Job 12:7-10 "But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; 8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. 9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? 10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind."
Overview of Flight or Fight ...
Being a prey animal, the horse's behavior is based primarily on the flight/fight instinct as highlighted in last month's topic. Their first reaction to feeling threatened will be to move their feet and flee. This is something that one must always remember ... the horse HAS to move its feet when feeling uncomfortable per hardwired design. If a horse has not been taught to override this instinct and one yanks on the halter/lead to try to force the horse to stand still, one is only increasing the threat to the horse and causing worsening results. This instinctive trait also affects how a horse's mind thinks with relationship to stalling or getting on a trailer or going into an unknown area that is confining. Horses naturally reside in wide-open spaces so they can see what might be considered threatening and they can always just leave. As a complementary physical attribute the horse is designed with knees that lock in order to sleep while standing. Again, this allows for instant flight when needed for survival. Other physical aspects include a digestive system that shuts down while in flight and eyes that switch from relaxed monocular vision to focused and intense binocular vision.
When a horse is feeling threatened and cannot flee, it will fight until it either gives in or it has won over its perceived enemy. If a human continues to aggress a horse that is already frightened and the horse cannot get away, its instincts will kick in and the horse will do whatever it needs to do to survive. This is the life of a prey animal.
Breeding ...
In addition to the flight or fight behavior of horses, the breeding behaviors come in second to the regulatory behavior. All mutual groomings, play, fighting among the herd members - all thee behaviors arise from the horse's instinctual need to survive as a species. Every behavior has an innuendo that is clearly understood by another equine whether it be threatening or friendly. It is important that humans who keep horses understand these behaviors especially when working around and with an uncut stallion. The stallion lives for one reason only ... to breed and carry on the species. So strong is this instinct that the stallion will kill his own get if he perceives the foal is a threat to the survival of his herd. It is viewed by humans as a vicious, violent behavior when it is actually simply a behavior displaying the need for "survival of the fittest". A foal that is sick or injured will hold the herd back in the face of threats thus putting the entire herd at risk. The stallion instinctually cannot allow this to happen.
