Feral horse

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Feral horses are free-roaming, untamed horses who are descended from domesticated horses. As such, they do not meet the definition of "true" wild horses that never had domesticated ancestors. All feral horses are descended from domestic horses that strayed or escaped into the wild. Most feral horses, if captured young and handled properly, can be re-domesticated.

Feral horses live in groups called bands or herds (In Australia, a feral herd is called a mob). Feral and wild horse herds are usually made up of small bands led by a dominant mare, containing additional mares, their foals, and immature horses of both sexes. There is usually one herd stallion, though occasionally a few less-dominant males may remain with the group. Horse "herds" in the wild are best described as groups of several small bands who share a common territory. Bands are usually on the small side, as few as three to five animals, but sometimes over a dozen. The makeup of bands shifts over time as young animals are driven out of the band they were born into and join other bands, or as young stallions challenge older males for dominance. However, in a given closed ecosystem such as the isolated refuges in which most feral horses live today, to maintain genetic diversity the minimum size for a sustainable free-roaming horse or burro population is 150-200 animals.^[1]

See also: Horse behavior

Modern types of feral horses include the following:

Mustang, the legally protected free-roaming horse of the western United States.
Brumby, the feral horse of Australia
Sorraia, a feral horse native to Spain and Portugal.
Chincoteague pony, which actually lives in a semi-feral state on Assateague Island off the coast of Virginia.
Kaimanawa horse of New Zealand
Namib Desert Horse of Namibia
Sable Island Horses of Nova Scotia
New Forest pony, while predominately domesticated, also lives in feral herds in the area of Hampshire, England.

In historical times, the only horses who meet the definition of "wild," in that they never had domesticated ancestors, were the Tarpan and the Przewalski's horse. The Tarpan is now extinct.

For information on other "wild" Equines, see