Our expert

Anna Haines is a clinical animal behaviourist and full member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors, and has been a freelance equine behaviour consultant since 2012. She has a BSc (Hons) in Animal Behaviour, and an MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare, specialising in equines.

Highly evolved

Let’s start with how horses evolved to survive. Horses are hard-wired, as a result of millions of years of evolution, to respond quickly to any perceived danger and avoid dangerous situations whenever they possibly can. In addition, horses were only domesticated approximately 6,000 years ago, yet they’ve been evolving for around 55 million years. Almost everything we ask them to do involves asking them to override their flight response. Even seemingly simple behaviours, such as lifting a hoof to pick it out, is potentially dangerous – especially when you consider that his caregiver, a human, is a predator species. Allowing a potential predator to take control of one of his legs leaves the horse, a prey species who relies on flight to escape danger, in a vulnerable position. The life expectancy of a prey animal is increased if their reactions to avoid sources of danger are quick, giving fear a real survival value. However, for domestic horses excessive fear can lead to reduced welfare and both mental and physical suffering.