Horses are highly social animals who suffer significantly from social isolation, and providing appropriate equine companionship is a fundamental welfare responsibility.
Horse social welfare is a fundamental requirement that is sometimes inadequately addressed by providing a companion from another species - a goat or donkey. While cross-species companions provide some social contact, they cannot meet the full social needs of horses, whose communication systems, play behaviors, and mutual grooming are species-specific. A horse kept with only a goat companion is still socially deprived in important ways. Horses in genuinely compatible equine pairs or small groups express a rich repertoire of social behaviors - mutual grooming, play, social vigilance, and resting in proximity - that are impossible with cross-species companions. The welfare cost of equine isolation is real and measurable: isolated horses have higher stress hormone levels, develop stereotypies at higher rates, and show behavioral signs of anxiety. Meeting this social need requires planning but should be considered a non-negotiable welfare requirement.