Horses speak silently, but communicate loudly.
Some people believe horses do not process thoughts and make choices based on their thoughts. In this video I break down the decision making process my mare, Six experiences when making a decision. I hope it helps people become more aware of how busy their brains are and how to better read their thoughts.
When I was first starting to learn about horses and horsemanship, my teachers all had rules that I was meant to follow. I was to mount from the left of the horse. I was to lead a horse from my right. I was to ask a horse to pick up its feet by pinching the chestnut. When there was a disagreement with a horse I was to always make sure I won. If a horse turned its tail towards me I had to always correct it. A horse should not be allowed to stop when it had a bathroom moment.
A few years ago I was responding to a question on a horseman list on the internet. In response to one particular question I made an inadvertent and off-the-cuff remark to the effect that it wasn't my desire to have my horse "plodding around like an old packhorse." This seems to have raised the hackles of at least one subscriber and a long letter was sent to me by e-mail. I have inserted the letter below for the benefit of those who (like me) have an interest in packhorses.
It evolved that horses are more comfortable at colder temperatures than warmer ones. Their thermal neutral temperature range varies between 5 and 12 deg C. Whereas humans have a comfortable temperature around 20-22 deg C. I won’t go into how this works, but the way a horse’s coat grows is part of the mechanism. It also helps that horses primarily breathe through their nose and not their mouth when it comes to reducing heat loss.
