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Take the time to watch horses in the paddock, and I mean really watch them, not just look at them with no thought in mind - watch the interaction and behavioral patterns horses display with and toward each other and you will quickly come to recognize that in fact horses actually rely quite heavily on emotion to convey messages and through body language (for want of a better description) will quickly establish a personal space area around their being.

They don't have the ability of speech as we as human beings know it, but they do they do have the ability to 'talk' through emotion.
The next time you are running late for a show and the horse is still down the paddock, take note of what happens when you go to catch it so you can trailer it off to the show or vet or trail ride or whatever it is you intend doing and are running late for. The horse may be grazing quietly and contentedly in the paddock. The way you are approaching (because you are running behind) will immediately cause the horse to look up from grazing, watch you for a short period of time and in 9 cases of 10, will move off to the furthest part of the paddock in an attempt to not be caught. Ever noticed this behavior?
On the other hand, if you are not in fact running late for anything, and you approach the horse to catch it, 9/10 times it will not even look up from grazing and allow you to approach to catch.
I observed a mob of horses quite recently grazing a paddock. The lead mare had head down and was grazing along when Mr. Dopey gelding quite unthinkingly wandered accidentally into the mare's personal space from directly behind her. The mare did not display any aggressiveness or other untoward behavior toward the gelding, in fact she didn't even look up from grazing. What she did do however was simply stop chewing. No ears back, nothing other than stop chewing. The gelding immediately looked up as if to acknowledge and immediately peeled off and walked out of her space.
Now, tell me horses don't run on emotion.

Learn more about this author, Peter Waller.
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