“The soul has been given it’s own ears to hear things the mind does not understand.” ~ RUMI
Updated : October 2020 : The more info I get, the more I try to update and share...
Firstly, and importantly, for the history of Calming Signals - which were first recognised and researched by amazing folks in the canine world, and then recognised and adapted for horses, see Anna Blake's wonderful blog...(copy and paste to your browser)...
https://annablake.com/2020/04/17/a-calming-signal-way-of-being/
It took us years and a lot of observation and reading to even start to understand calming signals in horses. This before we knew what they were, or what name had been gifted them. In hindsight, the past decade and more here at Wadi Farm has been spent researching Calming Signals!
Calming Signals remind us that it's not all about us. We have to take our own egos out of the equation. During one of the Recognising Equine Behaviour workshops held here, one owner was so relieved to learn that the fact that one of her horses nipping her was probably nothing more than that horse trying to alert her to her own anxiety and calm her down, she almost burst into tears. She had thought the nip indicated that the horse didn't like her. Others have thought their own horses nasty, naughty or aggressive, when in fact all the horses have been doing is responding to their handler's/owner's 'activated' behaviour in a proactive and gentle way. Trying to communicate.
Taking our ego out of the equation - or at least asking it to stand back a moment and consider - can be a blissful relief.
So what are calming signals/self-soothing signals in horses? They are said to be almost exactly that. From our own observations over the years with our wild born, rescued horses, we've seen what we believe are a number of behaviours designed to relax each horse individually, as well as to relax fellow herd members. They help each other shift from 'activated' to 'deactivated' behaviour. Communally, some also help with bonding and communication. They are also to let humans know the horse wants us to relax while it is trying to do so.
Horse behaviour is highly nuanced and I don't believe we will truly ever understand it all, but observation of certain behaviour in certain circumstances leads us to theorise about the basics. Under scrutiny and in training situations, these behavioural theories/patterns seem to stand up.
The main thing to understand is that these behaviours are not necessarily positive or negative. They just are.
In the herd/paddock, equines calm themselves and one another down in a number of ways, depending on the situation. Such behaviours include, but are not limited to; mutual grooming, licking, snorting, nipping (yes nipping - it can remind another horse it's too activated or crossing a boundary, although nipping is also bonding and grooming behaviour), stretching, biting their own 'chi' points around their front fetlock joints, 'sucking' on rocks or water or feed, snatch grazing, yawning, sighing, blinking/slow blinks, dropping heads and touching noses/exchanging breath, tail swishing (emotional indicator), sometimes pawing the ground, drop rolling...etc. There are probably many more.
Horses may also 'self-soothe' in unhealthy ways. These are called 'stereotypies' and range from crib biting and wind sucking to weaving, head shaking and self-mutilation. Such repetitive, seemingly unnatural behaviours are often extreme versions of behaviours that have been denied to the horse. Such horses need help but that is a blog for another day. They can be caused by restricted environmental stimulation, or trauma. Sometimes these type of self-soothing extremes are the only behaviours keeping a highly anxious or stressed horse from exploding/imploding. Movement is often essential to help them process and try to 'deactivate' themselves.
Horses who have suffered trauma may also express exaggerated self-soothing behaviours such as swinging their heads from side to side, as if trying to (or succeeding in) biting their sides. Especially if they are isolated. (Not healthy for horses.) This may be an attempt at mutual grooming, on their own. The less anxious the horse can be made to feel, very often the less the behaviour is exhibited.
None of it is dominance. Dominance is a behaviour, not a way of being, for a horse, if that makes sense. If a horse displays dominant behaviour instead of calming signals, it's usually over a resource it's trying to protect. Not because it wants to dominant humans or anything like that.
When horses are with humans, they often struggle to communicate. If we are anxious, then the horse we are with can elevate and activate and become adrenalised and anxious as well. Horses have large sensory organs refined over thousands of years to 'read' their environment. Of course they sense/smell/see elevated heart rates, feel movement through the ground, hear elevated breathing, smell sweat and fear...of course they know when we are angry, worried, fearful, relaxed. And yes, logically, they are going to react to these things. It's a survival response for a start.
During training, horses can get confused and anxious and will display calming signals when trying to help themselves through it or pacify their human.
In a bad case, if a horse is with an anxious, activated human, who smells of fear and whose heart is pumping madly, then the horse wants that human to calm down. The horse is a prey animal. The last thing a prey animal wants is to draw attention to itself. It is also anxious. It doesn't want to be around any horse or other animal attracting attention - which is what humans do when they are under stress. Other animals know it and will respond to it. Heck, other humans know it and will respond to it. Logically, most horses want to get as far away from what they sense as danger/a personal threat, as they can. If a horse can't remove itself, then it will try and settle the anxious creature nearest to it down, so that they are both made safe by blending back into a peaceful background.
