Grizzly Bear Chasing Alberta Wild Horses
BY Herschel Smith
2 years, 5 months ago
Watch the video, but here is my analysis (the comments on YouTube are idiotic).
The caption says, “wild horses.” Eh, maybe so. I don’t know. There’s a salt/mineral block in the video, so it isn’t completely a wild herd. No commenter points this out. In any case, this is their neighborhood. They know their way around.
Second, the horses are barely at a lope. I know. I have trained horses. They can keep this speed up – and much faster than this – for far longer than the bear. The bear is heavy. A large portion of the musculature of the horse is dedicated to doing just what they’re doing. The adult horses are in absolutely no danger. They just chose to run rather than fight because that’s the easiest thing to do. It’s all instinctive. There was no calculus.
Third, the reason they’re loping is twofold. They won’t waste energy if they don’t need to, and they’re probably protecting the foal. That foal is likely in danger, but that’s the only horse in danger.
The bear is in danger too. If the horses decide to make a fight of it with the bear (assuming the bear catches up with the foal), one strike from a rear hoof will crush the bear’s skull. Even a glancing blow would break his jaw (killing him) or cause internal injuries (causing organ failure). A horse kicks much faster than a rattlesnake strike, and delivers 2000 psi pressure. Don’t ever underestimate a horse’s ability to kill. I know cowboys who were centimeters from death from a potential head blow.
I repeat. The herd is in no danger. The foal is in danger. So is the bear, so that bear must be very hungry.
Anyway, that’s my analysis.
On June 27, 2022 at 1:08 am, Dan said:
An adult grizzly is capable of taking moose, elk and yes….adult horses. So ALL of the horses are at risk. Horses are PREY animals. They are not hardwired to fight as a rule. Most fighting horses do is between stallions over mares. So while a good shot with a hoof could give Mr Bear pause it’s not the smart bet. Of course the foal is in greatest danger….because they can’t run as fast or for as long as an adult. But the only way a bear catches a horse is if the horse makes a mistake or the bear sneaks up real close before charging. For about 20-30 yards a bear can run as fast as a horse….beyond that the horse easily outpaces it. In this instance the odds are the bear went hungry. That looks like a trail cam set up to monitor a wild horse herd and caught a little ‘wild kingdom’ action.
On June 27, 2022 at 3:58 am, Dov said:
We only have black bears where I live, but quite a few years ago we had a mare, foal, and draft stallion in a pasture eating apples fallen from an apple tree. A bear contended for the apples, and the mare would not leave the foal, and the stud does not leave the mare. The result was a nasty bear claw scratch on the mare’s behind as she fled, a bite on the stud’s neck, and I don’t know about the bear, but it beat feet and the stud had metal shoes with borium spikes for pulling on, so it probably didn’t feel too well after that. I did not find a bear carcass on the property. The colt was fine. Black bears are small compared to our 2,000 lb. draft horses, but their claws are something to behold.
On June 27, 2022 at 9:36 am, Herschel Smith said:
@Dan,
If the mares and stud thought they were in danger, they would have been galloping. They were barely at a lope. The bear can only keep up with them for a very short while.
On June 27, 2022 at 1:22 pm, Paul B said:
I agree. The horse were not in full I got to get out here mode. The foal was at risk. I did notice the one horse try to draw the bear away but the bear did not bite, so to speak. I would say the bear went hungry that day. Or at least what we can see. Could be one of the horses ran into trouble with all the downed trees but that would have been off camera. What we can see the horses where winning this round.
On June 28, 2022 at 1:08 pm, Jon said:
No horses are natural to North America, they have no natural predators. They will mess up any predator that comes at them. In the Sierra Nevadas be VERY careful of burros and “wild”, more appropriately, Feral horses. They were brought over by the Spanish. They will destroy cars and UTVs without question.