Horse behavior is best understood from the perspective that horses are prey animals with a well-developed fight-or-flight instinct. Their first response to a threat is to flee, although they are known to stand their ground and defend themselves or their offspring in cases where flight is untenable, such as when a foal would be threatened.
Nonetheless, because their physiology is also suited to a number of work- and entertainment-related tasks, humans domesticated horses thousands of years ago, and they have served humans ever since. Through selective breeding, some breeds of horses have been bred to be quite docile, particularly certain large draft horses. On the other hand, most light horse riding breeds were developed for speed, agility, alertness and endurance; building on natural qualities that extended from their wild ancestors.
The instincts of horses can be used to human advantage to create a bond between human and horse. These techniques vary, but are part of the art of horse training.
Read more about Horse Behavior: Horses As Herd Animals, Communication, Horses and Humans, Sleep Patterns, Eating Patterns, Psychological Disorders
Famous quotes containing the words horse and/or behavior:
“Cowardice shuts the eyes till the sky is not larger than a calf-skin: shuts the eyes so that we cannot see the horse that is running away with us; worse, shuts the eyes of the mind and chills the heart.”
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“In abnormal times like our own, when institutions are changing rapidly in several directions at once and the traditional framework of society has broken down, it becomes more and more difficult to measure any type of behavior against any other.”
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