Why does he put his ears back?

B

Berkeley

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 May 2009
Messages
835
Location
Kent
Visit site
Everytime I approach my young boy (4) he puts his ears back then they go right up forwards, then back again. He does it whenever you move or go to stroke him. Its weird. I know what the general meaning of this is i.e. trust, worry, unsure etc.

Is anyone else having to deal with this? I'm not sure if he is just a grupmy boy or if its something else. He's been doing it for over a year. Do they grow out of it?
 
I think it is also a submissive thing. My sister's horse always does this when he coems towards you for food. He is really not aggressive at all so it's not that, and he is the lowest of the pecking order.

My old very wimpy pony always did this too and he was as soft as anything so I think it was submissive with him. I guess it will depend on the rest of their body language/facial expression as well. Maybe worth reading up a bit on horse behaviour/body language?
 
... think I saw some monty roberts 'join up thing' and whe the horse is submitting it drops it's had, chews and the ears go back (I store snippets of random info from everyhere!). Therefore I decided that the ears going back and head down either or without the chewing was submissive.

Our wimoy horse will approach the 'boss horse' in this manner too and he certainly wuldn't dare be aggressive towards him - his life wouldn't be worth living!

Then again, if they are baring their teeth at the same time or trying to kick you it probably means something different! Lol
 
The movements of the ears need to be taken alongside facial expressions and other body movements to make any sense.
 
My horse does that too, even when he is being given a treat.

My horse is dominant and he just needs to flick and ear back in the field and the other horses give him space.

I would ignore his ears back, I ignore it in my horse.
 
i'm sooo glad i read this...

raff sometimes greets me with ears back (not flat back) and when he's relaxed, they are slightly back too...

now, i know raff and know he's not at ALL aggressive to me. so i know it's not aggression... but when my friend came over yesterday, his ears flopped back and she snapped at him, and told him to stop being grumpy.

i genuinely don't think he's grumpy (so it upset me a bit when she said he was). so, i too will look this up!
smile.gif
 
My 4 year old filly has done it from the day she was born and there has never been any malic. You will know when a horse really means trouble as not only the ears go back they tend to show their teeth and the eyes let you know it as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top