pig`s and horses

[ycbm]

So why not dogs/wolves?

Because horses have lived with domesticated dogs for centuries but only infrequently come across pigs, would be my guess. The pigs are contained, but not tame in the sense dogs are, so may not have changed so much from wild boar as dogs have from wolves.
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[FinnishLapphund]

I have no idea why so many horses are scared of pigs (none of mine have been) but I'm not convinced it's because they fear being eaten. If true, why aren't they scared of dogs which are genetically identical, or almost identical to wolves? Pigs are omnivores, not predators, they could conceivably attack an injured horse but couldn't possibly run down a healthy one.

So why not dogs/wolves?

According to Swedish Wikipedia adult wild boar sows in Sweden usually have a weight between 70-140 kg, and boars can weigh over 200 kg. A boar on over 217 kg, was shot in 2010 in rural areas only around 12 km from where I live.
Swedish article NOTE with picture of the shot 217 kg boar, not sure the link will work though
According to the same page, the enormous over 300 kg wild boars which sometimes have been shot in other countries, are the results of crosses between large domesticated pigs and wild boars.
Anyhow, an adult Swedish wild boar can be up to around 1 metre in height, and be between 1.5 to 1.8 metre long, to that comes a tail of around 25 cm.

Compared this to European wild wolves, which have an average weight below 40 kg. According to Wikipedia a North American wolf have an average weight around 36 kg, but according to an Alaska Department of Fish and Game page, their wolves have an average weigh around 45 to just below 50 kg. In general these weights are for males, the females are usually a few kg lighter.
The record breaking largest wolf weighed 79,4 kg. (https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=503)
According to Wikipedia, the largest wolves are around 80-85 cm at the withers/shoulders, and up to around 1.6 metre long (I've seen 1.8 m mentioned on another page) but unlike the wild boar measurements, that is including the tail, which can be between 29-50 cm long.

Add to the above, even though wolves can have impressive looking canine teeth, the wild boars canine teeth is definitely to be respected, too. Last but definitely not least, don't forget, wild boars have somewhat poor eyesight, so presumably they could behave a bit more unpredictable compared to wolves.

Altogether, going back 1000, 2000 years or more in history, I presume that from a horse point of view, the risk for them was higher if suddenly a large boar came charging at them, than compared to something usaully weighing less than 40 kg.
And the longer back in history boars could come up in a weight of over 200 kg, presumably the more reason for a horse to possibly have an inert desire to be careful around wild boars/pigs. .

By the way, I have some books about small scale household farming, and judging by what is said about pigs in them, I would say pigs are opportunists. E.g. I recall reading an anecdote about a pig that basically seemed to hunt rats the way most domesticated cat would, by ambush.

 

[millikins]

According to Swedish Wikipedia adult wild boar sows in Sweden usually have a weight between 70-140 kg, and boars can weigh over 200 kg. A boar on over 217 kg, was shot in 2010 in rural areas only around 12 km from where I live.
Swedish article NOTE with picture of the shot 217 kg boar, not sure the link will work though
According to the same page, the enormous over 300 kg wild boars which sometimes have been shot in other countries, are the results of crosses between large domesticated pigs and wild boars.
Anyhow, an adult Swedish wild boar can be up to around 1 metre in height, and be between 1.5 to 1.8 metre long, to that comes a tail of around 25 cm.

Compared this to European wild wolves, which have an average weight below 40 kg. According to Wikipedia a North American wolf have an average weight around 36 kg, but according to an Alaska Department of Fish and Game page, their wolves have an average weigh around 45 to just below 50 kg. In general these weights are for males, the females are usually a few kg lighter.
The record breaking largest wolf weighed 79,4 kg. (https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=503)
According to Wikipedia, the largest wolves are around 80-85 cm at the withers/shoulders, and up to around 1.6 metre long (I've seen 1.8 m mentioned on another page) but unlike the wild boar measurements, that is including the tail, which can be between 29-50 cm long.

Add to the above, even though wolves can have impressive looking canine teeth, the wild boars canine teeth is definitely to be respected, too. Last but definitely not least, don't forget, wild boars have somewhat poor eyesight, so presumably they could behave a bit more unpredictable compared to wolves.

Altogether, going back 1000, 2000 years or more in history, I presume that from a horse point of view, the risk for them was higher if suddenly a large boar came charging at them, than compared to something usaully weighing less than 40 kg.
And the longer back in history boars could come up in a weight of over 200 kg, presumably the more reason for a horse to possibly have an inert desire to be careful around wild boars/pigs. .

By the way, I have some books about small scale household farming, and judging by what it said about pigs in them, I would say pigs are opportunists. E.g. I recall reading an anecdote about a pig that basically seemed to hunt rats the way a cat would, by ambush.

Well yes I get that, a large charging wild boar is pretty threatening. But pigs don't hunt, they might opportunistically attack a wounded horse or if they were cornered but wouldn't actively go looking for them unlike wolves and other canines.

