Something that I heard many times over many years is the importance of the prey/predator relationship between humans and horses. When the subject of horse behaviour comes up one of the first things that come to a lot of minds is the notion that the relationship between humans and horses is dominated by the relationship between a prey animal (horse) and a predator (human). This view seems to have shaped many people's approach to horse training.
I can’t recall ever hearing or reading Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt, Harry Whitney, etc talk about the relationship between people and horses in terms of a prey/predator relationship. I don’t think these esteemed horse people ever thought of it in those terms and never gave it any importance. But since the early days of Natural Horsemanship, the idea that a horse’s concern about humans comes from a natural fear of predator species gained popularity. However, despite the popularity of the theory, to my knowledge, there is no substantive work to show that horses view predator species as friends or foes. At the moment it appears to be just a theory and not much more.
There is no doubt horses exhibit fear or worry in response to all types of new experiences, but to claim that it is because something can be categorized as prey or predator seems to me to be far-fetched and alien to how horses see the world.
I certainly don’t believe that the reason horses and people don’t always get along has anything to do with the idea that the human is a predator species and the horse is a prey-type species. Horses are often scared of kangaroos, ostriches, wombats, sheep, and deer yet these are not predatory species. They are herbivores. They do not hunt. They are just like horses, yet many horses are naturally fearful of them.
Likewise, many horses are not afraid of predators. I have never owned a horse that showed fear of my dogs. Even horses that are worried by people can be okay with dogs. Zebra (another prey equine species) can graze very relaxed even when lions are roaming around the herd. They only become afraid when the lions go into hunting mode. They are not afraid of lions, they are afraid of lions hunting.
The behaviour of a horse towards a human is not shaped by the fact that we eat meat. It’s shaped by the fact that sometimes we present ourselves to horses in a way that makes them feel fearful for their safety. Our energy, lack of clarity, and intent are what make them alarmed. A horse can feel the same way about a sheep even though sheep do not eat meat and are not natural predators. However, sheep can act aggressively toward a horse and make the horse fearful. I had a ram that would attack the horses and they became very wary of it. At feeding time that ram could move any of the horses away from their food without fuss.
I want to get across the idea that just because we have the physical characteristics of a predatory does not explain why our horses may be wary of us. I know a trainer who would tell people not to look a horse in the eye because it would be interpreted as threatening. Another trainer would turn away from a horse to encourage “join up” with him in a round pen because he said to face squarely to a horse was to challenge him. These claims are quite dubious in my opinion.
It’s not what you do; it’s the way you do it. Horses don’t care if a human is a predator species. But they do care if we act like a predator. They judge us by our intent and not the way our eyes are set into our heads. They don’t see predators, they see predatory behaviour.
