Horse Behavior

Understanding horse behavior is the key for
successful horse training

Good horse trainers know how horses can or cannot learn. They understand the mechanisms of learning and cognition.

A good horse trainer is able to:

• understand and read the horse
• communicate with the horse
• judge the horses mental and physical abilities.

Understanding Horse Behavior

The horse is a social herd animal. In the wild horses are either in harem bands or bachelor bands.

Around 80% of their time they spend grazing and looking for food. That is about 19 hours a day!

A herd offers protection and safety. It is a hierarchic structure that every herd member has to respect.

The dominant stallion decides where the herd is going. He decides when it is time to eat, rest or flee. A horse that is higher up in the pecking order can drive a lower ranking horse away from food and water.

As prey animals they rather flee than fight. The ability of reading body language is critical for the survival of a wild horse. If a herd is under threat and has to flee, the band has to act as one organism. A good communication between the herd members is essential for survival.

A dominant mare leads the herd at the head of the band. She moves the herd around grazing grounds and water holes.

The stallion moves the herd from behind when the band is under threat.

The strongest bonds develop between mothers and foals. But the stallion also has a strong bond with his mares and foals. He also takes a role in parenting.

Temperment and behavioral characteristics can vary with breed and personality. A thoroughbred will always show more sensitive and reactive horse behavior than a draft horse.

What does a horse think?

A horse certainly doesn´t have the cognitive abilities that a human has. However they usually don´t need these abilities because their food doesn´t run away. They are grazing animals. They don´t need to develop complicated strategies that are needed for hunting.

Most of their behavior is instinctual or the result of a learning process.

Scientists have found no evidence that horses understand the concept of time. They live in the here and now, there is no past or future in their thinking.

A horses intelligence is often overestimated by its owner. You often hear people say: "He really fooled me again today!" That is probably very unrealistic. Horses are not able for that kind of thinking.

Horses never forget! Once they have learned something they still remember it even after years. They also never forget a bad experience!

Do horses have emotions?

Horses certainly have emotions like fear, stress and joy. But scientists are not quite sure if they feel love, hate or jealousy.

Every horse owner will tell you that they certainly have different moods. On a nice, sunny spring day they might be running around bucking. Whereas on a dreary wet day they hang around feeling sorry for themselves.

Also stress, boredom or excessive demands can cause bad moods and in severe cases stable vices like cribbing or head shaking .

Stable vices are stereotypies. Horses that are stabled are more prone to them than horses that are turned out.

Stable vices are usually a response to pain or stress but there also seems a genetic factor. Stereotypies can be caused by medical problems, but most of the time the cause can´t be determined.