Hi there,

I'm writing a Pony-on-Earth story at the moment, with Celestia visiting our reality. I'm considering having the story feature a real horse at some point, but if I do I would like the horse's behaviour to be fairly believable. This leads me to my question:

Can anyone with experience working with horses give me an idea of how they would react to meeting a new unfamiliar mare?

I've encountered horses myself in fields on occasion, so sort of know how they act towards unknown people, but if there is a new horse around as well, I assume they would act differently. Are they inquisitive? Defensive? Do they go up close or keep their distance? Anything like that or other thoughts would be great to know.

A small caveat: I'm assuming the encounter to be entirely platonic, so they'll likely either be a mare or gelding.

This is a fairly open-ended question as, lacking knowledge of horses, I'm not sure what the right questions to ask are.

Thanks in advance for any help. Peace out.

I know they masturbate by swinging their penis against a wall.
Also as with almost any animal, humans included, reactions to strangers vary from one person to another. Though typically any animal without his parts as in a gelding is going to be more docile.oh, and there's the factor of whether or not they have been socialized. I've been around stallions that had not been handled by humans as a colt and would bite off fingers as easily as carrots.

856506 The Earth-Horse would most likely range from shy to panicky if they encountered Celestia. However, horses really like it when you breath on their nose.

856578 Eeyup.

856506 Well, I used to volunteer at a stables in my area until it closed down a couple of years ago.
Sadly, some of the things I learnt there has been lost to me thanks to the reality of time. However, I can tell you that from what I saw, a horse is a very "Human" soul indeed. I was lucky. I seem to have a way around the beautiful creatures that just lets me walk right up to them and say hello, including stallions. I have only been unable to do this one. And seeing as she was pregnant at the time, I wasn't surprised. She gave birth to a healthy foal just a week or so later.

But to your question specifically:

Are they inquisitive? Defensive? Do they go up close or keep their distance?

It depends. Just like you and me, they are each different. I knew one horse at the stables who usually refused to even go near a new person until they had become acclimatized to their presence after a week or two. On the other hoof, there was one who was very friendly and would say hello as soon as they could.

To be honest, I can't really help, owing to the fact that it has been a few years since the regular contact I had with horses was forced to an end. What I might suggest is that you talk to people who own horses. If you don't know anyone directly, I'm sure that there are plenty of online forums out there full of people who would be willing to help you out. Heck, you could even volunteer at a local stable, or if applicable, animal rescue centre, if you want to find out more.

856578
Oh, what are you getting at.

856758

Two things.

Firstly, that the internet - which was created with the noble goal of enabling men and women of great intellect to share knowledge and discuss the higher matters of life and the world we occupy - is now a tool for the lowest common denominator amongst mankind, where wit and intelligence are crushed beneath the bloated mass of clamoring inferiors, mentally-stunted fools who wallow in porn and meme-related jokes, and who find the greatest source of amusement within snarky jokes about horse willies.

And secondly, that your response made me literally laugh aloud hard enough to startle my dog. I had to capture that moment in picture form, that it might be preserved.

856517

You are so normal that I can't take it. Bloody hell just tell me this is not true.

856578 You need to submit that to memebase. Now.

856847 There's a reason instructors tell you to keep your palm flat when feeding a horse by hand, and finger biting is the reason.

856927 The fact that you don't get which part I tried to mean makes me sigh in relief.

856943 Oh, I don't know if the dick-slapping thing is true or not. But I did know that the finger-biting thing was true, so I addressed that instead.

856506
Horses are highly social animals. They are not intelligent by the ways we define that term, but they are extremely intelligent on an emotional and social level. They pick up on body language and social cues very easily, and they know when their rider or handle is or is not paying attention to them.
The relationship between rider and horse is based on trust. A horse has to trust a human enough, or be broken enough, to let one ride it. The sensation of having a human mounted on top of a horse is similar in many ways to how a predator would grab them. Hence why untrained horses will always attempt to buck of a rider.
Only about 1/10 of a wild population of horses are male, while the majority are female. Herds are led by a lead mare, which is the leadership figure in the herd and decides the movements of the group (where to stop for water, where to travel next, ect.). There's only usually one stallion per herd. The male isn't so much a leader so much as a protector that guards the herd from predators and other males. Once young horse reaches sexual maturity, the stallion will drive them out of the herd in order to prevent inbreeding.
Horses are prey animals, and their first response to a hazardous situation is to flee. They will, however, fight when backed into a corner. They are by nature fearful and cautious, but they have innate boldness and curiosity, and a strong desire to be social.
Their ears usually point in the direction where their focus is. At their sides is generally a neutral posture, forward is attentive (their head will point in the direction of whatever it is they're attention is, so ears pointed forward at the spot a way of zeroing in on that thing more), and backward is attentive of the rider. Tense backward positioned ears can also indicate unhappiness or stress. Backward can also indicate a relaxed state, but is much more, well, relaxed than the other two I mentioned. Sometimes, horses will make chewing motions when they're not actually eating as a way of providing stress relief.
They sleep lying down, or standing up, depending on a lot of different factors. They must lie down in order to reach REM sleep. They also never sleep for one, unbroken, long period of time, as they are prey animals.

