Foal Wales by Kimanda on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

A little toddler Wales trying to get used to six limbs and attempting to stand up. I don’t know about you but I do think centaur babies would have a hard time getting used to so many limbs and achieving perfect balance. Some people have already addressed the differences between a horse foal and human baby. The foal would be able to stand up within an hour (usually within 30 minutes) of being born while a human baby doesn’t have the strength to raise their head until they’re four months old. So how would this work out?

Well let’s already look at how long a centaur pregnancy would last. Humans are 9 months pregnant while horses are 11 months pregnant… so we could find a common ground by having centaurs be 10 months pregnant. That would make the human part one month overdue and the horse part one month premature. This could have the human part be more developed while the horse part wouldn’t have the strength to stand up immediately… I think in terms of space in the womb to develop, centaur children would have to be born smaller, at least the horse part would have to be smaller.

There would also be the pressure for a centaur baby to stand up as soon as possible. The pressure would be greater in nomadic herds, not so much in non-migratory herds. Centaur foals would need to be able to stand on their legs within a day or two. I think in some herds harnesses would be used to support the human part, allowing the baby to keep up with the herd? Or the weaker ones would be carried on the back of one of their centaur parents until they’ve gained enough strength in their legs to support themselves. As sad as it is to think of it, some herds would be probably cruel enough to consider a weak centaur foal unable to stand within two days a burden and either abandon them or in some extreme cases, kill them. Though I would say in most cases they’re abandoned and some of them are found and adopted by other centaur herds, since that is a thing wild horse herds are known for doing when they find lost foals.

I did wonder about centaurs who can’t stand up at all. Would a centaur survive without the use of their legs? I’m not sure since with time, a centaur could suffocate under their own weight? A horse who is down deals with circulatory problems and respiratory stress, so those effects would translate out in the horse part of the centaur. How connected are the two parts? I would suppose they share one digestive system, there’s room only for one brain… however it does look like they would have double pairs of lungs, double hearts, even two closed circulatory systems? If one part was to be injured and bleed out, would the other part survive? Centaur biology is complicated.

And that's the end of the stuff I have on this AU. owo Hope you enjoyed it.