Why don't horses like pigs?

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frantyman

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I guess I am just lucky that I had only ever heard this 'rumour' but yesterday I got the evidence.... the pig was only stood in the field same as the sheep in the field further along the road but for some reason hiphopcob decided to enter himself into strictly come dancing. What is it about pigs that they don't like? smell? Bit of an issue as we hear someone just down the lane from our yard is planning to go into commercial pig farming....help!
 
I think its the smell !

Luckily my horse loves pigs !!
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We have two HUGE pigs at the farm called Ben & Jerry
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I know!
I heard that it was becasue when horses were still wild pigs were a preditor ( I know, sounds bizzare) so they still scare them. I read this somewhere and I'm pretty sure it is true.
 
I have a vague recollection of being told that it is because before horses evolved to what they are now, wild boars were their natural predator - so even though domestic pigs are no longer a threat to modern horses, it is a natural instinct to be fearful of them. I have no idea if this is true, but it does make sense! Murphy, who is scared of pretty much nothing, gets really tense when we hack past the pig place near us.
 
I used to keep my boy on a pig farm. He didn't appear to mind them once he was used to them. He is good with all livestock and I have used him to heard cattle and some sheep!

I know that some horses (not at our yard) wouldn't go near the YO owner if she was wearning her 'Piggy' clothes, but were fine with her once she changed, so perhaps it is the smell?
 
cheers everyone - so it could be smell. I guess if the pig farm does happen he will have no choice but to be desensitised as the smell will waft across the fields...mmm. Prefer the smell of a bacon sarnie personally.
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I think it is because they are quite aggressive predators!!

HOWEVER. I have an old gelding now nearing 30 years of age who didn't much like pigs. When I lived in Scotland we rented an additional two acres of grazing land. The owners kept one corner for two pot bellied pigs with a low electric fence to keep pigs in.

One morning I found the old man in with the pigs. My neighbour had watched him step over the fence and spend the night snuggled up with the two sows.
 
I used to have trouble getting my old gelding past a pig farm on our hacks.

I was told (don't know if it's true) that horses can smell pigs blood because their veins/arteries run closer to the surface of the skin than other animals.....anyone else heard that or is it a load of rubbish?
 
My own opinion based on... um... just my own experience from having hacked in pig farming country
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is that they hate the sounds they make - even when there was nothing really going on at the pig farms I used to hack past, there were always squeals and grunts - sounds other species could easily percieve as animals in pain, maybe. Therefore prey animal not at ease with being anywhere near those sounds because of implied danger, and because smell is so distinctive, quickly associates the smell with the perception of danger.
 
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Good news is tho, you can desensitise them to them! Ask if you can borrow a field next door for a day or two!

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Ditto that. Or at least make it a regular part of your hacking routes.
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We keep pigs in the summer and my two horses would be in the paddock with them when the piggies get fed! I sometimes think that riders who hack past our field get themselves all worked up in advance as they know the pigs are there and so this affects their horses. I do keep IDs though and they are pretty level headed about most things.
 
I think its a combination of noise and smell. Most commercialy reared pigs are fed a diet with very high protein, perhaps that makes them smell more predatory. Like most things though you can desensitise horses to them.
 
Understand entierly why horses don't like them. Where my family live in France there are lots of Sanglier (big wild boar) around. Had to be very carefull in the pastures from evening onwards as they can and do injure/kill people.

Local farmers lost livestock to them a reasonable amount. Most crops also have a single line of electric fencing about 40cm high to protect them. Have heard about and can well belived the patch in evolution where they would have killed prehistoric horses too.

They leave a distinctive smell and burrowing marks in fields they are active in. Rode right into the middle of one by accident once. Is the only time Mights has bolted with me
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Then again am still well conditioned to be scared of Bats (main Rabies carrier on the continent apparently).

We are generally very nice and safe in this country lol
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WANTED:
Pig on short term loan in the New Forest area to make friends with my ponies! I don't fancy hacking a 3 yr old out and meeting one, which is inevitable in the NF, not after the experiences I had with my last horse.

Is that classed as advertising??? ops.
 
The farm next door to our yard has recently got some pigs and Ellie hates them . I am slowly getting her used to them as I persist in riding her along the boundary line where they are kept. First time we encountered them was 'interesting' shall we say
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I've been told that it is the way they move, the sort of jerky snuffling they do that horses hate, because they can't predict what they will do. But that doesn't fully explain it I don't think - I remember going with my friend who was doing a 2* 3DE and the roads and tracks went past a pig farm - she lost about a minute trying to get the horse past the farm, but the pigs weren't out. Mind you, by then she maybe associated the sounds or smell and knew they were out to get her
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Went to do pony club C test and whilst the ponies were stabled in the barn, there were some piglets out of sight of mine in another stable. Everytime they squealed, my mare went loopy. Got round the problem by tying her up on the trailer outside.

My conclusion therefore is it is the sounds they make.
 
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