By: Erica Fielding
Don’t you wish your horse could talk? It would be a dream to simply ask our horses how they’re feeling, or explain to them that the plastic bag flapping in the wind won’t hurt them. Unfortunately, we can’t ask our horses what they think about us, but their behavior can give us clues into how they perceive, remember, and respond to humans in their life.
Horses can recognize familiar people through visual and auditory cues, and research has shown they can even recognize familiar human faces in photographs. In one study, horses recognized photos of their keepers even after six months of separation. Other research has found that horses can match a familiar person’s voice with their face, suggesting they combine information from multiple senses when recognizing people. So your horse isn’t necessarily experiencing you as simply “the person who brings food.” They can learn your appearance, voice, routines, and patterns of interaction.
Horses also pay close attention to how we behave. They are highly attentive to human body language and emotional cues. Their responses can change depending on how a person approaches, moves, handles them, or interacts with them. Our behavior patterns inform how comfortable a horse feels around us long after the interaction is over. Horses remember past interactions. They associate people with how they were treated, retaining long-term memories of both kind handlers and those who mistreated them. Horses are also not oblivious to human emotions.
Horses are highly sensitive prey and herd animals, meaning they are naturally attentive to changes in their environment and the behavior of those around them. A study in Sweden found that when riders became anxious, their horses’ heart rates increased in synchrony with their riders. When the riders relaxed, their horses’ heart rates also slowed. This suggests that horses are not only noticing changes in our behavior and emotional state, but responding to them. Your horse may not understand why you’re nervous, but they can recognize changes in your body language, movement, behavior, and even physiological state. Over time, these repeated experiences help horses form associations about the people around them and what they can expect from those interactions. In other words, your horse is constantly gathering information about you, and those experiences help shape how they respond.
Horses are incredibly good at learning patterns, associations, and routines. This means that if you consistently handle your horse calmly, reward desired behaviors, follow predictable routines, and respond consistently, they will learn to anticipate what happens when you’re around. A horse that regularly experiences calm, predictable interactions may begin to associate that person with safety and consistency, while inconsistent or negative interactions can create very different expectations. The amazing partnerships we see between horses and riders are not magic or built overnight. They are the result of hundreds of consistent, repeated interactions that build trust and deepen relationships.
So, what does your horse really think about you? We may never know exactly what goes on inside a horse’s mind, but their behavior can tell us plenty. Every interaction, from a grooming session to a training ride, gives your horse information about who you are and what they can expect from you. Maybe the most special part of the horse-human relationship is that we don’t have to understand every thought in their head to build a meaningful partnership. We just have to learn to listen to what they’re already telling us.
Athletux is an equestrian athlete management and brand partnership agency representing elite riders across various disciplines. Learn more at athletux.com or reach out directly at info@athletux.com.
