Understanding Your Horse's Ears.

Observe how your horse’s ears are positioned.

A horse has 16 muscles in his ear so he can move them all over the place. A horse has excellent hearing, and the ears point in the direction of the horse’s attention.

It seems that when a horse is interested in something, it pricks up its ears and swivels them towards whatever has caught its attention.

Horses will hold their ears in different ways to pick up different signals from their environment and indicate how they feel about what’s going on around them. Horses can move both their ears at one time, or move them individually.

Ears that are slightly forward indicate that a horse is relaxed. If your horse’s ears are pricked forward, he may be feeling interested in, or maybe even threatened by, his environment. 

If his ears indicate that he is feeling threatened, his nostrils will flare and his eyes will widen.

If one ear is back, then your horse is likely listening to something behind him.

If your horse’s ears are to the side, that means that he is concentrating yet relaxed.

Ears that are flattened back are a clear sign that your horse is upset. If you are near your horse when you see this, move a safe distance away to protect yourself from injury.

If you are riding your horse and notice him putting his ears back, it could mean several things. He may be doing something he doesn’t want to do or something he finds difficult. He could also be uncomfortable due to a badly fitting saddle, bridle or bit, hard rider hands pulling on the bit, or a rider with an unbalanced, bouncy seat. He could also have some pain in his back or maybe his teeth are bothering him.

Pinned ears should not be confused with ears pointed in the direction of the rider, as some horses will do that when they concentrate very hard and focus on their rider.

PlotMyTrot is a great tool for analysing your horses wars when mounted on the riders chest.