Horse behaviour

 

equiculture

developing responsible horse ownership

 

 

Understanding horse behaviour

 

We owe it to horses and indeed all equines, to understand their behaviour. We need to understand the fundamental physical and behavioural characteristics of equines for our safety and theirs, to be able to train them properly and to provide the correct living conditions for them. As humans it is very easy to assume that animals ‘are just like us’ and that they want the same things that we do. This is certainly not the case as they did not evolve to be kept in captivity or ridden by humans; we just created the situation. Domestic horses have no say in who owns them, how they are kept and what their owners do to them. So we need to understand their behaviour so that we can continually improve the way that we keep and train them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Horses are large, grazing herbivores that live in herds when in a natural environment. They are part of the equine family that includes Donkeys, Zebra and wild Asses. In their natural environment, horses are hunted by predators such as large felines and canines (although in modern times many of their natural predators have become endangered or extinct in the wild). The domestic horse has been manipulated by breeding programs to range in size from very large (more than 19 hh) to very small (less than 8 hh). Apart from size differences all horses share the same fundamental physical and behavioural characteristics.

 

Most domesticated horses have been trained to become accustomed (habituated) to humans and various sights and sounds and have been trained, to a lesser or greater degree, to override their natural instincts while being handled and ridden. They can however revert to instinctive behaviour in certain circumstances depending on their individual behavioural characteristics and their level of training. Even a well behaved/trained horse can react instinctively when being handled and ridden if the scary situation (stimulus) is strong enough.

 

Domestic horses still possess all of their natural behavioural characteristics and can become stressed if they are not allowed to carry out certain behaviours. For example grazing, playing and mutual grooming are all part of natural horse behaviour. Unnatural behaviours such as fence walking, crib biting and weaving come about when a horse is stressed due to imposed restrictions that prevent natural social and grazing/eating behaviours.

 

Many horse owners tend to think that it is ‘normal’ and ‘good horse care’ for a horse to be rugged from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail, to be permanently separated from other horses ‘for his or her own safety’, and to stand around for hours on end with nothing to do and not enough fibre to eat. These practices have become normalised in the horse industry and this is a very sad situation for the horse.

 

Any animal kept in captivity, such as zoo animals also resort to unnatural behaviours if their living conditions are poor. This is why in modern times (in the better zoos) the animals tend to have better enclosures and their keepers continuously strive to ‘enrich’ their environment with other stimulating activities that whenever possible encourage natural behaviours. Unfortunately, in the horse world some horses are still being kept in outdated management systems that do not take horse behaviour into account and would be unacceptable in a modern zoo! There will be lots more information on this website about what you can do to improve the ‘life style’ of your horse.

 

Equiculture articles and further information links will cover subjects such as:

 

• What horses do with their time  
• Why play is important to a horse  
• Why companionship is crucial to a horse
• How much horses need to move
• What you can do to increase their movement

 

And many more besides - make sure you are on our free mailing list (subscribe) for new additions to this website (you will receive an email every one to two months). See also  the more behaviour info page for links to articles, organisations and other websites etc.