Horses breed once or twice a year, usually during the warm months of April to June, and the gestation period lasts from 287 to 419 days, which means that the birth can take place in the spring or fall of the following year. The weaning time is two to three years and a small horse can walk alone shortly after birth, but parental and herd assistance is needed to protect against predators and for food. The flock usually leaves when they are two or three years old.
- Mating system:
Feral
horse, Equus caballus, breeding groups, called bands, usually include one but
sometimes up to five stallions.
We found that mares were loyal to single-stallion (SS) or
multistallion (MS) bands or were social dispersers (maverick mares, Mv). The
spacing and social behavior of mares and stallions in single- and multistallion
bands was measured. Criteria of mare well-being were also measured including
activity budgets (feeding: MS> SS = Mv; resting: MS <SS = Mv), band and
mare travel (MS> SS), maternal effort in maintaining contact with foals (MS =
Mv> SS), parasite levels in faeces (MS> Mv> SS), body condition (MS =
Mv <SS), fecundity (Mv <MS <SS) and offspring mortality (Mv <MS
<SS).
We present
evidence suggesting that the poor well-being of maverick mares and
multistallion band mares results from greater harassment by stallions. Stallion
and mare behavior and poor reproductive success in multistallion bands were not
consistent with explanations for the existence of such bands based on
cooperation or alternative mating strategies. We suggest an alternative
explanation. Stable relationships between mares and a single stallion may
enhance reproductive success by reducing aggression among individuals.
Therefore, we propose that there is strong selection pressure for stable,
long-term stallion-mare relationships, called consort relations. We propose the
consort hypothesis, that multistallion bands are an artefact of selection for
stable relationships that may result in more than one such relationship
forming, because mares solicit more than one stallion and stallion dominance
changes during band formation.(1)
- Time of birth
Births at night and in a quiet location. Wild horse foals are usually
born at a mass of 25 to 30 kg, but the average birth weight of domesticated
foals is 40 kg. Foals are born precocial and well-developed, usually being able
to stand within an hour of birth and walk within four to five hours to follow
their mother. When the mother returns to the herd, she goes through postpartum
estrus for usually seven to nine days, which is significantly less than regular
estrus periods. In domesticated horses who do not have a herd, postpartum
estrus usually happens five to twelve days after giving birth. Foals are able
to eat solid food within a week of being born. For their first month, the young
stay close to their mother and nurse for brief and frequent periods before
their second month, when they start to forage on their own. When they start to
forage independently, they started the weaning process which could take up to
two years for wild foals. In domesticated horses, foals are often weaned
between four and six months old (2)
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