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The Silent Horse
Although every horse in the movies neighs, nickers and
squeals in almost every scene, the horse by nature is a quiet animal with
the great majority of communication being performed silently through body
language. Generally, it is only when distance or visibility require
it that the horse uses its voice. This is a great advantage for a
prey animal as is doesn't attract the attention of predators but can be
confusing for human's as we ourselves rely more on verbal language.
Body language however, is not an inferior communication
method and the horse can use complex and subtle signals with its fellow
herd members. A high ranking animal* can move or stop another member of the
herd across a field with a signal that may not be noticed by most humans.
It is estimated that a horse's personal space in the wild is approximately
1.5 metres. If other horses come closer that this, a horse will display
threat signals. This occurs, on average, about 1.5 times an
hour between herd members. However more than 80% of aggressive
encounters consisted of visual threats, such as pinned-back ears, actual
kicks or bites are rare.
To help you understand your horse spend some time
observing your horse to learn his language. The horse uses any or
all of these visual cues to signal its emotional state and send messages
to those around it (including humans whether we know it or not).
 The ears - laid flat
back, alert (forward), relaxed, neutral
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In these two
photos, Imp is greeting me but one of the lower ranked
horses approaches. His face remains relaxed toward me
but his ears warn the approaching horse it is not welcome.
When the horse comes too close, the ears go into full threat
mode pinned against his head, he snakes his neck around and
threatens to bite and kick. The underlings ears are
'friendly' to ward off further retribution and he makes a
hasty retreat. |
Ear positions are possibly the highest importance and
they're certainly the easiest to read with facial signals next.
Combinations of the positions are used in times of confusion or anxiety,
and there are numerous positions in between those listed that probably
give subtle messages to other horses. In addition, of course, the
ear is a listening tool and it is important to be able to differentiate
a mood signal from a horse listening to something.
Sharply pointed forward ears indicate tension,
curiosity and good intentions, laterally flapped ears indicate boredom,
tranquillity or fatigue if relaxed or anger if they are tense.
 The eyes - relaxed,
blinking, showing the whites, rolling back in the head
Eye rolling to show some white is used in both
aggression and fear. A stallion will also roll his eyes completely
back in his head during aggressive displays.
 The
mouth and nose, lips, teeth, nostrils - tight, flared,
ecstatic, bared, flehmen, relaxed, wrinkled, curled
Flared nostrils indicate tension, either fear or
aggression. Tight nostrils and pursued lips most often indicate
aggression tinged with fear. An open mouth and bared teeth are
obvious aggression. An extended upper lip is a sign of ecstasy - most
often seen with an extended neck when scratching an itch.
Wrinkling the nose indicates irritation, while the act of flehmen
(bringing the upper lip up and back to the nostrils) is simply an act to
amplify an unfamiliar scent (or to check for a mare's oestrus).
The neck - arched,
high, snaking (low and tense), relaxed
When a horse raises its head high on an extended neck
it is usually a defensive\submissive action. An arched neck on the
other hand is used for display (aggressive), usually between stallions.
The snaking neck is an aggressive driving pose.
The rest of the body -
rearing, kicking, arched, relaxed
The Tail - swishing,
raised, tucked, wringing
A swishing tail is usually the sign of annoyance or
aggression whereas a wringing tail is tension or anxiety. A raised tail
is used in display by a dominant horse while a submissive animal may
show this by tucking his tail in.
The
Horse's Voice
Horses in our care tend to use their voices more than
wild horses, probably in frustration at our inability to read their body
language adequately. They can therefore become very inventive in
human company. Like boys, colts high voices change at puberty
(roughly two years) and reach their full depth at around 3 years.
This is often affected by gelding. Males tend have louder voices
than females but both use them at about the same rate. Each horse
has an individually identifiable voice.
The major vocalisations used by horses are:
The whinny
This is the common long distance call of horses.
Mares separated from their foals will whinny frequently and horses will
often use this call to their humans (esp. at dinner time). The
whinny is also used to check for other horses in the area, for instance
at a watering hole.
