The Horse Behavior - Part II

Let's continue with the understanding of the horse behavior!

The herding instinct

This is very usual for the horses living in the wild. Although it will be very useful if it is taken in consideration also for the domestic horses. Normally they are sociable animals, and when taken from their herd, they will always bond with a surrogate. When speaking about a domestic horse, the surrogate will often be the owner. That is why it is very important for every horse owner to know everything about his animal.

When going with a group of domestic horses in the field, it is better to turn mares and gelding out separately. This will be a good advice especially in the spring, because then the mares have their season and geldings could show some stallion-like behavior. We can go out with one gelding and more mares, but it would not be a great idea to go with several geldings and only one mare.

Because horses tend to be very sociable and form bonds, they will show their attachment in several ways. One of them is grooming. In doing so, they stand head to tail and chew up and down each other's neck and back. It is understood that when one of them stops grooming his friend, the other one will do the same. This type of grooming is very good because it includes removing parasites and of course growing the friendship. In the summer time, it is very normal to see horses that have bonded by standing head to tail, swishing their tails to keep the flies away.

Reacting to danger

Reacting to danger is a crucial point in knowing your horse behavior. It is very important for you to know how your horse will react when dealing with a potential danger situation. When you will learn that, it will be the most exciting experience when you will go out in the field with your horse.

Domestic horses ,when out in the field, will keep their basic herd instincts. When going out with more domestic horses, they will mostly stand and graze close together. If a horse is apart at a distance, normally is a sign that something is wrong and should be investigated. Dealing with danger situations, the horse will be frighten and will run away. So, if one member of the herd feels something unusual and starts to run, the other ones will run too. This is very good to know when riding along with more people. It is very important for everyone on paying attention to his horse, but also to the surroundings. It is better to see the danger or potential unusual things before your horse, because then you can prevent any accident. If you keep your horse calm, the other ones will also be calm.

Horses are very used to leaving in a herd, and they communicate very good using their body language, like ear movements and vocal sounds. They sleep standing up, like this they are prepared to run in every moment when danger is around. When some horses lie down, normally  will be one or two standing up, like a guard. They will be the first to alert everyone if needed.

Horses spend most of their day gazing. Their stomachs are kept half-full all the time. That is because if something appears, it is better not to run with a full belly.

Horses have a life based on feeling it is always better to run than to fight. This is why, their vision is nearly 360 degrees. The distance between the eyes and mouth will allow the horse to see all around when grazing. Although they like better to run, if they are cornered and have no way to run, they will defend by kicking and biting.
Again it is very important keeping in mind the strong herd instinct also on domestic horses. 

TIPS:

• if a horse lays its ears back, usually means that it feels threatened and be ready to show aggressive behavior.
• it is not a good idea when removing all the horses from a field but one. He will show signs of distress and will try to rush up and down the fence line. This will make the others angry. He reacts like that because being in a herd is like being in a safe place, and when apart from his companions, he feels vulnerable.
• when horses display aggressive behavior toward each other, is usually between stallions.

Hope you will find this helpful!

You may want to see also:

• The first part