by: Bob Goddard
To a casual observer like me, horses are not the most communicative animals in the world. Beyond the occasional snort or squeal, I’ve never heard much from them. It doesn’t bother me. I can’t think of anything to say to them either.
It’s even questionable how much they communicate with each other. Not very much, I think. Horses like to stand next to each other and run around together, but there doesn’t seem to be much discussion.
My horse loving, college student daughter, Jamie, says there is a chance that I might possibly be almost nearly totally mistaken about this. A more precise quote would be, “Dad, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jamie has no trouble communicating. According to her, horses communicate in a variety of ways. Snorts and squeals are not just random horse sounds; they are meant to express something.
And the subtle variations of nickering and neighing have social meanings. But their primary means of communication is non-verbal. That is, they use “body language.”
“For example,” she explains, “a horse says a lot with his ears.”
They got that backwards.
“I don’t know if you noticed, Dad, but when Eddie gets upset, he pins his ears.”
New game: Pin the Ears on the Horsey.
“It’s a primeval protective measure. It helps keep the horse’s ears from getting ripped or bitten in a fight.”
So it’s the horse’s way of covering up his face and cowering in a corner.
“When he puts his ears back, he’s telling other horses he’s willing to fight.”
More like putting up your dukes, then.
“But it doesn’t mean he wants to fight or attack. It’s merely a primeval response to the situation. It’s just a reflexive physiological response to adverse stimuli in a hostile psychosocial context.”
I’ve been saying that for years.
“If a horse isn’t angry, but just irritated, you can tell by the way he shakes and jerks his neck around. I’m sure you’ve seen this behaviour.”
I really need to pay more attention, don’t I?
“It has to do with the fact that a horse’s tail can’t reach his neck to ward off flies on that part of his body.”
The proverbial pain in the neck.
“But the flies don’t actually have to be present. If the horse is irritated by another source, he often has the same physiological response. It’s a physiosensory reaction triggered by pseudomanic components of his generalized evolutionary integration.”
I’m Batman.
“There is also a thing called ‘Jaw Waving’. You see it a lot in young horses.”
I see it a lot in young humans, too.
“It’s a sign of friendliness. When one horse approaches another, he opens and closes his mouth. It looks like he is attempting to bite the other horse.”
Biting sounds real friendly.
“But that’s not what he is trying to do. He is actually attempting to groom the other horse. Horses often express friendship by mutual grooming.”
I’m glad humans just shake hands.
“But the actual grooming does not have to occur. The jaw waving can be just a symbolic gesture of friendship. It’s merely …”
Don’t tell me. It’s merely a behaviour symptomatic of the horse’s relative psychosocial position within the context of other-directed indications.
“… It’s merely a way of saying ‘Hi, I like ya. Wanna play?’ ”
So, apparently, horses have a great deal to say to one another.
Jamie said that there are a number of other sounds and body motions they use to communicate, but she didn’t say what they were. I think she was running out of fake words.
