Most horses will socialize well with humans, but only if the human responds to their cues. This is unlike dogs, who will initiate more interactions.
Eye contact is meaningful to horses. If a horse looks at you, they may be asking you to look back. If you do, and they continue to look at you, you've made the first step to connection. The ears will usually go forward at this point.
That gives you permission to approach. If you then offer an open palm, you'll probably get a muzzle touching your palm. Now you've been accepted as being allowed to touch the horse. This little hello social ritual works with most horses, even ones who don't know you.
When you see someone approach a horse that knows them, they'll usually do this without thinking about it. You'll see the eye contact, the ear movement, and the muzzle touch, in that order. Horses have strong flight and startle responses, and this defuses those.
Read "Talking with Horses", by Henry Blake.[1]
So few people get this today that Horse Guards in London no longer lets tourists get near the horses. For over a century, they did, but the cluelessness level got out of hand, and about two years ago a white keep-out box was painted on the pavement. This is partly a cell phone problem. People would back up to the horse to position themself for a picture with the horse, without ever making eye contact. Horses read a backwards approach as an unexpected approach and possible kick threat. Some tourists got nipped.[2] The usual "No" sequence from a horse is ears back, bite threat, nip, serious bite or spin and kick. If you approach backwards, you don't see the horse saying no.
(You can discuss a "no" with a horse. I had to do this recently when I was getting my horse out of a new pasture. The boss mare, who's a good herd leader and protective of her herd, cut off my horse to keep her away from me. So I had to talk to the boss.
I walked up to her and stopped about a horse length away, outside threat distance. Made eye contact. Didn't get an invitation to approach. So, hands at sides, I took a step forward and motioned with my hands for her to back. She backed up a half step. That was a mild submission. Now I could catch up my own horse without her interfering. My own horse came to me when called, while the boss mare watched carefully. I haltered my own horse and took her out, with the permission of the boss mare.
This is not disobedience. This is a competent alpha mare doing her job. She watches over the herd, chases coyotes and wild turkeys away so the other horses don't spook, collects up the herd under a tree in bad weather, and somehow seems to settle disputes. The horses don't get injured.)
The first one, who’s 11 and been with me for 8 years now, has incredible communication. She’s always been pretty close to humans but for the past year and a half we have had them at home (they were boarded before). Even my boyfriend who isn’t that much into horses can understand her.
In winter they have blankets and up until we had them at home they were in stables. So the horse can’t really escape the blanket. Now they live outside. Well she figured out how to tell us that tonight she doesn’t want the blanket : when we approach, she moves, just one or two steps. And will repeat the move if we insist. And on days where she wants it, she stands still. I discovered that she endured a blanket for most of her life when she didn’t feel the need for one.
Second time she blew my mind : one night coming home late in the evening, she came to block the car on the road. She had daily garnements still on. I removed then and she walked away peacefully.
The second one is 8, and grew up with very limited human contact for her first 5 years : breeder who barely manipulated them. She’s the least interested in humans, and the most friendly to other horses. I’ve had her for only 3 years but I don’t think we’ll ever reach the communication level of the first one.
The third one is 4, which is young for a horse, so she still has lots of playfulness and curiosity towards humans, and I haven’t owned enough horses to know how she’ll turn out, if it will fade or not!
> A new study reveals that horse personality is not only a matter of genetics, age, or breed but also systematically linked to how horses are housed, ridden, and cared for, and to the quality of the relationship they share with their owners.
I expect that genetics, age, and/or breed affect human expectations of the horse (e.g., 'this breed is aggressive'), which affects how they treat the horse, which affects personality.
Same with dogs. Pit bulls encounter lots of fear and human aggression, and are used for aggressive purposes by humans who expect that.
Eye contact is meaningful to horses. If a horse looks at you, they may be asking you to look back. If you do, and they continue to look at you, you've made the first step to connection. The ears will usually go forward at this point. That gives you permission to approach. If you then offer an open palm, you'll probably get a muzzle touching your palm. Now you've been accepted as being allowed to touch the horse. This little hello social ritual works with most horses, even ones who don't know you.
When you see someone approach a horse that knows them, they'll usually do this without thinking about it. You'll see the eye contact, the ear movement, and the muzzle touch, in that order. Horses have strong flight and startle responses, and this defuses those.
Read "Talking with Horses", by Henry Blake.[1]
So few people get this today that Horse Guards in London no longer lets tourists get near the horses. For over a century, they did, but the cluelessness level got out of hand, and about two years ago a white keep-out box was painted on the pavement. This is partly a cell phone problem. People would back up to the horse to position themself for a picture with the horse, without ever making eye contact. Horses read a backwards approach as an unexpected approach and possible kick threat. Some tourists got nipped.[2] The usual "No" sequence from a horse is ears back, bite threat, nip, serious bite or spin and kick. If you approach backwards, you don't see the horse saying no.
(You can discuss a "no" with a horse. I had to do this recently when I was getting my horse out of a new pasture. The boss mare, who's a good herd leader and protective of her herd, cut off my horse to keep her away from me. So I had to talk to the boss.
I walked up to her and stopped about a horse length away, outside threat distance. Made eye contact. Didn't get an invitation to approach. So, hands at sides, I took a step forward and motioned with my hands for her to back. She backed up a half step. That was a mild submission. Now I could catch up my own horse without her interfering. My own horse came to me when called, while the boss mare watched carefully. I haltered my own horse and took her out, with the permission of the boss mare.
This is not disobedience. This is a competent alpha mare doing her job. She watches over the herd, chases coyotes and wild turkeys away so the other horses don't spook, collects up the herd under a tree in bad weather, and somehow seems to settle disputes. The horses don't get injured.)
[1] https://archive.org/details/talkingwithhorse0000blak_r2k0
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up5_haF98z8
The first one, who’s 11 and been with me for 8 years now, has incredible communication. She’s always been pretty close to humans but for the past year and a half we have had them at home (they were boarded before). Even my boyfriend who isn’t that much into horses can understand her. In winter they have blankets and up until we had them at home they were in stables. So the horse can’t really escape the blanket. Now they live outside. Well she figured out how to tell us that tonight she doesn’t want the blanket : when we approach, she moves, just one or two steps. And will repeat the move if we insist. And on days where she wants it, she stands still. I discovered that she endured a blanket for most of her life when she didn’t feel the need for one. Second time she blew my mind : one night coming home late in the evening, she came to block the car on the road. She had daily garnements still on. I removed then and she walked away peacefully.
The second one is 8, and grew up with very limited human contact for her first 5 years : breeder who barely manipulated them. She’s the least interested in humans, and the most friendly to other horses. I’ve had her for only 3 years but I don’t think we’ll ever reach the communication level of the first one.
The third one is 4, which is young for a horse, so she still has lots of playfulness and curiosity towards humans, and I haven’t owned enough horses to know how she’ll turn out, if it will fade or not!
I expect that genetics, age, and/or breed affect human expectations of the horse (e.g., 'this breed is aggressive'), which affects how they treat the horse, which affects personality.
Same with dogs. Pit bulls encounter lots of fear and human aggression, and are used for aggressive purposes by humans who expect that.
Same with humans, sadly.