How to read a horse’s body language

Being able to read a horses body language is an invaluable skill to have. Horses tell us a lot through their behaviour.  The best way to learn what they are trying to say is to watch them as often as you can. Notice how they react when theyre in the field with other horses when theyre taken to a new environment when other people are around them. Watch their facial expressions and ear positions as well as body language noticing their overall posture and how they react in different situations.

Learning to recognise early changes in a horses body language and behaviour can help you to see when they are anxious fearful frustrated or aggressive. This puts you in a better position to avoid potentially dangerous situations or prevent behavioural problems from escalating. Changing what youre doing or removing yourself and your horse from a situation could help to keep you both safe. Noticing the warning signs that your horse is irritated or fearful and acting accordingly could stop them from resorting to more more dangerous behaviours like bucking or biting.
Learn your horses body language
When learning a horses body language we need to put together three pieces of a jigsaw. Firstly consider that horses use their whole body to communicate. Messages may be conveyed via several movements or positions so body language signals can only be interpreted correctly when the horses body is seen as a whole. For example facial expressions may be supported by the position or movements in the rest of the body. The position of the head and neck hindquarters and tail are of particular importance as is overall body posture.
If your horse has their ears back for example they may either be listening to something behind them or threatening to bite. The position of their head and neck high and alert when listening or low and extended towards you when aggressive can help us to understand what they are saying. I explain more about this later in the article. Secondly consider that a horses body language and behaviour is context specific. How a horse behaves can mean different things in different situations so its vital to take the context or situation in which the behaviour occurs into account.
Thirdly body language and horse behaviour can differ between individual equines. Not all horses respond to things in the same way. Some are extremely stoic and may be much more frightened