likely sire is Rendezvous, and his dam Madison changed bands in October of 2019 when Eddie took over some of Rendezvous band. Avi was born in June 2020, which is a reasonably long time from Avi’s conception. This is important because stallion aggression towards foals is inversely proportional to the time spent with their dam. In other words, the time together, called consort time, results in stallions being less aggressive with mares they have spent more time together (Linklater , 1999). Presumably because the chances of the foal being theirs is higher, and so Eddie may have been more willing to risk injury defending Avi against the bachelors (Miller, 1981).
Stallions do kill foals. Bachelors are also known to inflict mortal wounds. Horses have individual personalities, and some or more tolerant than others. Avi did not demonstrate socially appropriate behaviour and showed signs of illness and injury. This alone could pose a risk for all horses by bringing predators close to an injured foal. A similar circumstance occurs in the movie ‘Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies’ when another band stallions kills a foal who could not stand after birth. (https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/cloud-wild-stallion-of-the-rockies-introduction/29/).
Eddie’s Band July, 2020. Sand Wash Basin Colorado
Gypsy: Unknown, older mare
Madison: Bandera x Ohitika, 2016
Ayita: Tecumseh x Flame, 2016
Makwa: Josie x Orgulloso
Josie: Unknown, older mare
Avi: Madison x Rendevous, 2020
Eddie: Lucky x Tuscarora, 2014
Shooter: Flirt x Brave, 2015
References:
Gray, Meeghan. (2008). An infanticide attempt by a free-roaming feral stallion (Equus caballus). Biology letters. 5. 23-5. 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0571.
Górecka-Bruzda A, Jaworska J, Stanley CR. The Social and Reproductive Challenges Faced by Free-Roaming Horse (Equus caballus) Stallions. Animals. 2023; 13(7):1151. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13071151
Gray, M. E., Cameron, E. Z., Peacock, M. M., Thain, D. S., & Kirchoff, V. S. (2012). Are low infidelity rates in feral horses due to infanticide? Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 66(4), 529–537. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41501750
Linklater WL, Cameron EZ, Minot EO, Stafford KJ. Stallion harassment and the mating system of horses. Anim Behav. 1999 Aug;58(2):295-306. doi: 10.1006/anbe.1999.1155. PMID: 10458881.
Miller, R. (1981). Male aggression, dominance and breeding behavior in Red Desert feral horses. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 57(3-4), 340–351. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1981.tb01930.x
