What would make a horse better adapted to escape a predator than a cow?

Answer 1

What must be remembered is that neither animal is better adapted than the other to escape or face a predator. Horses and cattle are two very different animals, with different behaviours, different defense strategies, and thus different ways of responding to predation. A horse maybe better adapted at escaping, but that is only seeing the trees for the forest. See, to compare escape or defense strategies between a cow and a horse is like comparing the taste between an apple and an orange, for obvious reasons.

Horses, unlike cattle, are literally (physically and genetically) built to run, and often travel, in the wild, 12 to 14 miles in a day. Wild cattle, though none exist anymore, can travel about the same, but never in a full-out gallop for a quarter of a mile (or sometimes miles, if it's necessary) like feral horses like the western American mustangs are famously capable of. Cattle choose to walk as a means to travel, not run, but if they must, they will run, and often are very capable of running as fast as a horse, given the need and circumstances. Hence the fact that a horse can "run faster" is moot in many cases. Also, like a horse, bull or a cow can be (and often are) much more agile and swift than we give them credit for or even realize and understand.

Hence, the mode of escape for both prey species--one of Equus and the other of Bos--is through flight. The other means of escape is to never be alone and to always be within a tight-nit, highly social group. This in itself ensures survival. However, a horse may seem like it is better adapted because when the common person envisions a horse, he or she envisions that horse as a wild and free animal like the "wild" mustangs of the American West. By contrast, when we envision the classic large-uddered, black-and-white Holstein cow surrounded by lush green pasture and enclosed in a fenced area, with no means of escape and, therefore, no percieved adaptations to escape predation. Both of these visions are erroneous.

Horses, like cattle, are often enclosed, with no escape, in a stall, a small corral, or a fenced pasture. A cougar or bear can easily enter that enclosure and cause as much damage as it wants because that horse cannot escape--and the horse knows it. This results in a significant vet bill for the owner if the horse survives, or, if dead, emotional turmoil at the loss of a beloved animal. On the other side of the coin, not all cattle are the big-bagged helpless dairy cow like many of us think it--or she--may be. Cattle can and often are confined in a larger area, but many are also often "confined" to a large, 1000-acre piece of land where they are free to roam as they please and live their lives as much as a human would allow them to in a similar way to their wilder ancestors. On that land, so exists predators--wolves, bears, cougars, and coyotes. For a cow in that area, flight may work, but so will the ability to fight back. A cow, armed with horns and hooves, can deter a predator from nabbing her calf by using her horns. Cows will readily form a tight group like bison with their calves in the middle when predators come around. They will form as tight-nit a social group as wild horses will. And when push comes to shove, if one cow gets in it with, say, a bear, other cows will too. A cow can kick, gore, stomp with her front hooves or, if she lacks horns, cause blunt-force trauma to a predator enough to break bones and send it flying.

It's not going without saying that horses can't fight back either. Stallions, in protecting their harem, will utilize their hard hooves to strike and/or kick at the enemy when it's needed. A good bite also does the trick. A well-aimed kick can knock a cougar senseless, and a bite is often hard enough to draw blood and result in serious wounds--this would explain the battle wounds feral stallions get when they get in a tiff with their rivals.

However, based on biased notions and naivities, the question cannot be answered with a straight, seemingly "no-nonsense" answer without examining the ambiguities that come with it. As such, it is impossible--and possibly foolish, depending on how you look at it--to ascertain that a horse is "better adapted" at escaping from predators than cows if the only evidence used is that of romantisized envisions of seemingly-docile farm life and wild horses running free.