On our fifth day out, we came upon a band of four ponies at rest. I quickly realized this was a rare band combination of two cooperative stallions. I believed that the bay stallion was the head stallion, also known as the breeding stallion, and that the liver chestnut stallion was the lieutenant stallion. Some breeding stallions allow for a lieutenant or satellite stallion to help them keep their mares. The job of the lieutenant stallion is to defend the herd and help the main stallion keep and protect his mares so that he can focus mostly on breeding them.
The band was nicely at rest when we arrived, and we began observing them. We kept our distance, watching from a hillside about 300 feet away. Three of the ponies were resting on their feet, and one mare was lying down beside the head stallion. All of them oriented in our direction as we approached and settled in to watch them. The ponies lowered their heads and went back to resting, with both the stallions maintaining a rather sleepy and relaxed watch. The dark bay mare, who was lying down next to the head stallion, rolled out in a pile of soft sand so that she was prone on her side with the sun shining down on her. They looked relaxed in the sun in their little low valley between the dunes, out of the relentless wind.
Slowly, as we watched, the feeling of peace and relaxation spread throughout the band. The next pony to join the dark bay mare lying down was the older, blond chestnut mare with the grayed-out face. She had a freeze-brand National Park Service identification number, 12N, on her left flank. Then the liver chestnut lieutenant stallion lay down. Soon after, the bay stallion joined them. They all looked so peaceful. After some time, the older, blond mare got up to keep watch. A while later, something in the wind or a noise caught the liver chestnut stallion’s attention, and he got to his feet.
The lieutenant had smelled or heard the arrival of two ponies. He immediately went off to greet them. I could tell that he was probably familiar with them as he had a short and quiet greeting with each of the new arrivals, which we were shortly able to determine were mares and not stallions. One of the mares looked pregnant, and the younger one seemed young. She was perhaps her daughter.
The chestnut stallion showed a little sexual interest in them, but did not try to mount either of them; instead, he just grazed behind them. He moved them along towards the rest of the band by snaking his neck at them. The bay stallion came over to graze with the new mares. He did not even bother to sniff noses, which made it pretty clear that he knew them already. The lieutenant stallion moved off when the bay stallion came over to the new mares as if being careful not to challenge him.
The dark bay mare and the chestnut mare never even went to greet the other mares. It was interesting to watch the dark bay mare check in with the older blond mare as if to inquire if everything was okay, after the arrival of the new mares. She sniffed the older mare’s flank gently as they were walking along and then let off a series of yawns as if to release some tension from the arrival of the other mares. It was also interesting to watch the two mares and the stallion bunching together, and all watching the chestnut stallion when he ran over to greet the arriving mares.
We left the scene, the two new arrivals still napping peacefully, and the rest of the band moved off together to feed on the cordgrass dunes next to the ocean. The peace and harmony of this band were palpable. This is not a feeling we think of as possible among domestic stallions around mares in estrus, let alone just turned out together in a single sex pasture. The interesting thing was how few scars these stallions had. It’s just a pause for thought on the effects of the unnatural way we keep domestic stallions, which can exacerbate their aggressive behavior. Here, among this harsh, nutrient-poor island, were two stallions sharing peace and cooperation with each other and their harem of mares.
For other posts about our trip to Shackleford Banks studying the ponies and living aboard the sailboat Grit go to https://www.consideringanimals.com/ and to https://riverearth.com/
