# What emotions do horses experience? discussion



## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

What emotions do you guys think horses feel? Feel free to edit or add to/subtract from anything I post.

*Happiness, contentedness, excitement, security, dissapointment, threatened, confusion, longing, boredom.* These are pretty simple; I believe horses experience all of them.

*Loss.* When two horses are best buds and one dies, you can definitely tell a change in the horse's habits and attitude.

*Embarrassment.* I do NOT think horses understand embarrassment. This is a human emotion that people so often label horses with, but incorrectly.

Do horses *love?* Do they feel love towards other horses, people, barn animals? I don't know about this one. I feel they create bonds upon convenience, but soometimes there's no reason based on the ideals of convenience that would make a horse feel obligated to forge a bond with a barn cat, or with the three year old next door.

What are your thoughts on this? Just curious


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## Arksly (Mar 13, 2010)

I personally believe that they experience all of those emotions, including love.


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## luvmyperch (Oct 5, 2009)

Mine certainly experiences jealousy and posessiveness. Heaven forbid I should say hello to another horse first! Oh, the nasty faces he makes! Certainly fear and pride too...


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

Horses experience all sorts of emotions, but not in a _human_ sense.

When we presume horses (and other animals) have human emotions, we do both them and ourselves a disservice. In order to really know an animal you have to learn how they tick on _their_ terms, not through a filter of humanity.

Like the OP, I don't think they can experience embarrassment because that would assume they were self aware, which they aren't.

Horses are capable of love and they do grieve the death of their companions, but it's not generally long term, whereas people can and do grieve for years. 

Horses are herd animals, so the desire to form bonds is inherent in their nature. They're also selectively bred to bond with people, and the Arabian and TB are excellent examples of this. Some of them actually seem to prefer the company of humans over their own kind.

So yes, while I think horses experience a wide range of emotions, I don't think they feel the same things the same way humans do.


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## Jessabel (Mar 19, 2009)

I think they experience all the emotions human beings (and any other animal) can feel. They're as unique and diverse as people are. I know for a fact that horses can love just as much as people can. They can also experience grief, which they couldn't feel if they didn't experience love. If a companion is sold or dies, horses will pine over it for days, weeks, or even months. I've seen animals (not just horses) become depressed and sometimes stop eating, mope around, and just be very disinterested in everything because they miss their buddy. I think horses can sometimes feel embarrassed, but maybe that's just how I interpret a particular behavior or facial expression. I don't believe that horses think in words, although they do listen for words they recognize when they hear people talking. I think their thoughts consist more of ideas and pictures. But you never know. That's just what I've surmised from my observations. I don't think anyone can ever know for sure how horses think.


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## justsambam08 (Sep 26, 2009)

I don't think that horses love in a human sense.....love it just a chemical reaction, a firing of certain neurons just the same as any other emotion. It's obvious that they _prefer _certain horses, otherwise all horses would get along, putting aside the pecking order.


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## RadHenry09 (Mar 22, 2009)

Def agree that horses experiencel loss. One of my geldings had a best friend who was a Warmblood (almost 17 hands. ) My 15 hand gelding really looked up to this horse. They were always together ...grazing , playing etc...Then the WB went to a new home and my little gelding was depressed. He just stood in the field with his head down and wouldnt come in to the barn. He acted like this for almost two weeks! He has sinced found new pasture buddies to run around with but I found it interesting how he really seemed to be missing his old buddy. Horses never cease to amaze me, we learn so much from them.


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## loxley (May 11, 2010)

One of my horses sulks , he is only young but so funny. Horses are very guick to judge what mood we are in.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Speed Racer said:


> Horses experience all sorts of emotions, but not in a _human_ sense.
> 
> When we presume horses (and other animals) have human emotions, we do both them and ourselves a disservice. In order to really know an animal you have to learn how they tick on _their_ terms, not through a filter of humanity.
> 
> ...


Yes, I fully agree. Every horse feels emotions but does not feel them the same as we do, although I swear they are more human then we realize, if not as human as we think.

I have experiencd several horses who show distinct emotions above all else. Jester is one, Rebel is another, Annie is the third. When they look at me I know exactly what they are feeling and what they need. If they want me to come to them, I can see it. If they want to play, I can see it. If they need a scratch, I can see it. If something is bothering them, I can see it. All of these things and more are a part of being an equestrian. If you can't feel when your horse needs something, then you aren't in tune with them and you need to establish that connection before you can truly be proud of yourself. 

The horse expresses his emotions through body language. The ears, tail, head, legs, neck, body.....everything shows exactly what they want. Examples:

Jester pins his ears and snakes, he's trying to herd me away from something. He does it when there is a threat such as dogs, other people who I don't like, or other male horses. He treats me like his mare, but I am still the lead mare and still dominant although he protects me. Here he is experience *Pride, Protection, Love, Jealousy, and Fear* of losing his girl to something.

Another is when Annie puts her head on my shoulder. She does it when she wants a scratch. I will extend my arms on both sides and scratch her hard and she will scratch my shoulder too, although not hard because she knows I'm not as thick-skinned as a horse is. Here she experiences *Friendship, and Love. Companionship.* 

Emotions in the smallest of forms. Everything a horse does has emotion behind it. If there wasn't emotion, we wouldn't ahve the special bond between horse and rider that makes one being: The Equestrian.


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## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

Empathy. Horses show empathy, which is an emotion that some people don't even have.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

^never thought about that one


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## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

I have seen empathy in action with our horses. 

A few instances...

We had a blind horse come in. Some of the other horses shunned him, which was natural- after all, a disabled animal slows down the herd, leaving them vulnerable to predators. We had a pony at the time who took a liking to the blind horse. The pony would guide the blind horse around the pasture, to the point that the blind horse would rest his nose on the pony's rump and be led around. We put a little bell on the pony's halter so the blind horse could hear him and follow him. Now, tell me, is that not empathy?

Last year we had a llama give birth, and her cria was killed and half eaten by a cougar. She grieved at the site where the cria was killed for several days, refusing to leave, eat or drink. We brought buckets of water to her in an effort to drink. Our vet said if she didn't come out of the grief, she would die. The next morning several of us witnessed an old mare go over to the llama, stand side by side with her for several hours. The old mare previously had never showed an interest in the llamas. They stood together like this, heads down, leaning on each other. Finally, the mare nudged the llama gently and then they both started walking back to the hay. Llama proceeded to eat, and recovered. Now, why should an old horse who didn't care about that grieving llama bother to go over and obviously comfort her? In my mind, she acknowledged the llama's grief, comforted her and encouraged her. That is empathy.

I don't know how many times I wasn't feeling good because of my chemotherapy and I would just go out and sit on the grass with my horses grazing around me. On more than one occasion I had a horse come up to me, lay her head on my shoulder and comfort me. 

Horses are a wealth of emotion.


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## HowClever (Feb 16, 2010)

Wow, those are both amazing stories draftrider! Touching.


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## Cougar (Jun 11, 2009)

equiniphile said:


> What emotions do you guys think horses feel? Feel free to edit or add to/subtract from anything I post.
> 
> *Happiness, contentedness, excitement, security, dissapointment, threatened, confusion, longing, boredom.* These are pretty simple; I believe horses experience all of them.
> 
> ...


From my perspective lots of relationships humans form are simply convenience as well. We're all out for self preservation and part of keeping our sanity is companionship. I believe the same goes for horses. That's all very surfaced though. Going deeper into it I very much do believe they experience love.


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