When a horse lays its ears back, it is signaling fright or anger, or a little of both. Pinning the ears protects them from being bitten off during predatory attack, or by other horses in a fight e.g. over valued resources such as sexual partners, since it is stallions that more usually fight in this manner.
Ears flat and pinned back indicates territorial protection. These ears should alert the handler or rider that the horse might be angry or irritated. Alarmed horse illustrating a tense neck, raised heads and ears pinned backwards. The horse may act in a hostile manner towards people or other horses.
A horse pins his ears and acts defensive when you walk past his stall because he is protective of his area. It's an all-too common problem at boarding stables. The fix is making your horse realize that you can control his feet anywhere, whether it's in the roundpen, the arena, the pasture, on the trail or in the stall.
When he pins his ears and fusses, it is because he does not like the thought of working harder and he is protesting. The canter has much more suspension (all four feet off the ground) than the trot (the walk has no suspension at all) and therefore requires a lot more physical effort on the part of the horse.
A False Aggressive
A horse is usually the one that pins his ears at feeding time. He typically does this as you approach and often leaves his ears pinned while being fed. He will usually let you feed him and pet him. This is false aggression.
Ears are an important part of equine body language, but are often misunderstood or completely ignored. Unfortunately it's not as simple as “ears back means the horse is mad and ears forward means they are happy”.
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.
Horses may stare at you when they want your attention. If you are distracted or out of reach, your horse may stare at you to get you to focus on them. If there's a barrier such as a fence between you and your horse, they may stare at you since they can't reach you to nudge you.
Horses use body language to communicate with humans (and other horses), and one of the ways they do this is through touch. Nudging is a way for a horse to get your attention, which can signify affection or impatience.
A happy, relaxed, horse
The horse is standing with a relaxed body posture, resting one hind leg, alert with ears up and facing forward, eyes open showing no white, muzzle is relaxed with oval nostrils and closed mouth.
Ears – A horse's ears are very sensitive. This is an area that may take some patience and work to be able to rub and scratch. However, once they figure out how good it feels, the majority of horses love for their ears to be rubbed.
Answer (1 of 3): I wouldn't say they like hugs as we do but they will tolerate them. Horses show affection with other horses by close contact, exchanging breath, and mutual grooming. You'll often see one horse biting at the others withers or neck, sometime putting their neck on top of the other....
Signs your horse doesn't respect you
This is problematic, partly because the above behaviors do not all categorically indicate a lack of respect. These behaviors could be happening for a number of reasons, including fear, pain, lack of training, or even accidental reinforcement by the person for the unwanted behavior.
Signs of depression in horses:
Stands facing the stall wall for periods of time while exhibiting a withdrawn posture (neck stretched out level with back, lack of eye and ear movement, eyes open, fixed gaze) Lack of response to tactile stimulation. Lack of interest in treats put in feed tub.
In one study, the heart rhythms of horses and humans were analyzed over the course of various interactions with one another. The findings indicated that horses care capable of detecting when a human is expressing and projecting positive feelings towards them and is likely to reciprocate those positive feelings.
Give Him a Scratch
A horse looking at you and sniffing you is interested in you and what you are doing. Show him you are his new best friend by giving him a nice scratch. They aren't the kind of animals who much enjoy soft strokes; this probably tickles them more than anything.
Horses DON'T form attachment bonds with their owners despite what equine enthusiasts might think - but they do regard humans as 'safe havens' Horses think of humans as 'safe havens' but don't form attachment bonds with their owners - despite what equine enthusiasts might think, a new study reveals.
Horses also understand words better than expected, according to the research, and possess "excellent memories," allowing horses to not only recall their human friends after periods of separation, but also to remember complex, problem-solving strategies for ten years or more.
A study in 2010 concluded what equestrians already knew: yes, a horse does recognize “their” person and they can differentiate them from other humans. They do that based on olfactory as well as auditory and visual cues, which means by seeing and smelling us as well as by hearing our voice.