Looking a horse in the eye can lead to a range of possible outcomes. Some horses may interpret prolonged eye contact as a challenge or threat, while others are unaffected. The horse’s temperament and past experiences play a role in how it will respond. Knowing how to properly approach and look at a horse can help avoid negative reactions.
Why Do Some Horses Dislike Eye Contact?
Horses are prey animals wired to be wary of perceived threats. In the wild, prolonged direct eye contact from a predator would put them on high alert. Though domesticated, this instinct remains ingrained in many horses today. Staring straight at a horse can trigger its fight-or-flight response if it perceives you as a threat. The horse may pin its ears back, toss its head, or even try to bite or kick as a warning for you to back off.
Prolonged eye contact goes against equine social norms. In the horse world, a prolonged stare is considered aggressive or impolite. Horses generally use brief glances and indirect gazes to communicate and assess situations. Staring straight into a horse’s eyes can be seen as invasive or challenging within their social structure.
Some horses may have had bad past experiences associated with forceful eye contact. Those who have been abused, manhandled, or subjected to excessive lunging with whip-wielding trainers staring them down, for example, are more likely to react negatively if they feel intimidated by direct eye-to-eye contact.
Breed and Gender Factors
Certain breeds and genders are more likely to perceive direct eye contact as confrontational:
- Stallions and geldings tend to be warier than mares.
- Arabian horses often dislike prolonged staring due to their spirited and alert nature.
- History of abuse or mishandling can make any horse more reactive.
However, breed tendencies are generalizations. An individual horse’s unique personality and background ultimately determine its comfort level with eye contact, regardless of its breed or gender.
Appropriate Eye Contact
When interacting with a horse, here are some tips for making eye contact respectfully:
- Look at the horse indirectly at first, focusing your eyes near the horse rather than directly staring.
- Blink normally and frequently, avoiding a fixed gaze.
- Keep your eyes slightly angled down in a submissive posture, rather than staring straight on.
- Glance softly at the horse’s shoulder, neck or muzzle instead of eyes.
- Read the horse’s body language – pinning ears back often means discomfort with eye contact.
- Keep contact brief, just a few seconds.
- Turn your head away to release tension and provide reassurance.
This non-threatening eye contact helps establish a connection without seeming invasive or aggressive. Let the horse be the first to make direct eye contact with you.
What Does the Horse Do When Eye Contact Is Avoided?
Horses who dislike direct eye contact will show visible signs of relief and relaxation when you avoid staring straight at them:
- Ears come forward and relax.
- Head lowers with soft eyes.
- Yawning, licking or chewing motions.
- Lowered head posture and cocked hind leg indicates comfort.
- muzzle is soft, with a lax lower lip.
The horse’s overall body language becomes loose and calm when it feels unthreatened by prolonged eye contact. It may even step closer to you and initiate mutual gazing as acceptance grows.
Negative Reactions to Eye Contact
Horses that perceive eye contact as confrontational or aggressive display behaviors like:
- Pinning ears back and flattening them against the head.
- Tossing or raising head with tense facial muscles.
- Baring teeth or curling back lips.
- Stomping hooves.
- Snaking head with nose thrust out.
- Turning hindquarters abruptly towards you.
- Biting or nipping.
- Kicking.
- Charging with head lowered.
- Rapid swinging head side to side.
- Tensing body and refusing to move forward.
These behaviors signal anxiety, irritation, anger, or aggression brewing due to perceived confrontation from the eye contact. The situation requires backing off and defusing tension by breaking your gaze immediately.
Why Staring Angers Some Horses
Multiple factors influence why certain horses dislike and react negatively to staring:
- Instinctual wariness – As prey animals, being stared at puts them on high alert for danger.
- Perceived threat – A fixed gaze can feel predatory and intimidating.
- Challenging posture – Staring can be interpreted as provocative or disrespectful.
- Fight response – Direct eye contact triggers a reactive urge to confront the threat.
- Fear – Bad experiences like abuse can cause fear reactions to staring.
- Dislike of pressure – Eye contact may feel like coercive pressure to a sensitive horse.
- Lack of trust – Staring at a horse you haven’t bonded with can seem invasive.
Essentially, a perceived “threat” triggers defense mechanisms in horses averse to eye contact. Patience and proper introduction is required to build enough trust to overcome this instinctive discomfort.
Is Prolonged Eye Contact Dangerous?
Staring straight into a horse’s eyes continually despite negative reactions can potentially trigger aggressive behavior. Warning signs like pinned ears and tossing head should be heeded to avoid escalation. While not all horses will respond dangerously, it’s wise to err on the side of caution.
Potential risks of forcing prolonged eye contact include:
- Biting – sudden bite without warning, can cause serious injury
- Striking or kicking – backwards kick or front strike with hooves
- Charging – galloping straight at the person staring
- Rearing up – standing up on hind legs, sometimes leading to falling backward
- Flipping over – violently throwing itself on ground as an extreme fear response
While rare, frightened or provoked horses can also unintentionally trample, body-slam or drag people, sometimes with lethal consequences. It’s wise to avoid pushing a horse past its tolerance limit.
Allowing Mutual Gazing
With patience and proper introduction, even wary horses can learn to accept mutual gazing:
- Start with glancing indirect eye contact before progressing to more direct gazing.
- Talk soothingly and use gentle touching to reassure the horse as you establish eye contact.
- Look away first – dropping your eyes reassures the horse you are not challenging it.
- Focus on relaxing the horse’s body language rather than forcing it to hold eye contact.
- Don’t sustain eye contact for long periods initially – build duration gradually as comfort increases.
- If the horse shows signs of relaxation like licking, chewing or lowered head, it’s accepting the eye contact.
- End each session on a good note when the horse shows willingness to reciprocate gazing.
Mutual gazing is a special bonding moment to savor once a horse learns to trust you through proper introduction. Forcing the issue too quickly can undermine the relationship.
What Does Mutual Gazing Mean?
When a horse holds eye contact with you without discomfort, it signifies:
- The horse feels safe and trusts you.
- It sees you as part of its herd rather than a threat.
- You have an established bond of respect and understanding.
- The horse is focused and attentive on you.
- It is interested in connecting with you in the moment.
Mutual gazing creates a special sense of rapport. The horse voluntarily chooses to prolong eye contact due to feeling comfortable and connected with you. This mutual trust pays dividends in safely handling the horse moving forward.
Key Takeaways on Eye Contact with Horses
Here are some important points to remember about making eye contact with horses:
- Avoid prolonged staring, which can seem confrontational.
- Read the horse’s body language for discomfort signs like pinning ears.
- Look near the horse and use brief, angled glances instead of fixed staring.
- Let the horse initiate direct eye contact once trusting rapport develops.
- Pressuring or forcing a horse to accept eye contact can backfire dangerously.
- Mutual gazing is a milestone reflecting a strong bond with the horse.
- Every horse has unique personality and history influencing its comfort with eye contact.
Understanding these nuances allows you to build positive relationships with horses based on intuitive communication, rather than confrontation or aggression.
Conclusion
Eye contact with horses requires nuance and sensitivity. While some horses accept mutual gazing, others can perceive prolonged direct eye contact as threatening. Staring could trigger defensive aggression in certain temperaments or breeds. It’s important to “listen” to the horse’s body language and initially approach eye contact indirectly rather than forcing the issue. With gradual introduction and relationship-building, even wary horses can learn to feel comfort and connection through eye gazing. Taking the time to establish this foundation of trust leads to strong, safe equestrian bonds.