The neigh
Another long distance call, the neigh is used by
stallions to challenge one another at a distance. It will also be
used by a mare to attract the stallions attention to a problem or to other
horses.
The nicker
Used primarily when horses are in close company, esp.
mares and their young. Horses will often nicker to their humans at
dinner time. It is a soft, low sound used to indicate appeasement,
submission or lack of hostile intent.
The squeal
Squealing is used both by males when displaying to one
another or by females defending themselves. Males will often enter
squealing contests to sort out dominance (frequently after sniff
greeting another horse). A dominant horse will squeal longer than
a less dominant one. Age is also a factor in squealing contests
and while a young horse may squeal the older more dominant horse may
choose to cut to the chase and bite or threaten.
The snort
Used as an alarm or 'interest' sound when a horse is
concerned, it is generally used to alert others to an intruder or
potential danger. Typically a horse will freeze, staring at
something then snort to draw the attention of others before
investigating.
The sigh
The most common sound heard amongst horses, it is a
sound of contentment. This sound is usually produced by clearing
of the nostrils, often one at a time, while feeding.
The blow
Used almost exclusively by males this is an
explosive exhalation of air from the nostrils used while displaying or
during a mock fight.
The growl
Again a stallion sound, it sounds like a deep chesty
neigh and is used during display.
Sight
Horse has one of the largest eyes of
any modern animal. It has a
special light intensifying device which reflects light back on to the
retina, making vision in poor light very good but it needs time to adjust
vision between light and dark, much longer than a human.
Having binocular vision in front of
60-70° means the horse needs to move the head to see where it is going. It
can only focus fully for a short distance ahead - about 2m and has a blind
spot directly in front of its head. Horses have wide monocular
(panoramic) view of the horizon and can see about 350° around it.
Colour vision is still debated. Some
work shows the horse can see colour starting from yellow, green, blue and
red in that order. In experiments where specific
wavelengths of light (specific colors) are projected into the eye and the
electrical response of the retina measured, it has been shown that the
horse has two types of cones (humans have 3) and therefore has more
limited color vision than humans. It is thought that horses have a
red\blue colour world.
The ability to see fine detail was measured by measuring brain activity
when horses see different gratings on a TV screen. By using this procedure
we found that the visual acuity of the horse is approximately 20/60
(humans are 20/20). This means that a human at 60 feet can resolve details
that a horse would have to be 20 feet away to tell apart.
Hearing
Horses have a broader range of
hearing than humans and can hear up to 25,000 cps. They have acute hearing in the high and
low frequencies. Horses have 16
muscles that control the ears which they can swivel independently, 180
degrees.
 Smell
Smell is well developed in the horse
and they will greet each other nose to nose and smell each other's breath
as a greeting. Horses are highly
sensitive to smells in their environment - dung, dirty troughs, musty
feed, bad water, feed smells and certain plants. The horse has a vomeronasal organ (VNO)
and the flehmen response is very obvious in stallions sniffing mares in
heat and other horses that smell anything unusual.
Taste
Horses are attracted by sweetness and
sugar, molasses, water melon rind, peaches and beer are relished. They (especially foals) reject
sour and bitter tastes at about the same level of acceptance as humans.
Salt is usually sought (although not by foals).
Touch
Touch is one of the most acutely
developed senses in the horse.
They can sense a fly landing on any part of their body through their coat
to flick it off.
Horses are “inter-pressure”. They
respond to pressure so when you move into the horse you will get reverse
response.
The upper lip and muzzle are very
sensitive to tactile stimulus, and are equivalent to our fingers.
The whiskers that grow from the muzzle
and around the eyes are especially useful in low light conditions when the
horse is nosing around. You should not cut them off!
Touch plays a major role in their
social life. Horses use physical
contact to communicate, to establish hierarchy in the herd and to play.
Grooming not only keeps a horse's coat looking nice, but it establishes
and maintains social order and has a calming effect on your horse.
When you groom your horse in the same places that his herdmates would -
such as the base of the neck near the withers - your horse's heart rate
decreases by up to 14%.
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