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A secondary attack is treated as primary if it's your only natural attack. So a horse has a natural attack of two hooves as a secondary attack. It can full attack with those hooves at full BAB and Str modifier. But if it also had a wing attack, it would not longer be it's only natural attack, so all attacks would remain secondary.
Why would a horse have one natural attack of two hooves instead of two natural attacks of one hoof each?
Here is the rule Scott and Imbicatus are referring to:
Most creatures possess one or more natural attacks (attacks made without a weapon). These attacks fall into one of two categories, primary and secondary attacks. Primary attacks are made using the creature's full base attack bonus and add the creature's full Strength bonus on damage rolls. Secondary attacks are made using the creature's base attack bonus –5 and add only 1/2 the creature's Strength bonus on damage rolls. If a creature has only one natural attack, it is always made using the creature's full base attack bonus and adds 1-1/2 the creature's Strength bonus on damage rolls. This increase does not apply if the creature has multiple attacks but only takes one. If a creature has only one type of attack, but has multiple attacks per round, that attack is treated as a primary attack, regardless of its type.
Ah! Totally misunderstood what he was saying. Thanks!
If a creature has only one type of attack, but has [/b]multiple attacks[/b] per round, that attack is treated as a primary attack, regardless of its type.
Why would a horse have one natural attack of two hooves instead of two natural attacks of one hoof each?
What matters for this purpose is the number of types of attacks, not the actual number of attacks.
A Horse has two hoof attacks, but those are the same type. Thus, ordinarily, those attacks would both be primary attacks, even though hoof attacks are secondary.
However, Horses have a special quality, Docile, that says without training, their hoof attacks are secondary. So even though the standard Horse has only one type of attack, meaning it should be primary, Horses without special training treat their hoof attacks as secondary.
EDIT: Chess Pwn is a sneaky ninja.
But since a horse animal companion also has a bite attack for some reason (unlike the bestiary horse), its hooves are secondary even after it gets combat training (thus losing Docile), right?
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But since a horse animal companion also has a bite attack for some reason (unlike the bestiary horse), its hooves are secondary even after it gets combat training (thus losing Docile), right?
Correct.
Dropping the horse, another example could be a half-orc witch with the Nails hex. The hex grants two secondary attacks of the same type. If you took that hex at first level, you could make a full attack Nails/Nails at full BAB. However, if you then took the Razortusk feat for a secondary bite attack as well, then when you made a full attack of bite/nails/nails, then they would all be treated as secondary.
But since a horse animal companion also has a bite attack for some reason (unlike the bestiary horse), its hooves are secondary even after it gets combat training (thus losing Docile), right?
If you check the heavy horse you'll see it has a bite attack too.
Can anyone find a published monster with only secondary attacks, but multiple types of secondary? Usually if it only has secondary, it's b/c it only has that one type of attack, like only hooves or tentacles.