How Horses Think and Learn

Almost everything that goes right or wrong around horses comes back to one fact: the horse is a prey animal that evolved to survive by noticing danger early and running from it. Once you understand how that shapes what a horse sees, feels and learns, its behavior stops looking random, and handling it safely becomes much easier.

In this lesson you will learn how a horse's senses and herd instincts shape its behavior, how horses learn, and how to use that knowledge every time you approach, lead or ask something of a horse.

A prey animal's view of the world

A horse's first answer to anything uncertain is to move away from it, and to decide later whether it was really a threat. That is not bad behavior; it is the instinct that kept wild horses alive. A spook at a plastic bag is the same reflex that once escaped a predator.

Their senses support that strategy:

• Wide vision, with blind spots. A horse's eyes are set on the sides of its head, giving it a very wide field of view but blind spots directly behind it and directly in front of its nose. A person who walks up straight from behind, or reaches suddenly toward the face, can appear out of nowhere.
• Sensitive hearing. Horses notice sounds long before we do, and their ears swivel toward whatever has caught their attention. Where the ears point often tells you where the horse's mind is.
• Fine touch. A horse can feel a fly land on its skin. That sensitivity is why light, clear signals work better than force.

In practice: approach a horse at an angle toward its shoulder, where it can see you, and speak so it knows you are there. Avoid approaching directly from behind. Move calmly and predictably.

The herd

Horses are social animals that feel safest in a group. A horse on its own is more likely to be anxious, which is why a horse left alone in a field may call, pace or try to get out, and why one horse leaving the yard can unsettle the others.

Within a herd, horses form relationships and a loose social order, and most disputes are settled with signals rather than contact: pinned ears, a swing of the head, a raised hind leg. Reading those signals keeps you safe, because a horse gives the same warnings to people. Good herd management, such as introducing new horses gradually and making sure there is enough space, forage and water for all of them, reduces injuries in the field.

How horses learn

Horses learn from the consequences of what they do, and they learn fast, including things we did not mean to teach. Four ideas cover most of what you need:

• Pressure and release (negative reinforcement). You apply a light signal, such as a gentle feel on the lead rope, and remove it the moment the horse gives the answer you want, such as stepping forward. The release is what teaches. Releasing at the wrong moment, or never releasing at all, teaches confusion or resistance.
• Positive reinforcement. Adding something the horse values, such as a scratch on the withers or a small food reward, straight after the behavior you want makes that behavior more likely. Food rewards need consistent rules so that a horse does not learn to push or nip for them.
• Habituation. Repeated calm exposure to something harmless, at a level the horse can cope with, teaches it that the thing does not matter. Start at a distance or intensity where the horse stays relaxed and build up gradually.
• Sensitization. The opposite, and a common mistake. Exposing a horse to something frightening at too high an intensity, or with nowhere to go, can make it more reactive, not less.

Timing matters more than anything. A horse links a consequence to what it was doing in that moment, within a second or two. Punishing a horse after the event teaches it to fear the handler, not to change the behavior.

Putting it to work

Every interaction with a horse is a small lesson, whether you intend it or not. A few habits follow directly from this lesson:

1. Let the horse see and hear you before you touch it.
2. Use the lightest signal that works, and release it as soon as the horse responds.
3. Break frightening things into steps the horse can manage.
4. Read the ears, eyes, mouth and tail before you move closer.
5. Treat a sudden change in behavior as information. A horse that starts objecting to something it used to accept may be telling you something hurts, which is exactly the case the next lesson works through.

For a closer look at the signals horses use, including the facial signs of pain, read reading horse body language and signs of pain.