Wild horse behaviour: what 20 years of research reveals about domestic horses.

When Bonny Mealand first started working with wild horses, everything she thought she knew fell apart. Anna Louise asked how that felt. Bonny paused. "It was devastating, actually."

She'd grown up like most of us, believing horses existed for our purposes. To ride, to compete, to train. Then she saw free-living horses for the first time and realized: we've been looking at the wrong things entirely.

Wild horses spend their lives building and maintaining social relationships. Not grazing strategies. Not herd hierarchies. Not survival skills. Relationships. The peaceful harmony Bonny describes, the constant subtle communication, the effort they put into friendships, this is what their whole lives are about. It's what makes them emotionally stable enough to handle complex terrain, make decisions, watch another horse leave without losing their minds.

We domesticate them, isolate them, move them between yards, split up friendships when it suits our logistics. Then we're surprised when they're anxious.

Bonny talks about how seeing wild horses changed everything for her, including a two-year commitment not to ride her ex-dressage mare unless the mare clearly agreed. The mare said no for two years. That's what genuine communication looks like when you're actually listening.

Anna Louise and Bonny talk about what happens when you stop assuming you know horses and start watching what they actually care about. Episode link here:

Guest and resources

Bonny Mealand: Touching Wild Academy

Video footage in the episode intro is by Lizzie MacKenzie of Of The Wild, available in full at the Touching Wild Academy. Photography credits: Jean Sinclair and Nancy Clarke (Takhi in Mongolia picture).

Mentioned in this episode

Horses in Company by Lucy Rees
Horses in Our Hands
5 Domains of Horse Welfare

Anna Louise and Bonnie continued the discussion after the cameras were turned off. A listener asked what Bonnie has changed in her own life by learning from wild horses. Her answer: "Everything." Then she talks about wolves at a Mongolian waterhole and why Shetland ponies are completely themselves. If you're in the Inquisitive Herd, those conversations are below.