First and foremost I very much doubt an earth horse/pony would recognize Celestia as even the same species. In particular because Celestia doesn't 'speak' their language. It is a complex dance of tiny movements involving the whole body and even if she did hide herself to look like the locals it is highly doubtful she could fool them to thinking she was one of their own.

Thus one should look at the meeting as two very different species meeting one another.

I can however tell you the greeting ritual which involves moving forward slowly and then stopping and waiting for the horse to move. This process is normally done about three times till the two are close by and then they gently touch their noses together and breath in each others breath.

You must remember also that horses are pray animals - anything they don't know will likely be treated with caution for a very long time before it is approached, (though not always, we had a foal who, upon seeing firemen and their trucks for the first time, went over to say hello).

I would recommend watching 'Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron', as it is fantastic to see how much can be said with just a few movements.

857122 Thanks, the greeting ritual thing could be quite helpful. I had been thinking in terms of Celestia being sufficiently horse-like that she would be able to "speak" to one in a recognisable way, so I don't intend on that barrier being as strong as it could be.

857080 I like the ear stuff there. I had been thinking in terms of a fairly domesticated horse, so the wild stuff may not be entirely relevant, but I'll bear it in mind.

856671 Even without detailed specifics, getting a general feel of what it's like to be around a horse is quite useful as well. Thanks.

And thanks to the rest of you for some... comic relief... as well

857122
I don't know... their body language on the show includes a good helping of "horse" mixed with the human. They smile, but they also paw at the dirt with a forehoof when nervous. The smell can be anything the writer wants it to be: from horse, to a sweet smell as varied as their coat color, to human-like or anything in between. The wings and horn... well, I can buy those would get her classified as "not-horse" if you say so.

So... you sure she is divergent enough from horse body-language to get classified as "not-horse" on that basis alone?

Well I was going to post some cool stuff. Luse, and Solo beat me to it though.

857237 Surprisingly donkeys are far enough from being 'not-horse' so that, unless horses were raised with them, they really REALLY don't get along. Even Shetland ponies tend to get a strong response from normal horses because of how different they are, they can't seem to work out if it is a foal or not and when we walked ours round the track all the other horses would follow us and try and get a better look at her.

Something as simple as a hat can throw horses off (and other animals as well) - it is something different and not right. The particular problem I can see are the differences in the eyes. Celestia and her ponies have much larger and more forward facing eyes - which often denote a predictor in the animal kingdom, just looking at the horses with those big eyes are enough to spook them.

In my story 'A Knight to remember' I am actually exploring how the two different species might react to one another (A knight, his squire and their two horses end up in Equestria), however these are trained horses that have seen and been around far stranger creatures then the native ponies so it is more how the ponies react and respond to them. For the most part the two in the story take most of their direction from their masters - if they are not afraid then they don't have to worry.

857224
Well, the more you know.
I guess the take away is that domestication only works because horses are social and curious and bold, despite their extremely fearful nature.

857237 857522 Interesting. A few thoughts on what my plans were:

Particularly relating to the eyes, I had been thinking in terms of Celestia looking particularly "real" in our world i.e. looking much more like a real horse in terms of facial structure etc. I haven't decided to what extent, though, as I have a hard time picturing her talking through a real horse's mouth. Her cartoony appearance on the show is explained as the show being a cartoony representation of a somehow more "real" reality which exists behind it.

Of course I was thinking that, worst comes to worst, I just say Celestia has some sort of magical aura which somehow makes her seem trustworthy to the horse (the old "a wizard did it" trick).

856517

How do you sit upright again?

I ride and have been learning about horses for a while now but I'm going to refer you to some pros. The Parellis, Julie Goodnight, Lynn Palm and Monty Roberts.
A few things I do know; a good horse will actually try to take care of it's rider. Pretty amazing when they outweigh a rider by about a thousand pounds.
Horses react together, if one looks at something they all look, if one runs then they all run.
Some are more friendly than others. Some like being brushed and cared for. Some really do not like anyone messing with their hooves.
They are extremely sensitive to touch and pressure. Watch a dressage competition and you'll see what I mean. The rider doesn't even look like they're doing anything but really they are giving subtle cues to the horse.
They are pretty intelligent on their own ground. They are not big dogs you an ride. They have their own motives for doing what they do.

Something I forgot. When training a horse you have to teach it twice, once on the left and once on the right. Their brains don't communicate from side to side like ours do. After a while, human training causes the synapses in a horses brain to start making connections and they get 'smarter'.