Horses raised to know their own equine boundaries, who are treated well and have strong connections to their humans, may cope with anxious folk. These horses are our 'spirit brothers/sisters'. Our 'heart horses' who understand us. Our lifetime friends and compatriots. They help raise our children, work with us and can make wonderful therapy animals. But most horses aren't like this. They haven't been given the opportunity to be understood and to learn they are safe around emotional humans. They have been sold and onsold. Their very environment may be uncomfortable to them.
So...when in the company of an anxious/fearful/angry human, a horse may react in a number of ways. If you have a connection to that horse and it knows you, it may simply try to 'deactivate' you or calm you down/calm itself by alerting you to your state in much the same way that a dog trained to calm PTSD war veterans down does. The horse may yawn near you or lick it's lips. It may sigh and appear to 'deflate'. It may touch you, nicker, nip you, rub against you (hard), or even put it's ears back and shake it's head or regularly drop it's head. (Head dropping in particular can be a sign of anxiety on the horse's part as well.) It may snatch eat or it's tail may flick continually (indicating it's emotional health/unease). If you don't acknowledge these behavioural signs by at least taking a deep breath, dropping your shoulders and relaxing, or talking to the horse, the horses's behaviour may escalate.
Breathing is crucial around horses. They can hold their breath when anxious, just like us. There's a lot to this regulatory behaviour - but again, a blog for another day. For now, be aware of your breathing around equines. Be aware of your silences. Breathe in those silences. If you are talking, remember...when you talk, you don't breathe. Breathing is better for the horse.
During workshops, and when training students, we have seen horses nip to try and calm a person down, or to let them know that what they are doing is unacceptable. There can be other reasons for nipping too, of course, but often all the horse is mainly trying to do is to alert the person to their behaviour and/or to the horse's own levels of unease.
Don't take it personally. The horse doesn't.
Edit : A few horses together (in a workshop or even paddock situation), may work together by surrounding you or (if you are very lucky), relaxing together and laying down with you, to assist you to deactivate and relax. There are recorded cases of this with disabled and special needs individuals. The horses are aiming for coherence. For everyone to be calm and unobtrusive. It's possible, sometimes, that they may also lay down with you because they feel safe. This is very special.
FYI nipping is very different to biting behaviour. I have been nipped by horses looking for food, by young horses testing their boundaries or who have been weaned too early and have gut problems, as well as by horses who were trying to tell me something, like to relax. I have been bitten by a fear-aggressive horse who had been abused. Very different behaviours, for very different reasons. Don't let fear or your ego proclaim a bite when all the horse was trying to do was settle you down or alert you to a situation.
Back to other calming behaviours...we have also seen horses begin to mutually groom one another when being observed in the paddock by a group of people. Again, in certain situations this seems to be the horses trying to 'deactivate' the group as well as calm each other down, and reassure/re-bond with one another. It's all usually just part of the flow between deactivation and activation, (or 'rest and digest' vs. 'fight or flight'). Horses being observed by groups will often yawn for the same reasons. Moving through these states is a normal and natural part of life. The trick is not to get stuck in a state.
A horse being ridden by a nervous, angry or anxious rider won't be a happy horse. A rider in any of these states who continues to ride may be putting themselves and the horse at risk. If the horse doesn't have a deep connection with it's rider, it may react by trying to distance itself from that rider. Distancing itself may manifest as anything from switching off to what the rider is trying to tell/ask it, to freezing/shutting down, spooking, pig-rooting, bucking, dislodging it's rider and/or bolting for home.
Any horse that drops it's head almost to the ground and 'freezes' (as in doesn't eat, doesn't move), is very anxious. Many people don't recognise this specific behaviour. It's gone beyond calming behaviour to near shut-down. Make sure you recognise this for what it is and reassure or relieve pressure as fast as possible.
A horse needs to feel safe, just as we do, to remain calm and to be able to mentally and emotionally function and respond. If it does not feel safe, it will behave instinctively to try to find and secure it's own safety.
If a rider does not recognise their own or their horse's elevating behaviour, this sort of situation may become life-threatening, to both the human and the horse. And no, I'm not overstating things. Again, it's not personal. The horse is doing what it needs to do to feel safe. Just like we would do if we were around other people behaving in a way that made us feel unsafe. We would try to move away, wouldn't we? And we certainly wouldn't be taking direction from any person we did not trust in some way.
All the horse really has is it's life. Think about that. It doesn't own anything else in our world. All it innately knows how to do is take care of itself when things go pear-shaped.
Of course it's not always all about calming signals. Horses also 'react' rather than 'respond' when they are separation anxious, confused, sore, sick or for any number of other reasons. So how do you learn to recognise the difference? Through self-education and through spending time with your horse/s and other horses. Learn their particular signals. Sit in the paddock and watch them interact. (And I say this hoping that all horses have other horses or animals with whom they can interact on a daily basis.)
Recognise behaviours and - by removing your ego - learn to respond appropriately. Or at least acknowledge in a kinder way. It's a start. Keep learning. We are all forever learning.
Photos (c) KAW
