Effects of Early Experience Upon Adaptiveness of Horses

The early rearing management of horses varies greatly. Whereas most breeding farms handle horses on a practically continuous basis, many horses reared on the working ranches of the southwestern United States may have experienced minimal contact with humans prior to being trained. Indeed, rearing horses with conspecifics in holding ranges which may be several hundred, or even several thousand, acres in extent mimics the habitat of the feral horse. Extensive contact with humans frequently occurs only following two to three years of free grazing, thus the subsequent process of training as work animals entails considerable stress both on horses and their human owners. An additional concern with this type of rearing is the high level of attrition of stock due to accidental injury, predation, etc. Death losses of greater than 10% are not uncommon.