{"id":12379,"date":"2021-03-10T09:19:17","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T13:19:17","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2021-07-21T06:49:27","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T10:49:27","slug":"how-do-horses-show-their-emotions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/equestrianbootsandbridles.com\/how-do-horses-show-their-emotions\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do Horses Show Their Emotions?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ever wonder how do horses show their emotions or what your horse is thinking? I think it’s really important when caring for your horse to know how they express themselves! This is one of my favourite horse care tips and I’ve included an emotions chart below as well that I hope will help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post, I’ll go through four principle areas of the horse’s body through which they communicate their mood and thoughts.  I’ve put together a simple chart of some body language cues to help you get started on improving the communication with your own horse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you’ve read my series on training Rudy, you’ll know that I’m really big on listening to to my horse. If you haven’t yet and you’re interested, you can check out the first post here: Building A Young Horse Training Plan From Day 1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the series, I walk through the process of training Rudy from day 1 after I got him as a 4-year-old gelding warmblood cross after he was only under saddle for a few months. In each post, I discuss a big issue that we worked through during that week of training. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout my training with Rudy, I talk about how I always strive to listen to him and pay attention to how he’s feeling and what he’s thinking at any given moment. Personally, I think creating a good bond with your horse is much more important than getting obidience or attaining skills. That being said, I found that the more I was in tune with what Rudy was thinking, the faster and smoother the training went. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    So I definitely think we can have both with our horses: a great bond and great performance. In fact, I think it’s much easier to acheive performance if we have that foundation of a bond first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What Emotions Do Horses Have?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    When we think about how do horses show emotions, we tend to think in a more human way: “how horses show saddness” or “how horses express happiness”? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The truth is, horses function more in the spectrum of relaxed to anxious. You can equate relaxed to happy and anxious to sad in the way that one is positive and the other is negative. I’m not suggesting that horses don’t have a broad range of emotions just like humans do that encompass happiness and saddness. When Rudy runs around his paddock with his best friend, Bobbi, you can immediately see the happiness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But when we’re working with our horses, we’re working much more in the spectrum of relaxed to anxious. My goal whenever I’m working with Rudy is to keep him as relaxed as possible the entire time. I try to ask him to do things as much as possible when he’s telling me he’s feeling relaxed and good. If he’s telling me that he’s anxious about something, I try to bring him back to a state of relaxation first and then ask him to do the next thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Horse Emotions Chart<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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    The mouth, eyes, ears and tail are the most obvious indicators of how your horses is feeling. There’s a lot more than this but if you can keep an eye on these body parts while you’re working with your horse, you’ll have an excellent foundation for listening to your horse. You’ll also probably be more aware of most riders out there!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let’s go through each area of the body in more detail…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Mouth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Listen to what comes oout of that mouth! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Horses communicate with each other and with humans through a rrather wide range of vocal signals and facial expressions. Combined with body posture, this can tell a great deal about the horse’s mood and attitute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I’m always keeping an eye on Rudy’s mouth to see how he’s feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How do horses show emotions with their mouth…<\/h3>\n\n\n\n