Horses, especially naturally living ones like ours, play a major role in combatting global warming and do this in a variety of ways. One of these concerns their superior ability to sequester, or “lock away”, carbon.

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They remove carbon from the atmosphere, where, in the form of carbon dioxide, methane and other heat-trapping gases, this element accelerates a dangerous, oven-like increase in temperatures on the entire planet Earth.

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Much of the superior ability of the horses to sequester carbon is related to their special digestive system. This is different from the ruminant digestive system of many other plant-eaters, or herbivores.​ Horses possess a monogastric, cecal-fermenting digestive system that is less complex than that of the multi-stomach, rumen-fermenting digestive system of ruminant herbivores. As a consequence, these equids do not as thoroughly decompose their food as do ruminants. As a consequence, the chemistry of equid droppings is more organically intact and complex. This fact has enormously positive consequences for habitats. One of the chief advantages is that equine feces contribute to more vital soils by augmenting their humus content. As many gardeners know, humus is crucial to healthy soils, making these more nutrient-rich and water-retaining.

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The health of ecosystems depends upon healthy plant life, which depends upon healthy soils. Horses create more robust soils that cause grasses, forbs, bushes and trees to flourish when adequate water, healthy air and sunshine are added into the mixture. In regions where they belong, horses have been proven to allow a much greater diversity of species of both plants and animals together with their interrelated roles in the living community. This gives greater resistance and resilience to horse-containing ecosystems. 

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Horses can be better carbon sequesters than cattle, sheep and other ruminants because when horses defecate, their feces are often covered over by sediments, such as mountain erosion. Through this burial, the more intact carbon-containing molecules contained in their feces are sealed off from air and its oxygen. When conditions permit them to remain thus for long periods of time, they remain unoxidized and undecomposed, therefore they “lock up” carbon for much longer than do the feces of the ruminant herbivores, since they take longer to be decomposed. And this is a very healthy factor for ecosystems that lends them more long-term security and stability.​ Because of their more intact chemistry, horse droppings decompose more slowly to provide a more long-lasting fertile soil bed in which many diverse seeds can germinate. This has been proven throughout the world: We must not turn a blind eye to this great ecological service.

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When we add in all the many insects, including pollinators, birds, mammals, reptiles and even amphibians and fish that benefit from these plants, it is plain to see how very important horses and their kin are in the world of nature, which they greatly enhance, bolster and even embellish. And remember that the greater chemical complexity of the equine droppings is key to understanding and supporting their major role as carbon sequesters and global warming combaters that is so crucial today.

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SOURCE: Craig C Downer, Master of Science, Head of faculty at International Union for Conservation & Nature