Considerate, For a Horse

I realize I have pointed this out before on this blog, but it continues to intrigue me. Stallions, for all of their demanding herding behaviors, know when to let soon-to-foal mares and just-foaled mares alone. The rules change for new mothers for a couple days. The eminently expectant and new mothers are not included in the herding routines set by the stallion. I’m not saying that they would be left behind, but they are allowed to move about on the far fringes of the herd, and at a more leisurely speed. This considerate behavior seems beyond the scope of an equine intellect, but it does occur. In this image, the stallion is moving the herd of mares and foals to another location for water but he walks past the mare that just foaled and she follows in her own time.