horses and pigs

[rc]

I came home yesterday to discover that my 3 little piglets had gotten out and were dead. At first I thought it was the dogs and was bout ready to pass around a dose of lead poisioning until picking them up to dispose of them it looked like major cuts in them instead of teeth gashes like from a dog. It looked like they had been pawed. Last saturday the pigs had gotten out and after the horses overcame first fear of them they ran them back into the barn so I know they were very aggressive about the pigs. I didn't know there was such aggression from horses to pigs. Anyone have thoughts on this?

 

[peg4x4]

Had a stud poney went after the chickens pawing and biteing

 

[circlet]

my wife always talks about a stud her dad had on their ranch in Nebraska, he was very aggressive and territorial and she remembers seeing this stud "watch joe starlite" reach over a fence and grab a calf by the back of its neck then shake and stomp it to death. i don't think aggressive behavior is limited to studs though, it could have been any one of your horses. its too bad, sorry to hear it.

 

[chippie]

Some horse just flat do not like small animals. It doesn't matter if it is a cat, dog, goat or pig. They will stomp it to death. It is the nature of the beast. We had a mare that would stomp a goat or calf in a heartbeat.

I'm sorry about your pigs.

 

[flaboy]

I have a 3YO gelding that chases anything that comes in his field. Cows, dogs, birds, anything that moves. He puts those ears back and goes after them with a vengeance.

 

[msscamp]

I came home yesterday to discover that my 3 little piglets had gotten out and were dead. At first I thought it was the dogs and was bout ready to pass around a dose of lead poisioning until picking them up to dispose of them it looked like major cuts in them instead of teeth gashes like from a dog. It looked like they had been pawed. Last saturday the pigs had gotten out and after the horses overcame first fear of them they ran them back into the barn so I know they were very aggressive about the pigs. I didn't know there was such aggression from horses to pigs. Anyone have thoughts on this?

Horses can be very aggressive with any type of animal, it just depends on the horse. I let my goats into the alleyways a month or two ago to eat the weeds, and they proceded to show me every place they could sneak under the guardrail fence - all of which led into neighboring horse pens. I had quite a little rodeo going on for a while! The horses were chasing the goats, and the goats were escaping into other horses pens. Some of them were very aggressive, and some were not. I finally got all of the goats out of the horse pens, into neutral territory, and I fixed the spots they could get under before turning them into the alleyways again. We've even had a boarded horse or two who would go after a cat! It just depends on the horse.

 

[jonbri55]

I'd bet it was the horses. One of my pigs got out and went into the neighbors pasture and after the horses' initial shock they started attacking the pig. This was a 280# butcher hog too!