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  • From: Karen Nesbitt <spanishequines@yahoo.com>
  • To: MSAR <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [MSAR] Horse instinct (Emily Horsman)
  • Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 11:29:55 -0800 (PST)

To be more accurate, horses are FLIGHT OR FIGHT  animals typical of most animals that are prey.
 
Horses are social and rely on other members of the herd for survival.  If you have one horse, you as a person then become a member of that horses herd.  He will either love you or not.
and your status will be either dominant or not.  In a herd, horses have a strong standard of hiearchy, hence a sincere pecking order.
 
Wild horses that have never seen humans when trapped often take actions in fighting. be it offense or defense in actions  ear pinning, a kick, a bite, a scream, a nicker or running their advasary over if they cannot run away from it etc.
 
Domestic horses can and will fight their owners, or other horses or what happens to come their way if they are abused or mishandled or with young or in any situation they have no trust and are overcome with fear.
.
Mares have a tendency to be more aggressive than stallions especially when they have foals at side or they can be down right onery or not when in heat or not.  Stallions will fight another stallion that is trying to take his status in his herd or take mares or foals from the herd.  Stallions will be agressive while herding or gathering mares and foals.  One is well advised not to stand between a stallion and his mare hence you become the pecked on.
Training and managing stallion is no different to me, in a sense that a stallion is a member of the herd.  The worst thing we do in our society today is ostrisize the stallion and stereotype him for being mean, and yet the mares can be far worse. (But this is my humble opinion as I love my stallions.)
 
A larger herd is like a football team...there are guards and lookouts in all positions.  The lead mare is the one who LEADS the others to safety.  As a rule, the entire herd wants sanctuary, but one or two might stay back for defense.  The leader mare often leads the herd from the rear of the pack, by HERDING the others.  Usually the lessor and more vulnerable animals of the herd are in the front of the pack.  In a herd, the stallion pushes his herd also from behind taking them where he sends them and like wise he can passively lead the herd by quietly nickering and looking back at them to follow him as can any  mare or even a foal..
 
Having the pleasure of working with many stallions and mares...personally I enjoy the stallions more so as generally in a domestic situation, they are more passive and about the only time they are frustrated or fighty is when there are mares in heat or if they are withheld from being an active herd member.  Mares on the  other hand have greater tendencies to be more unpredictable more often.
 
Horses are what is known as herd bound.  Meaning, they bond to members of their own kind and lacking members of their kind will take affection with another species, such as man, dogs, cats etc. as long as they are not acted upon in measures of being preyed upon too aggressively where they take offense or defensive measures to protect themselves.
 
To say a horse would never run a man over is ludicrus.  However, a horse usually has to have GOOD REASON to take such an action.  It is generally not in their nature to "attack" but will if provoked or hell bent to take flight in a given situation.  As a rule, man is dominant over horse, however, never underestimate the power of even the smallest of equines!  Even a foal will strike out and defend itself or bite etc.
 
To trust a horse is a relationship built on mutual social graces toward each other.  For a horse to trust you, social graces include kindness and reciprocation. For mankind to trust the horse, generally commands obedience.  Getting that obedience may take various forms of RECIPROCATION be it kindness, or a stronger measure of assertiveness.  Horses respond mainly to BODY POSTURE and BODY LANGUAGE.  And there are always exceptions to this and every rule.  Horses, as are all herding animals, are governed by their own sense of well being and fear factors.
 
Will a horse trust every person?  Probably not.  And likewise it will not trust every member of their own herd.
 
If you are interested in learning more on the behaviour of stallions and training one, research the LIPPIZAN horses and the schooling methods of the horses of the Vienna Riding schools and you can learn much about stallion behaviors.
 
Karen Nesbitt
Iroquois County
Illinois - Unaffiliated 
 
"Even the meekest and  mightiest of  bighorned sheep have been known to run off the edge of a cliff and the mighy and majestic horse is no exception when fear is driving them"  Author unknown


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  • [MSAR] Horse instinct (Emily Horsman), Karen Nesbitt, 02/08/2007

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