It seems that the human obesity epidemic is hurting horses as well as the obese people themselves. Yes, obesity causes a lot of problems including burdening the NHS in the UK with a ton of associated health issues costing billions in pounds. The Times reports that ‘heavy riders are a growing problem’. This must be …
The sound track to this Twitter video is inappropriate which gives it a sick quality. Perhaps that is why it was added. To juxtapose the horror visuals and the music. Personally, I’d ban horse racing full-stop. Of course, it won’t happen as there are too many people who enjoy throwing money at the ‘sport’. They …
Time for horse racing to be banned like any other abusive animal exploitation Read More »
For me, this is a scientific study which has resulted in a common-sense conclusion but it deserves to be stated. Scientists at the universities of Barcelona and Leipzig and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany came to the conclusion that the more independent and less herd-dependent an individual animal is the more …
Less herd-dependent individual animals are more intelligent and innovative Read More »
When a group of horses live in wide-open spaces and have a home range in the order of 30-80 mi², they are not particularly territorial or at all territorial. If a herd is within this space and another herd enters it all that happens is that they avoid each other and go about their business …
How territorial are horses? It depends on how much space they have. Read More »
The reasons why the horse has been and continues to be so popular is firstly because of their temperament which is based upon their sociability. In the wild they have a naturally sociable lifestyle. They cooperate with each other. This cooperation between horses in the wild is transformed into a cooperation between the horse and …
The infographic covers the basics and a little more on horse tail movement signalling. There is some additional information below it. Firstly, I am thankful to Desmond Morris PhD who is an author and zoologist. Excitement and alertness In general, the tail rises upwards in the words of Morris “like a needle on a dial” …
What does a horse signal with its tail (video infographic)? Read More »
The Times reports that local people in Galicia in north-west Spain believe that the noise of wind turbines is jeopardising the survival of their ancestral wild horses. In this beautiful, wild and open yet windy landscape, a wild horse herd belongs to a village, Sabucedo. In a ritual from the 16th century, villagers round up …
Wind turbine noise threatens Galicia’s ancestral wild horses Read More »
It seems extraordinary to me that at one point in time perhaps not that long ago so-called experts in horse behaviour did not have the common sense to understand that when a horse behaves in a stereotypical way as seen in the video that they are bored and stressed (ruling out health issues). To me, …
I have seen quite a few videos of King’s Guard ceremonial horses, such as the horse carrying a Blues and Royals soldier, and another on Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall, London, gently biting tourists while they capture their precious selfies in front of the horse and guard. It appears to be happening enough to come to …
Are King’s Guard ceremonial horses trained to bite interfering tourists? Read More »
This is an apt little video today because Queen Elizabeth II has recently passed aged 96, and tomorrow is her funeral and the entire news media in Britain has reported her passing and the events thereafter extensively while drowning out almost all other news. And this is the right response. The queue to see her …
King’s Life Guard horse is irritated and bored (stomping) Read More »
Horses are obedient because they have a strong willingness to cooperate with their human companions. There will cooperate as best they can. This strong willingness to cooperate originates in their temperament which stems from their sociable lifestyle in the wild. The horse is naturally sociable and by nature a herd animal. They live in small …
Why are horses so obedient? It’s in their temperament. Read More »
Horses walk the fence because they’ve been allowed out into a new paddock with which they are unfamiliar. Their first instinct is to set off on a territorial patrol which means walking all around the perimeter next to the fence to learn the scope of their home range. When they’ve completed this task, they might …