 

[rabatsa]

A hungry pig in the wild would hunt if chance arose. A group of pigs such as a sow and half grown piglets need a lot of food and can easily take down a horse.

 

[scruffyponies]

When we had a few Kune Kune pigs at home most of the horses would reach over the fence to sniff noses as we passed. I think it is mostly just lack of familiarity, combined with the usual reaction to rider getting tense.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Well yes I get that, a large charging wild boar is pretty threatening. But pigs don't hunt, they might opportunistically attack a wounded horse or if they were cornered but wouldn't actively go looking for them unlike wolves and other canines.

I believe that it is like with humans, spiders and lions. Spiders have as far as I know, never hunted humans, yet many humans are arachnophobic. Presumably because in some parts of the world spiders are highly dangerous for humans, and their size can make a spider "attack" seem unpredictable.

Lions are much larger than spiders, can hunt humans, yet few people have an inert leophobia, even though that would be a completely reasonable fear, considering the threat a lion potentially could pose to a human life.

So I would say that the likeliness for pig fear in horses doesn't need to have anything to do with horses being hunted by wild boars. I think it all comes down to wild boars large size, the risk for them inflicting deadly injuries, and the unpredictability potentially involved in being attacked by one.

 

[hock]

I guess I’m a pig farmer (not through choice). We breed and raise rare breed pork and then sell direct to farm shops and families etc. Most of our horses were horrified when the pigs first arrived but all have now acclimatised as demonstrated in the photo. Pigs btw are bloody huge, that’s a young boar medium trotting passed my 17.2 pony. If I could get the ponies to work over their backs in the same way I’d be delighted.
I’ve thought about letting out a paddock next door to the pigs short term for people to get their horses used to them but I don’t think there’d be much of a demand.

 

[Keith_Beef]

It's very clearly an instinctive fear left over from the days of Eohippus, the ancestor of the modern horse, that lived during the early Eocene (56 to 33.9 million years ago). Eohippus was around 30cm tall at the shoulder, as compared to the contemporaneous Archaeotherium, ancestor of the modern pig, which was 1.2 metres at the shoulder and 2 metres long with bloody big teeth and strong jaws.

 

[milliepops]

Wild boar can be aggressive if they think you might be a danger to the piglets or mating, they are otherwise very shy and keep away from people as much as possible. When they were hunted on horseback they defended themselves as best they could which is not the same as actively looking for something to injure and kill. There are plenty of wild boar in the Forest of Dean where I have walked quite a bit and they are becoming a nuisance as they have been allowed to multiply hugely but I have never heard of wild boar actually going after anybody. s

there have been attacks on dogs though.
I see them quite often. My horses have been less afraid of the boar than domestic pigs, i think because they don't make a noise generally other than crashing through the undergrowth if disturbed
there are boar rootling around right up to the fence of my nursery field so I hope the babies will be OK with them as they grow up.

 

[tallyho!]

They get used to it well at least some of ours did.

horses get used to most things after a time and to be fair I like practising the whole “half-pass” with seemingly no aids... perhaps pigs are needed at M.

 

[scruffyponies]

Right now one of mine is much more frightened of sheep. There was an incident a couple of months ago involving electric sheep wire. He is now totally convinced that 1) all orange rope is dangerous, 2) sheep cause electric shocks.

He loves pigs.

 

[Annagain]

I recently wrote a post about my boy being very anxious at one particular point of a certain ride we do. It’s as we turn from the quick way home onto a longer route so I thought he was being nappy and would get after him a bit. He’d go past but would be on high alert and very jumpy. I then found out there are pigs in the garden of the house at the junction. I’m a bit more sympathetic as we go past now, talking to him and patting him and that’s helped a lot. I feel terrible I was basically telling him off for being scared!

 

[All]

I guess I’m a pig farmer (not through choice). We breed and raise rare breed pork and then sell direct to farm shops and families etc. Most of our horses were horrified when the pigs first arrived but all have now acclimatised as demonstrated in the photo. Pigs btw are bloody huge, that’s a young boar medium trotting passed my 17.2 pony. If I could get the ponies to work over their backs in the same way I’d be delighted.
I’ve thought about letting out a paddock next door to the pigs short term for people to get their horses used to them but I don’t think there’d be much of a demand.

this is one of our recent boars (live weight was 350 kg we had 2 at this size they were only 4 years old

these things would not catch a horse they would eat it if it was wounded thow

 

[millikins]

Right now one of mine is much more frightened of sheep. There was an incident a couple of months ago involving electric sheep wire. He is now totally convinced that 1) all orange rope is dangerous, 2) sheep cause electric shocks.

He loves pigs.

My Battersea rescue dog made a move towards some sheep that we unexpectedly came across. She touched the electric fence first and remained convinced until her dying day that sheep were very dangerous and could bite from a distance.