Do You Believe Any of These 7 Myths About Horses?

Myths about horses, like with most animals that share our lives, stick around because of tradition, folklore, and old wives’ tales passed down over generations. Here are seven of the most common ones worth setting straight.

A horse not following a command has nothing to do with intelligence. Like most trained animals, horses need to be taught a clear set of cues, and training works both ways: the horse learns to read the handler’s body language, but the handler also has to understand the horse’s. According to illumiseen, horses have strong recognition and repetition skills, even if their cognition doesn’t work the same way human cognition does.

Not even close. Horses have an entirely different social structure than dogs, living in bands or harems led by a core group of mares, including a lead mare who stays in charge even if the adult males leave or die. Horses are also prey animals by instinct, while dogs are predators. That doesn’t mean horses don’t enjoy their owners’ company or appreciate a good treat, but they’re not “companion animals” in the same way dogs are.

Horses do spend a lot of time dozing on their feet, thanks to a system of ligaments and tendons called the stay apparatus that locks their limbs in place without effort. But they still need to lie down for REM sleep, just much less of it than humans require, according to The Horse. Standing sleep is largely a survival instinct, a quick way to escape predators, so horses in safe, relaxed environments often choose to lie down more often.

A hoof looks tough and solid, but it’s actually made of multiple layers and structures, and it flexes with each step to act as a natural shock absorber. Foals are even born with soft hooves to protect the mare during birth; once exposed to air, those hooves harden within hours.

Horses don’t see in black and white. They have dichromatic, two-color vision, picking up blues and yellows, while other colors appear as shades of white or gray.

This one’s wishful thinking. Attributing human expressions to animals, known as anthropomorphism, is a natural impulse, but that curled-lip “smile” is actually the Flehmen response, a horse intensifying its sense of smell. A horse’s olfactory glands sit deep in the nasal passages, and curling the upper lip helps draw scent further in for a stronger read on what’s around them.

This one’s an old wives’ tale, and current research has actually settled it. According to a study cited by UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, rolling does not cause a horse’s intestines to twist, contrary to what’s commonly believed. If a colicking horse is lying down calmly, it’s generally fine to let them rest.

The real concern isn’t the rolling itself, it’s injury. A horse thrashing violently while colicking can hurt itself or a handler nearby, which is the actual reason walking is sometimes recommended, not because lying down is dangerous on its own.

That said, colic can escalate quickly, so it’s worth knowing when to call a vet immediately rather than wait: if the horse is rolling violently and can’t be calmed, shows no improvement after 20 to 30 minutes of walking, or shows signs of shock like pale gums or a rapid heart rate, get veterinary help right away.

A horse owner who understands what’s actually happening behind a behavior, instead of projecting a human explanation onto it, tends to notice the smaller things too. The same close attention that catches a real Flehmen response instead of a “smile,” or recognizes calm rolling instead of panicking unnecessarily, is the same attentiveness that catches a coat or skin issue early, before it becomes a bigger problem.

Regular grooming is one of the simplest ways to stay that closely tuned in. The EquiGroomer is built to remove loose hair and debris efficiently while giving an owner a real, hands-on look at their horse’s skin and coat condition along the way.

For more horse facts worth knowing, EquiGroomer’s earlier post on amazing horse facts and learninghorses.com both have more to dig into.