People with horses...

Do your horses hug you?

This sounds weird, and I'm wondering because I know zero about horses except that they're scary.

My uncle had a really rad old appaloosa who would hug me. That horse rocked and was the only non-scary horse I've spent time with. He would gallop across the pasture when he saw me and give me a great big hug by putting his head over my shoulder and tucking his chin down.

I thought he was the only horse who did that, but my friend went to visit her horse today and he greeted her in the same manner.

Is this a normal horse thing that horses do when they greet someone they like? Do they greet other horses they like in that way? Or do only super cool horses do it (my friend's horse is named Strider so he's cool by default )

My friends horse is an appy cross and she will hug her

Not a horse person at ALL, but Thunder, the Paint, comes out to meet me and does it <3

Ashley, the Arabian, does NOT. Nor would I trust her if she tried.

the horses I've lived with have just tried to kill you...

I wonder if she's related to Rocky. Apparently he was a foundation stud in his younger days and used really extensively (which is awesome because he was the best horse EVAR).

And interesting about the other hugger being a paint, because Strider is also a paint.

Arabian horses are psycho and terrify me. My uncle's other horse was a really fancy arab gelding and was very sweet, BUT you had to announce that you were coming into the barn before he saw you or he'd get really startled and flail around all dangerous-like. :yikes: Not a fan of that.

My old TB mare was a hugger.

One of our girls, Malibu does. She's affectionate like a dog, if your out in the paddocks at all she is right beside/behind you. If you squat down she licks you all over the back and neck and if your doing any of the horses feet she sneaks up to play with your shirt with her lips.

Lucy is above hugs, you want to hug a horse then you can hug her but she doesn't respond to silly little people.

When I was volunteering for Riding Disabled I was assigned to the same horse nearly every week. His name was Indi, he was a super fugly Apaloosa, headshy after an accident were someone tied him to a fence by his reins, he spooked so hard he took the fence down and took a lot of work to get back into a bridle. Most people didn't like him because he had the habit of trying to nip his leader when being ridden.
And he was my absolute favourite horse there after spending a bit of time with him, when waiting in the arena for the kids he was super cuddly, would stand behind you with his head wrapped around your shoulder loving his pats. Once a kid was on him with a helper walking along each side I soon worked out he just wanted his space, so instead of holding him close to avoid getting bitten I gave him a bit more room and he never had a go at me again. I think about him all the time again these days.

I've known a few horses who did it; mostly I think it had been reinforced because it was cute. It's like Tristan licking my face - it isn't a horse sign of "affection", but he did it once and got a cookie, so it turned into a trick essentially.

Tristan doesn't get to put his head over my shoulder, because he's always itchy under his jaw, and will thwack you with it. Horse jaw on your neck > karate chop.

My Doug does. A coworker came over that was not a horse person at all and she'd been going through a tough time and Doug walks up and I swear he was a therapy horse in another life, wraps his head around her shoulder and I turn around and she's hugging him to. She asks if he does this to everyone and I said only people he likes. But it's not just everyone that comes to the pasture- its like he can tell your feeling down and that's who he will go up to. He is supposedly a paint but he is grade and no spots so who knows( well one but its not really a spot if that makes sense).

My appy is a sweetie but no hugs from him.

Kerri's Senn wraps her head around you. My Pan does it some of the time, but Senn is super duper affectionate about everyone.

Brisa would kind of nuzzle in close. I don't know if you'd call it a hug. Here in this picture, she looks like she's kissing Andrew. She was a very affectionate horse...totally loved people. She was the one whose mother got struck by lightening when she was just 2 weeks old, so was a bottle fed baby.

Raja, my Arab, will get as close as possible and put his head/neck over my shoulder. On several occasions, he's proceeds to take a nap with me holding him up. Raja is very affectionate with me, but NOT with anyone else. We truly have a bond that's unexplainable in words.

Bullseye doesn't get that close, but he'll stand right in front of me so I can rub his muzzle and chin with my fingertips. He loves that.

With all that said, I only allow Raja to do it because he knows and respects boundaries. We have it worked out between us. But with many horses, it's a rude behavior used to show you the horse has little respect for you.

Oh wow Dober, that is so random with the lightning. Poor mom and baby horse. I'm glad you were able to help her out.

It's really interesting to hear who does and doesn't do it. Mia, do the disrespectful horses do it to anybody or just to people they don't have boundaries around? Rocky only started doing it to me after I cleaned some really caked in mud out of his hooves one time. lol. My cousin was jealous because he's always grooming Rocky and the horse always acted indifferent, unless he climbed on Rocky's back.

Rocky was so passive aggressive with my cousin. :rofl1: He'd hold his breath while getting saddled up and then wait until my cousin was on his back, let it all out at once and watch him slide off sideways. That and "accidentally" bump his leg into the electric fence. He was the only horse I felt safe riding though, because he'd never try that crap on me and never spooked ever.

The Fresian I used to look after would do that. She would get a little testy if I didn't let her.

Valor likes to hug, which I admit made me very nervous when I first got him (since he is a stallion). He doesn't do it as the others here describe, he just bows down his head and lightly presses his forehead into your chest. He likes the scratches he gets.

Arriva will stop and rest her head in the crook of your arm, and sigh.

I love my Lipizzans. :hail:

My STB gelding did that- it was adorable. The first full sized horse I ever rode was an Arab called Horizon. He was fantastic--I was able to trail ride on him by myself at 5 years old

Several of the Arabians and NSHs I used to work with hugged like that.

Well, they do that to each other in affection; nuzzle, wrap their necks around each other's necks, nibble on the other's withers, rub their faces on each other. My two Arabian mares were half sisters and were raised together from birth...were crazy about each other. Those things aren't disrespect imo. They're affection. If a horse is too rough or pushes on you, it can be dangerous. But I don't think it's disrespect. It's just something that needs to be taught...if a horse doesn't know his own strength. My Arabians were so smart about that kind of thing. (as opposed to a horse I had growing up) They would race up to see me when I came into the pasture and stop just before running into me. It looked like they might, but they always avoided me...either by dashing off to the side or stopping, bounce, bounce, bounce. Then I'd give them a pat and a carrot and tell them, "go play!" they would turn with lots of spirit, but not run until they were about 15 or 20 feet away from me....as if they knew they could hurt me if they charged away right close. Then they'd run and buck and be all silly. They were super spirited, but very gentle and loving and smart about people. It's in their genes. Those Arabian people really, really loved their horses and treated them like we do our dogs.

This thread makes me want horse snuggles.

Major likes to walk with his head nuzzled up to my arm or side, although I've always been taught that it's a sign of disrespect.. even though I like to think it's love, haha.