Behavior

Horses and ponies are herd animals and used to living as part of a group, feeling secure in the company of other equines and familiar surroundings. They are timid by nature and their natural reaction to danger is to flee. The horse's sense of hearing is very acute and its sense of smell is also good enabling it to sense danger some distance away. A horse is a very sensitive animal and able to sense the feelings of those nearby particularly hesitation, fear, confidence and anger.

The horse can indicate its own feelings in a number of ways and the ears are a good indication of what is going through a horse's mind.

Horses are intelligent although some are undoubtedly more intelligent than others. They have the ability to learn but also the ability to work things out for themselves such as opening stable bolts, freeing themselves from accidents in the field, etc. A horse is a fast learner with correct and consistent training. Horses will also learn their daily routine and come to know when it is feeding time, or when they can expect treats, etc. Horses are easily upset but reward training can overcome many problems. Horses make associations with many things and these associations can cause problems - for example if a horse is kicked when mounted a few times it will start to associate being mounted with being kicked and may become reluctant to be mounted. Often problems can be traced to unpleasant experiences and work done to rectify the association. A task or experience which the horse considers unpleasant can be overcome by feeding treats or using something else to give the horse something nice to associate with the unpleasant experience. This can then help to turn the unpleasant experience into a pleasant one. Force and punishment may cause the horse to resent such a task or experience further and so worsen the situation. Horses can be taught to recognise short words and their meaning but the tone in which commands are given is also important and should remain consistent with the associated word.