Just like humans, horses are social animals that need to be part of a community in which to communicate and express themselves free, with a system of verbal and corporal communication.
For this system to work, since horses do not speak, equines have different ways of communicating information both to other members of their own species, and to other species, including humans.
Are you a horse lover and want to know more about them? We invite you to read the following article on our site where, this time, we will talk about the language of horses.
Corporal lenguage
Despite their large size, in nature, horses are considered prey animals, this means that they are an animal species that can be hunted or trapped in one way or another. For this reason, in order not to attract predators, horses at an evolutionary level have developed a communication system based mainly on body language. This is also said to be one of the reasons why horses have a very limited range of vocalizations.
Studies have shown that communication between horses can be so precise that the behavior of a herd can be harmonized up to 98% of the time. Through this language of movements, some forceful and others subtle, horses manage to express all kinds of feelings, greetings, warnings of danger, requests, and even orders.
Ears
The ears are perhaps the part of the body that is most used for communication. Through the position of its ears we can identify the focus of the horse's attention, mood, pain, possible warnings of attacks and even know if he is in love with another horse. Even each ear can point in a different direction, which means that the horse has divided its attention not only towards one element but to two or more. Let's look at some examples:
- Stiff, forward-turned ears means the horse is alert and expectant.
- Ears flat back and close to the head indicates that the horse may have spontaneous and volatile type attitudes.
- If you're riding him and he slightly lowers his ears back, he's listening intently.
- You are bored or tired when a horse's ears are hanging on either side of its head.
- Loose, loose ears is an indicator that you really like where you are or the company of some other horse or person.
The position of the neck and head
These are the parts of the body where the most expressions of intentions are found, and there may be dozens of them inside the mind of a horse.
- Head jostling can signal aggressive threats between horses and if ignored can quickly escalate into a lunge or charge. With a push the horses demand attention.
- Arched Neck responds to threats from other creatures.
- Neck and head slightly down indicates relaxed and happy.
- Neck completely drooped is that he is almost asleep.
- Neck and head raised, the horse is active, excited and alert to any stimulus.
The tail and the mouth
The tail is a part of a horse's body too very expressive When you see a horse whipping its tail, don't be If you get very close, this means that he is nervous, irritated or angry about something, if, on the contrary, he has his tail raised, he is excited.
Like dogs, horses also hide their tails between their legs when they are scared, but if they have it curled up, they are in a state of fear and submission.
As for the mouth, retracting the lips, teeth and gums can mean a threat or the desire to bite. When they lick and chew(without eating) some experts say the horse is signaling that he is learning something at that moment. Others claim that this is a sign of conflict behavior and others that it is a sign that they are releasing tension because they are in a stressful situation. Drooping lips generally tells us that the horse is relaxed, this usually happens after a long day of training.
Whole body
At a general level, the whole body of the horse can indicate an emotional pictureLike most human beings, when a horse trembles it is because it is very nervous or fearful. When some new experience occurs, you may tremble from head to toe. The more intense the tremor, the more complex the fear.
If a horse reaches out to nuzzle you, or tries to pinch or moderate you but with zero intensity, it means that he is curious, playful and wants to see what is hiding behind this presence. On the other hand, it means that you are looking for a bit of calm, in this type of body movement it is important to know the horse and interpret its complete language to distinguish the difference.
A horse is in tension when the muscles of the body are in a rigid posture, as well as its movements that express lack of fluidity. Be alert with these signals because it may indicate that the horse is stressed, nervous or even in pain.
