by Elizabeth Reeves

Created on: July 22, 2008   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

The basis of understanding a horse, is to understand its body language and the related psychology. Because horses and humans are very different, in their perception of the world, they relate to it in different ways. For horses and humans to communicate, there has to first be an understanding of translating the horse's perception of what our different body signals mean to them.

Horses are prey animals. They are built as prey animals, with eyes set on the sides of their head, which means they cannot see anything in front of their noses. When watching horses interacting together, you'll notice that horses only move in straight lines when they are being aggressive, such as when they are chasing another horse away from food. Instead, horses show that they are prey and not a predator, by moving in a 'wandering' way. This allows them to see what might be lurking nearby, and signals that they are harmless to the other animals around them.

Humans, on the other hand, have their eyes on the front of their heads. We generally move in straight lines, looking directly towards where we're going. This behavior marks humans clearly as predators. To a horse, our natural way of moving tells them that we are dangerous, or aggressive, at best.

Due to this prey-to-predator relationship, body language has to be adjusted when working with young or frightened horses. It can also be a tool in training any horse. Straight lines and eye contact mean that you are asking the horse to move away, while curving lines and looking around, not directly at the animal, tells them that you want to approach and that you will not attack them. Making eye contact and backing up can communicate to the horse that you want them to approach.

Horses communicate with their body language, they excel at picking up signals that do not seem obvious to us, and will behave towards human body language as they would in their own herd. A great way to learn about horses' body language is to watch them as they interact with each other. An aggressive horse will pin back their ears and move directly towards another animal they want to frighten, while a young foal will relax their bodies and open and shut their mouths in a chewing motion, showing that they are no threat.

To show a horse that a human is harmless, the handler must relax their body, move in a wandering pattern, rather than in straight lines, and be aware of making eye-contact. A confident, calm, handler, creates a calm, obedient, horse.

As humans study the natural interaction that horses have with each other, they can learn about a horse's psychology, and create better human and equine relationships.

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