Injuries and blemishes in a semi-feral herd of ponies

Abstract

With the goal of characterizing the type and degree of injuries and blemishes incurred by horses living under natural social conditions, all members of a semi-feral herd of ponies were inspected on 4 occasions over a period of 28 months. Two occasions were during breeding/foaling season and 2 during non–breeding/foaling season months. On each occasion, each animal was examined (N = 47-65) and all injuries or blemish marks were recorded. Based on the types and number of injuries or blemishes, an injury/blemish grade was assigned for each inspection, ranging from 1 for no blemishes to 6 for more than 1 open wound. Almost all injuries and blemishes recorded were extremely mild. Only 12 of the 213 inspections and 14 of the 858 total injuries and blemishes involved wounds affecting tissues other than hair and skin. Males had significantly greater mean injury/blemish grade than females ( P < .0001). For all social categories and ages, the mean injury/blemish grade was significantly greater in the breeding/foaling season months than during the non–breeding/foaling season ( P < .0001). All foals were blemish-free at the non–breeding/foaling season inspections (n = 24) and relatively blemish-free (9 of 14) at the breeding/foaling season inspections. The rump and the barrel areas were the most common site of injuries or blemishes, both as a percentage of the total injury count and as a percentage of inspections involving those areas. These findings are consistent with the seasonal and gender patterns of aggressive behavior seen in this herd. Compared with reports of truly feral horse populations, it appears that injuries are fewer and less severe in this semi-feral herd. In addition, there appear to be fewer leg injuries in this semi-feral herd than has been described for truly feral horse populations.