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Is It Okay for My Horse to Live by Himself?
Q. Is it okay for a horse to live without herdmates or companions?
A. I am going to say that yes, it is okay for a horse to live alone, but with a bunch of caveats.
Horses are social animals. Feral horses live in harems, with a stallion, some mares, and offspring who will later disperse to other harems. Domesticated horses have lost really none of their “natural” behaviors. Nearly all of our domesticated species are highly social animals. That, along with their relative docility, probably contributed to them being good species for domestication
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Written by:
Nancy Diehl, VMD, MS
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