My trainer got bucked off a horse and broke his pelvis, I believe, among a few other quite serious injuries, because he smelled like pigs.
Apparently it is a common fear among horses!
Someone has a pig stud service operation about 1/2 mile through the woods behind my house. It’s pretty ramshackle pens and sheds in the trees, but apparently they collect and sell semen as a business. Sometimes, you can hear them squealing from here. I rode my horse over there one day and we watched the pigs from about 40 feet away. That’s as close as I could get her, and even then, she wanted to spin and run away. I had her just stand and watch from the edge of her comfort zone for about 5 minutes. I’m hoping to return and get closer and closer.
Where I used to live in California feral pigs were a thing. A scary thing, in fact. Wild pigs are truly dangerous, and I wonder if the reason horses so often react so strongly is a species memory (so to speak) of when they coexisted with wild swine and they had to keep alert.
I never encountered pigs riding on the trails out there, except at a distance, but I have a funny-afterwards story about my young Aussie, when we were hiking in the woods near my house. A mama the size of a medium refrigerator walked across the trail ahead of us and we both stopped dead. My high-prey-drive stockdog just froze. Then came a long line of adorable striped piglets. There was a gap in the line and then the last wee piggie appeared, scampering to catch up, and Bonnie was inspired to cut that one out and drive it toward me, as I hissed NO, That’ll DO, Quit! Expecting mama to burst out of the brush any second.
That was a long moment.
At a big camping ride I went on a few years ago somebody brought some donkeys. Horses who have never heard a donkey have strong reactions.
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Yup. Looks like what is called a Guinea Hog in my neck of the woods. They’re an old-school breed that precedes the practice of factory farming.
It’s common for horses to get freaked out by pigs. That and goats.
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My gelding was terrified of Chickens, Turkeys and Guinea fowl. He would become even more freaked out when the made their noises, clucks and gobbles. He never got over it.
Guinea fowl are the pit bulls of the bird world. Horses are wise to be wary!
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On North Woods Law (the Maine edition) a Guinea Fowl beat up a Pit Bull, and we’re not talking a pup, we’re talking about a 60 pound plus adult dog.
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Ha ha, we just got a new pig at the farm where I board.
This girl is HUGE! Her back is higher than my waste and her head is massive. We were told 400 lbs. But she is way bigger than that and too skinny.
Lucky she is very sweet, lol. My Arab mare didn’t take off when she saw her, but there was a lot of blowing and prancing going on.
I did meet a pot bellied pig on the trail once with my last paint mare. I’m very near sighted and didn’t have my glasses on at the time.
My horse wasn’t reacting to the very ugly dog trotting up the trail, so I didn’t either. Wasn’t till it passed us that I knew it was a pig, lol.
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I live in Florida and there are lots of feral pigs at the preserves where we trail ride. Generally, the horses are terrified of them. Sometimes we see whole families of pigs. They almost always go the other way when they see horses, although I’ve come across a few that just stand there. Over the years, my gelding has gotten much braver, but I still am wary. Usually we seem them from a distance. If one popped out of the underbrush nearby - oh, that would be bad.
The pigs tear up the ground pretty badly, and some horses are afraid even to go near that, probably because it smells like the pigs.
And then about a month ago … a pig wandered onto the property at the barn where I board. Looks like a feral pig, with long, coarse brownish hair and tusks, but he is castrated and acts like he’s been a pet. The BO is keeping him in a paddock (which we have to go past to get to one of the arenas), and the first day I was pretty worried. I led my horse out of the barn, and when he saw the pig (about 75 feet away), he just about dragged me over to him! They sniffed noses and acted like they knew each other in a past life or something. Best buds.
So ya just never know.
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