Horses and Emotions

I think it is fair to say that anyone who has worked around horses for any length of time knows that horses both have emotions and are receptive to human emotions.

Horses are a fight-or-flight animal; they feel fear (for themselves) and they pick up on fear (coming through a rider's seat and legs or coming through a handler's body language).  A horse may react differently around a calm, quiet person than a nervous, hyperactive person.  I've seen high-strung horses react completely differently to a low-key handler than to an extroverted, outspoken owner.

Horses have good memories:  I've seen horses that have been separated for months immediately bond back together when re-joined in the same herd. 

All that said, there are certain differences between a horse's emotions and that of a human owner.  For example, a woman may feel the need to have children to feel complete.  A mare does not share that feeling.  Nature gives her a heat cycle; that doesn't automatically mean she wants to make a baby every year for her entire life.

A horse doesn't need 10 pounds of sweet feed a day to feel loved.  You wouldn't give your four year old free reign of the candy dish and cookie jar; why load your horse up on sugars and carbs?  Fat is fat, whether horse or human, and a horse is happy just to graze on good quality hay, romp in his pasture, and have the dirt brushed from his itchy places on a regular basis. 

You  may hurt a child's feelings by sending him to his room for a time-out.  You're not going to hurt your horse's feelings because you tie him up and expect him to stand still for grooming and saddling.  I've actually seen people who halter their horse, attach a 12-foot lead rope, let the horse wander as it will, while they "chase" along with brushes, fly spray, and tack.  Now, if you let your horse do as he pleases the entire time you handle him, why should he listen to anything you try to do during a ride?

In the wild, a horse's entire life is based on the structure of a herd.  The herd has an alpha mare, the stallion, and then everything else falls into place.  In your relationship with your horse, for your safety and your horse's well-being, you basically become the "alpha mare" of your horse's world.  You are responsible for his safety, you're responsible for setting the ground rules.  If he does something wrong, it is your job to "punish" him, and then "forgive" him - in the wild, the alpha mare may drive others away from a watering hole first, then allow them to drink after she does.  In your world, you expect your horse to respect your space in much the same way.

It doesn't make your horse love you any less.  And in the end, it makes him respect you more.