There is a wealth of knowledge about riding techniques and training in the horse world, but how well do we actually understand the horse’s language and signals?
For many horse owners, it is easy to spot lameness, wounds, and other physical problems. Understanding how a horse is doing mentally can be much more difficult. Yet this is where there is much to gain, because a horse’s behavior is often the first indication of how it feels.
“Horse communication is quite clear. The challenge is that we humans do not always understand the language,” says Inger Lise Andersen, Professor of Ethology and Animal Welfare at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU).
Understanding behavior is one of the most important tools for ensuring good horse welfare. Behavior is the horse’s immediate response to its surroundings and can provide valuable information about well-being, discomfort, and stress.
“Many behavioral problems are interpreted as disobedience, but often they are the horse’s way of telling us that something is wrong,” Andersen explains.
Mistaking fear for disobedience
Horses are prey animals and, through evolution, have developed a strong ability to detect danger and react quickly when they feel unsafe. Flight is a natural response. When a horse refuses to load into a trailer, becomes uneasy during handling, or reacts strongly in a new situation, it may be driven more by insecurity than unwillingness.
“It can be difficult to distinguish between a frightened horse and a difficult horse. But if we misunderstand fear as disobedience, we risk making the problem worse,” says Andersen.
At the same time, Andersen emphasizes that it is important not to overanalyze behavior or excuse every reaction. The goal is to understand the causes behind a horse’s responses, including preventing problems from becoming more serious later.
“A horse that is not understood may develop chronic behavioral challenges that become increasingly difficult to manage over time.”
Failing to address the root cause
A well-known example is windsucking. The behavior is often explained by saying, “That’s just the way the horse is.” In reality, stress, frustration, social isolation, restricted movement, insufficient forage, or other environmental pressures are often the underlying causes.
Although an anti-windsucking collar may reduce the behavior and mask the symptoms, it does not solve the root problem. In fact, it can make the situation worse, because the horse uses the behavior as a coping mechanism. Preventing the behavior without addressing the cause may increase the horse’s distress.
This perspective should be applied to all forms of problem behavior. Aggression, irritability, or resistance during training can often be signs of frustration, fear, pain, or discomfort. Moreover, long before these reactions become obvious, the horse has usually been trying to communicate that something is not right.
A horse’s identity develops within the herd
Modern horse management places great emphasis on training, nutrition, veterinary care, and performance. While this is positive, horses’ mental and social needs often receive less attention.
Many horses spend most of the day alone in small paddocks or stalls and are only exercised for an hour or two. The consequences of isolation are not always immediately visible.
The “well-behaved” horse is not always a happy horse
“A horse that stands completely still in the paddock all day and behaves ‘nicely’ does not necessarily have good welfare. Sometimes passivity can be a sign that the horse has stopped trying to influence its environment,” says Andersen.
Horses have fundamental needs for social contact, free movement, and access to forage. This applies to competition horses as well. Horses are social herd animals that develop their identity and social skills through interaction with other horses. Their personality and temperament become more apparent when they are allowed to live in a more natural social environment.
Small changes can make a difference
Even though many stables have limited turnout areas and restricted opportunities to change their management systems, Andersen believes it is important to look for improvements that are possible within existing constraints.
“Good horse welfare is not about perfection. It is about being willing to recognize challenges and make small improvements wherever possible.”
Placing water, forage, and shelters in different locations can encourage horses to move more. Providing opportunities for social contact in small groups can also be a step in the right direction where conditions allow.
What does my horse need to thrive and succeed?
When people talk about training, many think first and foremost about riding. However, horses need to learn much more than that. Trailer loading, shoeing, veterinary procedures, environmental training, and handling in different situations all require learning and habituation.
“A better understanding of learning and emotions, which are responses to events, leads to safer horses, safer people, and better cooperation between horse and human.”
Reflecting on our own practices
Conversations about horse welfare can quickly turn into debates about what is right and wrong.
Andersen advocates a different approach.
“No one has all the answers. Horse management takes place under different circumstances, and people come into it with different backgrounds and levels of experience. What matters most is a willingness to reflect on one’s own practices and remain open to new knowledge.”
This exchange of experience, awareness of personal attitudes and practices, and perhaps a measure of self-reflection are central themes in the digital course Understanding the Horse: Behavior, Emotions and Welfare, organized by NMBU in November.
The course is aimed at people who work with horses or are responsible for them. Typical participants include trainers, instructors, riding school staff, stable personnel, breeders, competitive riders, and other active horse professionals and enthusiasts.
Topics include behavioral understanding, equine learning, human-induced behavioral problems, training, rehabilitation, and welfare.
“The goal is not to tell participants what they should think. I hope they leave with more questions and a greater curiosity about their horses,” says Andersen.
References:
Cource i Norwegian: Atferdsforståelse - hestens atferd, emosjoner og velferd
Linn Therese Olafsen og Inger Lise Andersen mfl.: Longitudinal stretching while riding (LSR) as a preventive training method of riding horses – will it improve welfare? (sammendrag). Proc. of the 51st. Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology., 2017. DOI:10.3920/9789086868582_048
Carol Hall mfl.: Assessing equine emotional state. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci., 2018. Doi:10.1016/j.applanim
Kate Lewis mfl.: An ethogram of facial behaviour in domestic horses: evolutionary perspectives on form and function. Peer J, 2025. Doi.org/10.7717/peerj.19309.