What does head/neck flinging mean?

[Greentchr]

When I call Kona down from the hill at night, she comes (most of the time), mainly because she knows it is dinner time.When she gets within a hundred feet or so (she is usually running at this point, because the donkey comes straight down the hill while she zig-zags, and she wants to be first), she slows down and flings her head around before coming in. Then she usually gallops madly up to where we (my daughter or I) are standing, and slides to a stop (rather nerve wracking for me). Sometimes when we release her in the morning, she breaks out of the gate and does the same head-flinging before racing away.

What does the head/neck flinging mean in horse-talk?

[kedwards]

If I'm picturing it correctly, it's a sign of enthusiasm. My horse will do something like that when he's just really happy and feeling good.

[galadriel]

That sounds like enthusiasm to me :) also. A lot of the time my horses will toss their heads around when they're about to launch into a full gallop (cute neck arching along with the toss, usually), and often buck a time or two afterwards.

At the same time as they're tossing their heads, they also rock back onto their hindquarters (shift their weight back), so the first gallop stride looks like a launch up into the air as well as forwards. I think it's an expression of pure glee, enjoyment of being a horse, a being who can gallop and play.

[Greentchr]

The thing is, it does not FEEL like enthusiasm. It feels more like aggression, intimidation. She only does this when we (my daughter or I) are interacting with her, either trying to catch in the corral, let her out the gate, or calling her in to eat.

[galadriel]

If she's doing it right before taking off and running, then that's the sort of movement I'm talking about.

I'll try to describe it as my horses do it:
Neck arched a lot, nose almost pointing toward chest; sort of a half rear, sometimes just getting a little light on the front feet; weight shifted to back end; sometimes the nose stays put and the top of the neck swings wildly back and forth, but sometimes there's a lot more movement in the head and neck as the horse throws it from side to side. After this performance, the horse launches forward into a run.

[Alle]

My mare will do the head fling when she takes off...and then sometimes will stop cantering/galloping and look to see if I am watching. :p When I go to get her from turnout, I 'race' her to the gate. She never lets me win of course, and when she beats me, she tosses her head up to show off. There is no aggression in her behavior.

I guess you'll just need to check out the rest of your horses body language too to see if its aggression or high spirits, but I think she is just being enthusiastic. How long have you had her?

[Silver1]

Sounds like glee to me too, my horse does that and it does look like she wants to murder something, usually with squealing sound effects and flinging of the tail and the rearing and bouncing and "WEEEEEE! LOOK AT ME!" It may look terrible but its all in fun and never means any harm. Personally I'd wait till after she's at a stop before approaching though :p

[larri]

It can also be a sign of aggression and dominance I'm afraid - it's one of Safi's moose like qualities - if she's pee'd off about something she'll prop with her front legs and toss her head - she does it at other horses when she's turned out to get them out of her way...and has been known to do it when I'm on board and pushing her to work....definitely not a sign of enthusiasm in her case :rolleyes:

[denise42]

My mare does that in both instances.
When she is happy and wants to express her joy.
And when someone who is under her in the pecking order gets to the gate before her. Could be your girl , is telling the donkey, " HEY you little peon I'm first !!! " or could simply be "YIPPEE its dinner time " :)
When you say she only does it when you and your daughter interact with her , how does she behave with other people letting her in and out ?
Is she HAPPY to see you ? How long have you been into horses ? Horse are so big and so strong that even their expressions of happiness can be intimadating to someone new to horses.
Not much help I know, but just wanted you to know , that most horses do this. :p

[Greentchr]

how does she behave with other people letting her in and out ?Is she HAPPY to see you ? How long have you been into horses ? Horse are so big and so strong that even their expressions of happiness can be intimadating to someone new to horses.


Daughter and I are the only ones brave enough ;) to care for the horses in this family- Husband is not animal person (though he casually mentioned one day that he sort of likes to have a horse in the yard- GREAT progress!), younger son afraid of Kona, as she is not a calm soul. I ould not say she is necesarily happy to see me. THe donkey is always happy to see me, he comes up to be petted, will follow us around, stand to be brushed, etc. The horse is opposite in all those, though when we call, she knows it is because we have food for her and she comes running (8+ acre hill). I have only been around horses, really, since September. Kona is in my back yard (corral is 100 ft from house), and I have been the main caretaker during the winter, so I have spent a number of hours weekly caring for and just watching her. Her 'happy' moments are fairly clear, because her head goes up and down, and appears more like Galadrial's discription. This is more side to side flinging, ears laid back stuff. I had some very good advice the other day that recommended that I get 'aggressive' or, dominant with her as it was probably a dominance issue- we do not have a trust relationship, and I have not spent the time needed to develop my alpha status. We started Parelli lessons last fall, but as it was mainly my daughter (who was taking it as part of her science course in school) doing the lessons, horse did not get enough benefit from it.

I had a recent accident on Kona, where she spooked out of control (IE lack of trust issue) and I pulled the wrong move resulting in me being thrown hard (cracked vertebrae). It has given me time to borrow the Parelli Level 1 DVDs, Which I have found thoroughly interesting. I am going to start this morning with the friendly game and work through it all, as I have quite some time before I can sit a saddle again. We are going to establish alpha status quite clearly and see if the head-flinging quits- out to be a good experiment!

Thank you all for your suggestions! Learning 'horse' can be a fun task :) .