Horses living in the herd environment in the wild or in the pasture learn good manners and the social boundaries of the herd. Horses’ social hierarchy is very specific. Horses will often be aggressive to establish or maintain social hierarchy status. The higher status horses have greater access to food. In a mixed herd a dominant mare is often in charge. Under her is often a dominant male whose job it is to be alert for danger and move the herd. Troublesome youngsters are put in” time-out” until they calm down. They hate being alone!
The close contact the herd provides is a source of comfort for horses. Good horse-friends say hello by breathing into each others nostrils. They may nibble on, or drape their heads over each others necks. They rub against each other and like to stand head-to-tail and whisk flies off of each other. They may play various games that include racing, bucking, rearing and twisting. If they are natural competitors, during a race, they may kick another horse as they pass to ensure their win.
Human boundaries are very different. We prefer to keep an arm’s distance from other humans. We don’t buck, bite, kick, or rear, and offer handshakes instead of nostrils. Consequently, horses and humans often don’t understand each other. One of the obvious problems is size. If a thousand-pound horse tries to play horse-games with a hundred-pound human, problems can quickly arise. As empathetic humans we must teach horses human boundaries while not finding fault with them for acting like horses.
Read more about the nature of horses: