Horse body language question

molly34

molly34

devil's advocate ;)
Mar 9, 2006
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Surrey/Hampshire
Any horse-language experts out there?
I've pretty much got the hang of ears, licking & chewing, bum in your face, mutual grooming etc, but Willow gave me a whole new behaviour last night and I'm stumped!

Long story short(ish), most of the herd were tied up on the yard as the pony clubbers were using our paddock. One of the ponies wouldn't load so there was lots of noise and stomping, and then a few loud whip cracks which completely freaked Willow and another mares. The other horse broke her tie, and Willow was trying, so I undid her and held them both in the middle of the yard where they had room to fidget and could see what was happening (and could see that the whip wasn't coming to get them!) and talked crap at them until they settled down. They both relaxed and did the licky chewy thing, but then Willow kept turning round to nibble and pull at the bottom of my shirt. It was very gentle, not bitey or aggressive. It seemed more like she was doing it for reassurance but she was very definitely in my space.... any translators?!

sorry for the essay, I didn't know how else to explain it!
Cookies..... :D
 
Well, just to add to confusion! Licking and chewing can also indicate a certain level of stress, so not always a sign of relaxation. You have to look at what's going on around at the time. So, given that there had been a stressy situation going on, she could have still been a bit upset.

Also, some horses like to just have something in their mouth when in a stressy situation - it acts a bit like a dummy and gives them something else to think about.

And, if a horse is chewing, it is more likely to calm the breathing down as chewing activates the 'parasympathetic' nervous system and overrides the flight reflex.

So, I don't think it's anything to worry about really - and you may well have had the same effect if you'd given her a handful of cubes to chew on.
 
i find this with a lot of young horses i find that it is a rensurance thing as if saying is it alright or have i done well. I dont react to it in a bad just give a little pat.
 
Thanks for that Doris.

The licking/chewing = stress makes a lot more sense because they were both very upset. Willow is VERY whip-shy, and we know the other mare was abused in the past. The nibbling was almost foaly (is that a word?), it felt totally non-threatening, but that seemed so out of character I was curious to understand what she was trying to tell me. Moments like that make me realise how little I really know.

eta - just read Manwell's post. That reinforces my hunch that it was a 'foaly' behaviour. I tried to react as little as possible, just pushed her nose away very gently and kept talking to her.
 
You answered your own question :D I did some Equine Behaviour down at the NAC and I would say that the gentle nuzzling and nibbling is certainly to say 'I'm not sure, please re-assure me' It's great to know there are people out there really looking at horse behaviour/body language because it is so important to understand our horses so we can do the best for them and get the same in return :D

xx
 
Could someone remind me what bum in the face means again, my memory seems to have disappeared!
 
Bum to face, lol, it depends. It can either be taken as a horse showing defence ( as they would to an potential wild animal) or it could be to scratch their bum, however, I notice when my mare wants top of her tail scratched she'll walk along side me first then manouver.

A horse which quickly turns it's bottom is likley saying, get lost or I'll kick. :eek: Hope that helps :-D
 
Torny said:
Bum to face, lol, it depends. It can either be taken as a horse showing defence ( as they would to an potential wild animal) or it could be to scratch their bum, however, I notice when my mare wants top of her tail scratched she'll walk along side me first then manouver.

A horse which quickly turns it's bottom is likley saying, get lost or I'll kick. :eek: Hope that helps :-D
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Thanks, it does sort of. Although I'm not sure mine fits into any of those. I think Rhia does it as a mardy, "I'm not talking to you, you wont do what I want so I'm not doing what you want", a kind of talk to the hand moment! It's in the facial expressions. She would never dream of threatening to kick.
 
I thought Tali had pulled back!

Not surprised about the outcome of Willow's behaviour, I get the vibe that her occasional bolshiness is all part of not being quite settled in/knowing the ropes. The fact that she is looking to you for reassurance is great, Tali's is a blind panic "no one can help me" which I find heartbreaking at times.
 
Tasha, the first couple of whip cracks were really loud and Tali freaked - blind panic is a very good description :(
I let her go after a minute or so and she just stood by us until one of the girls came back over and tied her up again. I got a definite thanks for trying, but you're not my mum.....

And I totally agree about Willow - sometimes she acts like she's been there forever, but other times like its only been 5 minutes, and she really doesn't like the busy days! I was very pleasantly surprised by the way she responded to me.
 
This is an interesting thread and reminds me of some words of wisdom - sadly not written by me!
It is good to know that so many horse owners are listening and noticing their horse's behaviour and trying to work out what they mean.

"If we listened when they whispered, they wouldn't have to shout so loud".
 
Moving slightly aside from this topic, have any of you read the article about NH in Horse and Rider Magazine? I'm very much in favour of whatever works for my horse is fine by me, and if a horse's behaviour is puzzling me, any tips I might have from anyone are always useful and helpful, and frankly, I don't need it to be defined by a "scientific study".

I found this article somewhat patronising and wondered about the ulterior motive behind it, but maybe that's just me and I'm reading too much into it, but it was quite interesting!

Roseanne
 
molly34 said:
I got a definite thanks for trying, but you're not my mum.....
It was probably more a "thanks for trying, but when Im wound up the only one that get me out of it is myself". i.e. she wont be calmed down by a person. You've got to put right what she's panicking about (eg she cant see Kally) or she'll quieten down a bit once she's worn herself out a bit. It breaks my heart, would love to sort out the loosened brain connections that the @rse who abused her severed.
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