Calming Signals: Horses Managing Stress

Shiloh relieves tension with a yawn

This article accompanies my chat with Jec Aristotle Ballou on Calming Signals, November 16, 2022. Calming Signals in Horses

What Are Calming Signals? Calming Signals are actions horses take when they want to (1) calm themselves, (2) encourage someone else to calm down, or (3) defuse a tense situation. Their purpose is to maintain peace and harmony in the social group. This is important because free-roaming horses live in family bands that thrive on cooperation, not competition. (See What Horses Really Want, Chapter 3.) Calming Signals provide body language communication to minimize conflict. Horses view Calming Signals as respectful communication, and assume they are perfectly clear to everyone. However, they can be confusing to people for several reasons.
1. The same behaviors can mean other things.
2. Different horses use different signals or combinations.
3. They must be interpreted in the context of the horse's emotional state, the current situation, and the horse’s whole body language including facial expressions. Looking at just one part, like ears, is not enough.
4. Multiple signals can be used simultaneously or sequentially.
5. Some Calming Signals are routinely misinterpreted as threatening or “disrespectful”, especially in the context of dominant leadership. In the photo above, Shiloh is yawning to relax herself. She had just focused intensely on following my directions with precision as we negotiated a Horse Agility course. This could be misinterpreted as ignoring my cue to walk, but she was actually preparing herself to focus better which she did as soon as she had "yawned out" her tension.

Brandy turns away from a suspicious object

What People Miss People’s reactions to Calming Signals are often confusing to horses. Horses assume they are respectful communication and everyone understands them. People often fail to notice them, or understand them. Worse, their responses are often counterproductive as they pressure the horse to do something else or even "correct" him. So, while the horse thinks he is saying clearly, "I need to de-stress", the human turns up the stress! When Calming Signals fail, and stress increases too much, instinctive reactions take over, communication fails, and cognitive reasoning is gone. When a horse's "peace offering" is routinely met with what he perceives as aggression from the human, nothing good comes of it. A horse who is stressed and frightened can become aggressive in self-defense. He may stop trying to de-escalate and go straight to confrontation. Or he might give up using Calming Signals altogether, perhaps even with other horses, which has disastrous implications for herd dynamics. Turid Rugass, who originally identified Calming Signals in dogs, found that puppies and young dogs can actually go into shock. Can that happen to foals and young horses? In the photo above, Brandy is walking away from a suspicious object. Approach and retreat is a normal part of Investigative Behavior, allowing a horse to reduce stress by putting some distance between herself and the strange object or situation. I follow Brandy's lead instead of trying to micromanage her attention. Chapter 13 of What Horses Really Want documents in photographs the full Investigative Behavior sequence as Brandy inspects the tractor tire.

Eating is calming

A Partial List of Calming Signals. The definitive work on the subject, with detailed definitions, is "Language Signs and Calming Signals of Horses: Recognition and Application" by Rachael Draaisma.

Yawning (As shown in the first photo.)
Half closing eyes
Lowering head and neck
Making themselves small
Shaking head
Blinking faster. 1 blink in 10 seconds is relaxed; 1 every second is stress.
Walking in an arc Common in Investigative Behavior as shown in previous photo.
Rubbing nose on foreleg
Licking and/or chewing Sometimes defined as a sign of understanding, the horse "digesting a thought", it is actually sign of stress.

The following Calming Signals are commonly misinterpreted in ways that create unnecessary problems.
Avoiding eye contact Looking or turning away is respectful from a horse's point of view. Trainers who demand "two eyes" or "face me" create unnecessary confusion and stress.
Turning head away
Turning hindquarters This is commonly viewed as a kick threat, which indeed it can be. However, it can also be a horse trying to disengage peacefully from an uncomfortable situation, like a person turning her back. This emphasizes the importance of evaluating all behaviors in the larger context.
Slowing down Horses may do this when struggling to do something difficult or learn a new skill, both tension inducing situations.
Eating Head down chewing is naturally calming. A few minutes of grazing seems to help some horses calm themselves.
Freezing A frozen horse is NOT calm. He is overwhelmed and emotionally withdrawn. Demanding that he move risks a dangerous explosion.

Sometimes a head shake is not just flies

In this photo, Gracie is shaking her head at flies, an easy assessment since Gracie was mellow and flies were terrible. In other circumstances a head shake can signify a release of tension.

Constructive Responses to Calming Signals
1. Pause. This shows the horse you have received his message. Sometimes this is all you need to do. He calms himself / releases his tension, and then is ready to refocus on you.
2. Use unthreatening body language. This includes stepping back out of his space and looking away. You might try mirroring his Calming Signal, such as yawning with him, or shaking your own head. This shows understanding and empathy. Remember that horses read facial expressions accurately, so smile. Or even laugh. Laughing is friendly and reassuring, the opposite of stress.
3. Touch only if you know the horse well enough to know he’d be reassured.
4. If you still see tension, anxiety, or Calming Signals, change whatever you were doing. Pressure is a common cause of stress in horses. One way to significantly reduce pressure in ground work is using Friendly Body Language as described in Chapter 10 of What Horses Really Want. This uses Social Learning to teach so that considerably less pressure / Negative Reinforcement is needed.

References and Resources:
What Horses Really Want by Lynn Acton
Language Signs and Calming Signals of Horses: Recognition and Application by Rachael Draaisma
Scentwork for Horses by Rachael Draaisma
Calming Signals - The Art of Survival by Turid Rugaas
Calming Signals: Are You Listening? by Anna Blake

https://annablake.com/2014/04/18/calming-signals-are-you-listening/