What is "Snaking"?
"Snaking" is a herding behavior primarily displayed by stallions in wild horses. However, snaking has been observed in domesticated horses, including geldings (castrated stallions). Snaking, as described by Zharkikh (2009), is characterized by a horse lowering its head and pinning it's ears back flat against their neck and forward locomotion. The neck is lowered below horizontal and oscillated from side to side. This behavior causes the horses head and neck to look long and snake-like, thus the term "snaking".
What's the purpose of snaking?
Snaking is utilized by stallions in herding because of its effectiveness in making other horses move in the desired direction.
In a study done by Ginther (2002), four treatments were observed over the course of approximately 48 days. The first treatment started with four mares alone and a new treatment was added every 7 days, then observed for 5 additional days. The next treatment included the addition of a stallion, and in the next two new mares were added, and finally the entire herd was moved to a new pasture.
The extent of herding was quantified by the mean distances between mares. While the amount of snaking behavior was rated as either 0, 1, 2, or 3, in increasing degrees (nil for 0, up to maximal for 3). The starting distance between mares was 5 mare lengths to begin with, but decreased to 1.9 mare lengths when the stallion was added. The extent of the snaking behavior was highest on the first day that the stallion was added, then tapered over the next five days. The snaking returned to the highest level when the herd was moved to a new pasture.
It would seem that the snaking behavior is used as a stronger aid to help the stallions assert dominance and move mares as needed. After dominance and order is asserted, the stallion feels less inclined to use such a strong behavior to achieve goals. However, when order is threatened (i.e. when the herd is moved to a new pasture), the snaking returns to its highest level.
One difference between wild and domesticated herds is that, in domesticated herd, snaking was seldom observed in bachelor groups (groups made entirely of stallions and colts, that is), whereas in domesticated bachelor groups, snaking was observed (Zharkikh, 2009). This is possibly because, in domesticated groups, many of the horses are geldings and therefore may act just the same as mares, should they not still have any stallion characteristics.
Below are links to some video example of snaking:
In a study done by Ginther (2002), four treatments were observed over the course of approximately 48 days. The first treatment started with four mares alone and a new treatment was added every 7 days, then observed for 5 additional days. The next treatment included the addition of a stallion, and in the next two new mares were added, and finally the entire herd was moved to a new pasture.
The extent of herding was quantified by the mean distances between mares. While the amount of snaking behavior was rated as either 0, 1, 2, or 3, in increasing degrees (nil for 0, up to maximal for 3). The starting distance between mares was 5 mare lengths to begin with, but decreased to 1.9 mare lengths when the stallion was added. The extent of the snaking behavior was highest on the first day that the stallion was added, then tapered over the next five days. The snaking returned to the highest level when the herd was moved to a new pasture.
It would seem that the snaking behavior is used as a stronger aid to help the stallions assert dominance and move mares as needed. After dominance and order is asserted, the stallion feels less inclined to use such a strong behavior to achieve goals. However, when order is threatened (i.e. when the herd is moved to a new pasture), the snaking returns to its highest level.
One difference between wild and domesticated herds is that, in domesticated herd, snaking was seldom observed in bachelor groups (groups made entirely of stallions and colts, that is), whereas in domesticated bachelor groups, snaking was observed (Zharkikh, 2009). This is possibly because, in domesticated groups, many of the horses are geldings and therefore may act just the same as mares, should they not still have any stallion characteristics.
Below are links to some video example of snaking:
Skip to 0:49
|
Skip to 2:28, and enjoy the cheesy music!
|