An Introduction to the Nature of Horses

© 2019, Maria Elizabeth Smith

It’s important to understand the nature of horses,
so that we can properly take care
of them physically and mentally,
as they adapt to living in our world.
 Social Herd Animals

Horses are highly social and live in
herds in nature. A lone horse in the
wild would not survive long.
Horses offer each other
companionship, learning, play,
a chance to sleep safely while
others stand guard, and group
protection against predators.
Domestic horses that don’t get to
touch or interact with other horses
often suffer from depression, ulcers,
anxiety, and sleep deprivation.
 Need To Move

Horses naturally move up to
25 miles per day with their herd
along paths in their home range
territory. They make their rounds
each day to forage, water, rolling
spots, and other herds.
They also move their territory with
the seasons and growth of food
sources.
Movement is an important part of
a horse’s well-being and is
necessary for their digestion,
circulatory system, hoof health,
fitness, and mental health.
 Grazing Behavior

Horses naturally graze 16-18 hours a
day. They aren’t built to digest
“meals” like humans or dogs.
A horse’s stomach is not very big
and can’t hold much food at one
time, so they need to keep eating
for a steady energy supply.
Their stomachs constantly produce
acid for digestion. Going several
hours with an empty stomach every
day can cause ulcers and gut
bacteria die-off, leading to laminitis.
 Flight

Unlike many prey animals, horses
don’t have horns, tusks, or antlers
to defend themselves.

Instead, they are armed with the

ability to react fast and powerfully
and run away.

Given the chance, a horse will

choose flight (escape), instead of
fighting. If escape isn’t possible,
they will bite, kick, and strike to
defend themselves.
 Perception
Horses are the most perceptive

of all domestic animals.
They notice danger quickly, so
that they have the most possible
time to run before they actually
come in contact with the danger.
What is perceived as dangerous?
 Anything new or different
 Anything heard but not seen (stalking or
hiding predators)
 Anything that traps or slows them down
from running away (being tied, deep
footing, stalls, tight reins)
 Anything that blocks their senses (wind
makes it hard to hear or smell)
 Hearing & Touch

 Hearing – A horse’s hearing is far
better than a human’s, and their
ears swivel to pinpoint where a
sound is coming from.

 Touch – A horse’s entire body is

as sensitive a human’s finger
tips. More sensitive in some
areas!
This is why they can be upset by
the feel of tight or badly fitting
tack, biting flies, hard patting,
or crops and spurs.
 Smell & Taste

 Smell – A horse’s sense of smell
isn’t quite as powerful as a
dog’s, but they can identify a
wider range of smells than a
dog.
 Taste – Horses have a pretty
keen sense of taste, too. This
works with their sense of smell
to identify food.
They naturally eat over 200
kinds of forage, and they need
to be able to tell if things are
safe to eat or not.
 Vision Area & Light

 360* – By turning their head
a little, a horse can see a full
360* around themselves.
But they have blind spots
below the tip of their nose
and under their head.
 Light – Horses have great
night vision, but they don’t
adjust to sudden changes
in light as quickly as we do.
Walking into dark buildings,
arenas, or trailers can make
them nervous.
 Vision Focus

 Focus – Our eyes focus
automatically from inside. A
horse’s eyes focus by moving
their head up & down to adjust
which part of their eye they see
out of, like bifocal glasses.
When their head is high, they see
distance. When their head is low,
they see better close up.
 Depth Perception – Horses only
see depth where they have
binocular vision. It’s stressful to a
horse when they can’t see where
they’re going.
 Reaction Time

Horses have the fastest reaction
time of all domestic animals. Their
fast response to danger evolved
with their flight response.
Because humans can’t react
as fast as horses and we’re not as
perceptive, we lose control of
situations by being caught off guard.
It’s important to know how horses
think, so we can predict their
behavior. This lets plan situations
instead of needing to react to them.
 Desensitization

Horses are the most easily
desensitized of all domestic animals.

Because horses are so perceptive of

danger, they have to be able to
quickly figure out what is truly
dangerous. Otherwise, they would
never quit running and exhaust
themselves!
“Desensitization” is when we expose
a horse to something scary in a slow,
controlled way to help him to learn
that it’s really harmless.
 Learning

Horses learn fastest of all domestic
animals, and even faster than
human children.

Because nature is unforgiving of

mistakes, horses learn and adapt
their behavior from every single
experience.

Horses are incredible learners, and

are only limited in their training by
our ability to teach them.
 Memory

The horse’s memory is infallible.
It’s second only to the elephant in
the animal kingdom. They also
don’t distort their memories by
reflecting on them, like humans.
When you couple this with the
horse’s speed of learning, you get
an incredible student.
Our biggest challenge in training is
to carefully create learning
experiences, so that they
remember the things we want
them to remember.
 Social Structure

Horse herds do not have one
“alpha” leader, as previously
thought. Like people, each horse
has a unique relationship with
every other, and they follow the
leader that they like.

Although horses will fight for

resources, like food or breeding,
they will generally not physically
fight for dominance. No horse
wants to risk being injured and
becoming a predator’s next meal.
 Movement Control

Horses claim resources (food,
shelter, breeding) by controlling the
movement of other horses.
A dominant horse will either
demand or block the movement of
other horses with expressions and
gestures. They apply pressure
without causing physical injury.
For humans, claiming a leadership
role can be as simple as asking a
horse to yield out of the way while
walking together.
 Body Language

While humans rely heavily on
verbal communication (speaking),
horses are mostly non-verbal
communicators (body language).
If we want to share ideas with
horses and not just physically force
them to do tasks, we have to learn
their language as if it were a
human foreign language.
Horses naturally read our body
language, when we learn to
control it consistently.
 A Percocial Species

Being “percocial” means that an
animal can move around freely,
and all of their senses and brain
functions are fully developed
when they are born.

A new foal moves, perceives, and

learns at the level of an adult
horse, so that he can keep up with
his herd to survive.

This is like a new born human

being able to walk to school and
learn algebra! Amazing!
 Please, remember that your horse is never behaving
badly. That view may cause you to think of punishment.
Your horse is always behaving like a horse.
Think of them as struggling to handle something
difficult, and then help them through their distress.