Do horses have Emotions ?

Answer 1

I agree with foxfire in that all animals have emotions, but I disagree that human emotions are any more complex.

The only difference between our emotions and that of our animal cousins is that we can communicate them clearly, whereas they lack complex communication abilities(at least as complex as ours).

I think the only organisms that don't have emotions might be single celled.

Answer 2

It really depends who you talk to. Humans tend to anthropomorphize animals (make them more human like). I know that my father, and a couple other people I know, think animals have only the basic emtions- pain and happiness, that is about it.

I on the otherhand, think they do. There is more in animal behaviors that will ever be found out. For instance, one of our mares aborted a foal in late pregnancy. The lead mare, who was in a stall at the time due to injury, broke out of her stall and went to go stand on the otherside of the fence from the other mare. The lead mare could have gone to eat grass (which they always do), wander into the road, etc, but instead she just stood there- right by the mare with the lost foal. She didn't even eat the grass right under her feet. I have never seen another non-human animal do that, but that lead mare was special.
My main mare on the otherhand, has a lot simplier view on life- she is pissy, stubborn, estatic (running and bucking for no reason), or content (listening to me, relaxed, etc). That is about it, and I can always tell what mood she is in. She also was sad when we weaned her from her first foal- she dropped over 300 lbs (she is a draft so she was skinny, but not emaciated) in the 2 weeks after that. If I leave for over a week- she gets nervous, looses weight, and starts attacking the stablehands (anyone can ride her if I am there, but she is a one person horse)

Answer 3

They most certainly do, but they don't experience emotions in the same way as humans. I say this because we are motivated by entirely different things. Horses are prey animals, whereas we are predators by nature (even the vegetarians among us!). Human emotions are difficult enough to measure, and understand, by humans, so imagine how much we have to work at the empathy needed to understand how a horse experiences emotion. We can only generalise, but it is clear that horses do exhibit emotional responses. Anyone who spends time with horses learns how to judge their mood and state of mind. It's a joy to begin to understand such wonderful creatures.

Check out these links for interesting articles:
http://www.parelli.com/info_page.php?page=article&lit_num=30&title=Become%20a%20Natural%20Horseman&t=lit
http://www.cababstractsplus.org/veterinarymedicine/articles.asp?ArticleID=16367&action=display&openMenu=relatedItems&SubjectID=107
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=60739

Answer 4

Yes.

Example: Death.

A foal that was 1 week old got caught up on its halter and broke it's neck on the water troft (the owner left the halter on..stupidity on her part). The mare would hoover over the dead foal for hours, put her ears back and turn her butt towards those who tried to approach.

finally was able to approach and they carried the foal out. The mare would pace, weeny and not eat much for a few days.

I find that to be sad and protective emotions.

Horses do have emotions. They are not quite like ours as we are a different species. But they are their own for their own species of understanding.

Horses have anger, hurt, sad, happy, relax, confused, tense/questionable, irritateable, hyper (active) and calm/quiet emotions.

Answer 5

horses are wonderful animals and have the same emotions that dogs or any other pet can have. i was raised with horses, theyre comedians and very affectionate... or can be brats, when they want to be! i think its because theyre so large that some people mistake the fact that they arent like other pets. hope i helped!:) you should go riding sometime its very fun and also believe it or not great exercise!

Answer 6

Of course. All animals experience emotion; maybe just not as complex as humans.

Answer 7

Of course, they do. Thats almost like asking if humans have emotions don't you think?

Answer 8

Yes, anyone who has ever met my horse walks away knowing this!

Answer 9

Most definitely!

Answer 10

they most definitely do! they can also pick up on your emotions & respond to them.