Who’s the leader of the pack? Or in the case of horses, the herd? If
you think it’s the dominant horse, think again. French researchers
recently determined that the dominant horse is rarely the one who makes
the first move to get the herd going. And, in fact, the “herd leader”
often changes throughout the day.
“To really be a true leader, you need followers, and that’s true of
horses as well as humans,” said Odile Petit, PhD, of the University of
Strasbourg, in Alsace, France. Petit presented her work on herd
movements at the 2015 Equine Ethology Day held April 9 in Saumur,
France.
Many researchers and owners have traditionally believed dominant
horses—especially stallions or older, dominant mares—to be the herd
leaders. But Petit’s research results show that, actually, they often
leave the leading up to others. And the ones that most frequently take
the job are the most sociable horses, she said.
But, Petit said, neither the dominant horses nor the more sociable
horses are most likely to be followed. It’s the ones with the most
“friends,” she said.
“It seems to come down to the close relationships that the leading
horse has with other horses,” Petit said. “When horses see their
‘friends’ start to move, they’ll often join in and start moving as
well.” The horses typically begin to move in small groups until the
entire herd is moving.
Petit’s research team studied several herds of about 15 to 20 horses in
seminatural settings in very large pastures. They videoed the herds’
movements, starting from well before the movement until after the
movement was completed. They found that leaders often gave subtle
physical cues—such as specific postures—prior to movement, and these
were sufficient to get the horses all moving at approximately the same
time. They also noted that nearly every horse in the herd was the leader
for at least one movement over the course of a week. However, not all
leading horses were followed, in which cases the leader abandoned the
movement.
Petit said the team also found, somewhat surprisingly, that a stallion
in a group of mares actually appears to disrupt the harmony of the
movements. “When we took the stallion out, the mares seemed much more in
phase without him,” she said. “And when he was there, he was out of
phase with them. If he tried to initiate movements, he usually wasn’t
followed.”
Horse herds’ highly complex social structures allow the members to have
very efficient and organized group movements, said Petit. “This is
vital for a prey group,” she said. “The group has to be able to move
from a food point to a water point, for example, without its members
getting widely dispersed.”
She also said her team confirmed that social relationships are critical
to herd movement. Even when a horse saw a leader begin to depart,
whether he followed was typically based on the decisions made by his
closest neighbors, “which were generally also its preferred partners,”
she said.
“Petit said the team also found, somewhat surprisingly, that a stallion
in a group of mares actually appears to disrupt the harmony of the
movements. “When we took the stallion out, the mares seemed much more in
phase without him,” she said. “And when he was there, he was out of
phase with them. If he tried to initiate movements, he usually wasn’t
followed.”“
Meet Rascal, the 2,000 pound fence-jumping scene stealer in this year’s Super Bowl commercial. Trainers chose Rascal to make the jump because of his athleticism, eagerness and aptitude.
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