Part 1 of Defense Mechanism series: Built to Fight
The primary defense mechanism of a horse is to flee — as we will see in part 2. But just because they can flee doesn't mean they always will. There are times when, instead of fleeing, a horse will fight. This can happen for various reasons; suffice to say, you should never try to push an animal, especially a prey animal, to fight. They will often use fighting as a last resort or when they are trapped.
This is not true for some other prey animals like donkeys or mules. Donkeys evolved in mountainous regions where fleeing might equate with falling to their deaths — literally, as opposed to horses who evolved on the open plains where there was ample opportunity and geography to run. A donkey is more likely to stand its ground and fight if given the chance. Horses, would prefer, however, to flee first and ask questions later.
Of course, horses, particularly geldings — although some mares will also do this — enjoy mimicking true fighting displays that stallions do for real. Nipping, biting, rearing, striking, retreating and reapproaching are all a part of dominance and play displays. But this is not fighting in the sense I am referring to. Horses mostly choose to fight when their primary mechanism — fleeing — is taken away. They don't fight because they prefer it; they fight because they feel like it's one of the only options left.
There are plenty of online videos of horses attacking other horses and, indeed, attacking humans. It is a desperate and sad situation to behold. I feel badly for animals that feel as though this can be there only answer when they are trained. It does not have to be this way.
Horses also fight to protect their young or other herd members, often by striking with their front feet. I once saw a yearling kill a coyote in this fashion. Again, had the opportunity been there for that horse to avoid the confrontation, it probably would have done so.
Many years ago, we had a neighbor whose dog escaped their yard and terrorized two of our older horses, causing one to swing her head and break her jaw against a fence post. The following day, I saw the same dog get out of its yard and come toward our pasture. It was a small dog, easily killed by a horse, but our horses were so freaked out by it that they wanted nothing to do with it. I opened a gate to the big pasture where that dog was so that I could try to scare it off myself, but when I opened the gate, I felt a whoosh of air go by me.
A boarding horse took off running at top speed after that dog. She chased it across the ten-acre pasture and almost reached it before the dog jumped the fence and went home. There is no doubt in my mind that that mare had some sort of horse revenge on her mind. She knew that dog was a threat — she had probably witnessed it come through the day before and harass the older horses — and was going to see to it that she took the threat out to the best of her ability. Fight, in that case, was something she was willing to take on. Not all horses would have chosen the same response. I was damned impressed with that mare after that day, and had I not seen it with my own eyes, I might not have believed it.
Whenever we see a horse on the fight, as the saying goes, we should be asking ourselves what caused the horse to feel the need to choose that option. Truly, horses should not respond that way, but if they do, you can rest assured they probably have a darn good reason to do so.