By Ellie Nodland

 Horses neigh when they are trying to locate other horses in their herd. Horses may also neigh when they are brought somewhere they don’t recognize. Typically when a horse neighs they hold their head in the air with their ears forward and their mouth open.  This may be translated to, “Where are you?”

This is a picture of a neighing horse. As you can see the horse puts it head up with its ears forwards.

 A horse may nicker when it is greeting another horse or person. Or you may hear a nicker when they see a stallion horse (a male)they like. This nicker is often longer and lower. Another reason a horse may nicker is if a foal runs away, then the mother horse may nicker to call it back. The horse makes this sound by closing their mouth and using their vocal cords.  This can be translated to a simple, “Hello”.

This horse is nickering as someone is entering the stable.

 You may hear a horse snort when it is scared and is trying to let others know of the danger. Or when they are trying to clear their nostrils. When the horse snorts to clear their nostrils it is like a sneeze. A horse snorts by pushing air out through their nose so that their nostrils will vibrate. When you are riding a horse and the horse snorts they will typically put their head down.  A snort may be translated to “What is that? I don’t like it!”

This picture is of a horse snorting and pawing the ground. The horse is snorting from fear not to clear its nostrils, the head is held down.

 A squeal is a very high pitched noise that is made in annoyance or anger. When ever you hear this you may be in danger of being kicked. If you are ever in a situation where a horse is squealing at you, you should quickly get out of the horses reach, so that they can not harm you.  You may translate the squeal to “Get away, you’re making me really mad right now!”

This horse is squealing and if you were there you would be able to hear it from several hundred yards away.

 A sigh sounds just like a humans sigh and is made by blowing air out of their nose.  Translates to “I’m tired I think I am going to bed now.”

This horse is sighing, as seen the horse doesn’t move its head to a certain spot to sigh.

Over the course of the day your horse may feel several different emotions. Some of them may include, anger, boredom, content, curious, expectant, fearful, submissive, uncertainty, and many more. Each of these feelings have their own set of body language to express those feelings, allowing you to clarify what they are feeling. Anger is most likely the easiest to recognize as the body language is very pronounced. Most Body language uses the nose, mouth, and/or ears.

Horses communicate to other horses almost the same way they do to you. Instead of just using sounds and body language though they use vibrations as well. Also when horses communicate to other horses they use a combination of their senses. Sense of smell and sense of hearing are used the most, although they do their other senses to.

 Used to submit to leaders:  Other horses must see the body language of the horse submitting. (Lifting of the head, lowering of the ears, and chewing on the air.) Horses don’t use sight very much, for they have very poor eyesight, at least in comparison to humans eyesight. The smallest movement catches their eye, but when jumping fences they can’t even see the fence below them.

 Extraordinary sense of smell.  Used to learn new things:  Horses smell each others dung and urine to learn things about the weather, how healthy the herd is, and what type of food is in the area.  Used to recognize each other:  Because of a weak sense of sight, horses sniff each others breath to recognize each other.

 Good hearing in comparison to humans  On a daily basis different sounds are heard through each ear at the same time, and they require full attention to hear them.  If a sound is heard from behind the horse, the horse may rotate their ears around instead of turning their whole head.  Sounds can make a horse stressed or calm:  Loud noises can make a horse stressed easily  Soft, gentle, calm, confident voices calm horses

 Used the same way we use our sense of touch:  Used with friends-Friends scratch each others itches with their teeth  Used to comfort-Mother horses nuzzle young ones with their muzzle

Horses unlike humans are mostly silent, but when they do make noises they are very significant. A horse may use several signals as well to communicate how and what they are felling. Because of this horses sometimes misinterpret your gestures, so when around a horse the best way to communicate is to be silent, or talk quietly. No sudden movements or sounds. When silent you also have time to notice other things like your horses body language. Besides saying commands you should say encouraging words to your horse if you are working them hard. Try to use quick low words when around horses as well, especially when the horse is scared. High words tend to make a horse just panic more.

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