What does the horse behavior LEADERSHIP look like?
It may surprise you to hear that a lead horse is usually pretty subtle in their horse behavior. Their horse behavior signals are much harder to detect. What I find most interesting is their ability to move or direct other members of the herd without the emotional outbursts you usually see in the more dominant horses. Learning how to use your body language to move another horse is the secret to gaining respect and leadership. The above picture is a good example of who the true leader is in our herd at home. The first horse is Sweet Pea (18 yr. old mare), the second horse is her daughter Little Bit (16 yr. old mare) trailing behind is Atlas (9 yr. old dominant gelding). Sweet Pea has repeatedly demonstrated the horse behavior of a true leader and all the horses happily follow her. If all these horses were to escape out of the paddock, I wouldnt need to catch three horses, only one, Sweet Pea. To read more about behaviour in a herd go to: The Horse’s Perspective • Horse Psychology 101 • I
