Horses love appealing food smells like peppermint, anise, apple, banana, and cherry, often associating them with treats, while calming scents like lavender, rose, and chamomile can help reduce stress, though individual preferences vary greatly for specific foods, essential oils, or even natural smells like rain on dry earth.
Research has also found that horses enjoy the smell of peppermint. One 2022 study in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience discovered horses spent more time sniffing and licking when exposed to peppermint versus orange, lavender, and cedar wood.
Lavender oil has long been used as a calming agent. A study published in 2017 appears to support the effectiveness of reducing a horse's stress response when lavender oil was applied 20 minutes prior to a stressful situation.
Scents that horses dislike: - Predator urine – Even if they've never seen a predator, the smell alone can cause panic! - Strong, unfamiliar scents like eucalyptus oil can make them uneasy.
Horses naturally gravitate to people they trust. To invite trust, look unintimidating. Mosey into his pasture or corral with a casual slouch, rounded shoulders, head and eyes down. Approach at an angle, not directly facing him. This says, ``I'm safe. I am not here to pressure you.''
The "1-2-3 Rule" for horses is a critical guideline for monitoring a newborn foal and mare: the foal should stand within 1 hour, nurse within 2 hours, and the mare should pass the placenta (afterbirth) within 3 hours of birth; any delay in these milestones requires an immediate call to a veterinarian to ensure the health of both animals.
Much like other pets, horses use licking as a way to show their love! Breathing on you, licking, and kissing are all ways a horse may be trying to tell you how much you mean to them. They also may grasp you with their lips to pull you in, and then lick.
Some horses love horse snacks like carrots or celery, while others love fruits like bananas, strawberries and watermelons. Others have a sweet tooth and whinny in delight when they see you reach into your pocket for a sugar cube.
The "Three Second Rule" in horse training means you must reward or release pressure within about three seconds of a desired behavior for the horse to connect the action with the outcome, because their short memory span makes delayed rewards ineffective. This rule applies to both positive reinforcement (like giving a treat or praise) and negative reinforcement (releasing rein tension), ensuring clear communication and building trust by capitalizing on the horse's "in-the-moment" focus.
They have dichromatic vision, a form of color blindness. They see the world in shades of blue, yellow, brown, and gray. White light is bright and can spook them, making them really uncomfortable. Red light appears much darker and keeps their stress levels low.
The "20% rule" for horses states that the total weight of the rider, saddle, and equipment should not exceed 20% of the horse's body weight for welfare and performance, though many experts suggest 10-15% is a safer, more conservative guideline, as factors like fitness, breed, conformation, rider skill, and activity type affect a horse's true carrying capacity. This rule helps prevent strain, lameness, and discomfort, with signs of being overweight including excessive sweating, reluctance to move, or pinned ears.
The "3 Fs for horses" stand for Friends, Forage, and Freedom, a widely recognized concept in equine welfare emphasizing natural social interaction (friends), continuous access to fiber-rich food (forage), and ample space for movement and choice (freedom) to ensure a horse's physical and mental well-being. These pillars address core needs, preventing behavioral issues often rooted in confinement and unnatural feeding, promoting happier, healthier horses.
Horses possess what scientists call “emotional contagion” – the ability to mirror and respond to the emotions of others. This means that anxious, frustrated, or aggressive humans typically make horses uncomfortable, while calm, confident people naturally attract them.
Nonenal® (also known as 2-Nonenal) is a naturally occurring compound responsible for the distinct odor associated with aging. It typically appears after age 40, becoming more noticeable in both men and women.
A 2010 study found that horses remembered how an individual human behaved towards them based on just one interaction, even as long as eight months later, and behaved better with handlers who used positive handling techniques, such as stroking or speaking in a soft voice.
Here are our top 5 tips to show your horse some love, with a few product recommendations to help you along the way!
It states: when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. Yet, many businesses refuse to do so. Instead, they attempt misguided strategies like: Buying a stronger whip.
Focus Concentration Exercises:
Go for those exercises that can seek the attention and focus of the horse. Spiraling circles will be helpful to get focus and concentration on your horse. You have to ask your horse to spiral in from a 20 cm circle to a 10 cm circle and then push back out to a 20 cm circle.
The "1-2-3 Rule" for horses is a critical guideline for monitoring a newborn foal and mare: the foal should stand within 1 hour, nurse within 2 hours, and the mare should pass the placenta (afterbirth) within 3 hours of birth; any delay in these milestones requires an immediate call to a veterinarian to ensure the health of both animals.
Loud and unpredictable, barking dogs often spook horses.
Dietary Restrictions or Sensitivities
Carrots have approximately 6-7.5% combined sugar and starch on a fresh weight basis, which is higher than some alternative feeds and can affect sensitive horses, such as those prone to laminitis or insulin dysregulation[1][2].
Whatever you think, horses apparently don't care which sex is in the saddle. That's what Austrian scientists concluded after analyzing how horses are affected by the gender of their riders.
The ears laid flat against the neck, head raised and the horse may lunge at you, whites of the eyes showing, and their mouth open showing their teeth. You should avoid approaching a horse from behind. If you do, they may warn you if they're angry and want you to stay away or go away. If you ignore this, they may kick.
Most avoid being hugged, but most like being petted and scratched. After all horses don't have arms so it makes sense that hugging is strange and awkward for them. But they love scratches, especially where it itches them.