Forever a Mustang: An Orphan Foal’s Transition to an Adoptive Home

Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, University Library

We propose a sequel to the exploratory study of wild horses on the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range that we presented in 2022, and is forthcoming in Cheiron. Our original project documented the role of a prominent mare, Cecelia, in shaping the social lives of her family band. We relied on research by John Hartigan, whose interest is in equine cognition shaped by social interactions, rather than by adaptations to the physical environment. We wanted to continue with that line of research by following other family bands, but a tragic situation unfolded as Nancy learned that Cecelia’s new foal, Whisper, was alone with her band stallion, and that an especially brutal winter had most likely taken Cecelia’s life. This situation has turned into an opportunity to carry on her legacy, because a staff member from the Bureau of Land Management field office asked Nancy if she would be willing to foster the orphaned foal. The BLM periodically removes Pryor horses to adoptive homes in order to maintain the herd population at a level that the Range can support, but field staff have rarely been able to rescue abandoned foals. We realized that this “close encounter” called for a change in the focus of our work, to observing how social interactions appear to shape Whisper’s development during the transition from her natal band to her human and ranch horse family. This is a unique opportunity for an ongoing relationship with a once free-roaming horse that will hopefully shed new light on social learning and equine cognition.