I reposted the clip here to make it easier to follow the comments (under the clip). I don't get into what the trainer is saying in the clip, it's often better to analyse movements in a clip like this without the sound on. I just want to point out all the little reactions the horse is showing.


With this clip I want to point out how the horse asks questions and what happens when we miss them, and worse yet, correct them.

0:12. In the very beginning the horse leans forwards and looks at the trainer. That is a question from the horse "can I come to you and say hello?". The horse is being very polite and friendly.

Horses reveal what their intentions are, and in this case the movement of the horse is slow, she doesn't just start walking, she leans forwards first. That is the question. The trainer can answer in three ways:

She could say "yes, please come here, i would like to say hello, too" 
(and I think that would have been a nice response). 
To give that answer the trainer just moves back a hair and stretches out a hand. Moving away from the horse draws it too you.

She could say "no, I want you to stay there". (that would be OK, too). 
To give that answer the trainer just moves, or even just leans forwards towards the horse. Moving towards the horse pushes it away from you. 
For this response to work it has to be given immediately after the question from the horse, once the horse has moved the feet, the horse thinks the answer is given already.

She could do nothing, neither move away or towards. 
In that case the horse will interpret is as a "go ahead" but not a direct invitation, so it usually comes with a little hesitant step. This is the most common response from people since most people miss the question from the horse in the first place...

Our problem is that these questions are very fast, the time between the horses question and them thinking we have responded, is often a fraction of a second. If a horse makes an "unauthorised move" the odds are pretty high that we simply missed the question. That will happen, but it's not a problem unless you correct the horse for your mistake. If you correct the horse for coming to you after you told it yes (it doesn't matter if you didn't know it, that is still your response) the horse will end up with ...

Insecurity - you can't be trusted when you say yes.
Confusion - when do you mean what you say and when do you not mean it.
Eventually it stops asking the question all together, it stops wanting to come to you, and that is the saddest consequence of all in a way. For both.


In the clip the trainer misses the question and therefore gives the third response. The horse takes a careful step forwards, it got the go-ahead, but not the invitation. The trainer corrects it for "taking an unauthorised step" which is not really true; she really had said yes to the horse. The horse is corrected rather harshly considering it really didn't do anything wrong. The trainer could have stopped the horse with a small gesture at that point since the horse wasn't really sure that she wanted her to come over.

The horse didn't understand the correction, in her mind she did as told, and gets insecure. You can see the ears hanging out to the sides, and she starts looking away a bit. When the trainer makes a gesture (not directing it at the horse, but during her talk with the owner) the horse flinches and throws the head up a little like she is waiting for the rope swing again.

It's hard to see the connection between the trainers movements and the horses response in the next few frames because of the camera angle, but then there is a moment that shows something interesting.

1:00. Around the minute mark the trainer steps towards the horse and it steps back. Then the trainer steps back again. Notice how the horse moves her weight forwards when the trainer steps back, and again she asks a question "Do you want me to step forwards?" watch her intense focus on the trainer at that point: she is trying to read the trainers body language and find out what she wants. The horse has not figured out that she is supposed to stand still yet, she is still looking for cues from the trainer, and they are hard to figure out since the trainer is mostly focusing on the owner and not the horse and she is gesturing with her hands while she talks, making it hard to figure out if that is a signal for the horse to move or not.

The tension in the horse can be seen especially in her breath, pay attention to her nose and underbelly, she is taking fast and swallow breaths like she's been running. She blinks a lot too. After a while she starts to think that the gesturing is not related to her, the trainers focus is still on the owner, and the trainer seems a little more relaxed in her posture, so the horse starts thinking about making a calming signal...

1:49. The horse starts thinking about turning, but moves back and watches the trainer again, the trainer makes some new gestures (looking at her feet a couple of times) and the horse is watching closely. She then very carefully starts turning, fully showing her intentions to turn around, and the trainer gives no response (in other words telling the horse to go ahead) and then the horse starts moving, thinking it is OK. Again the correction comes as a surprise to the horse...

The horse still hasn't understood the concept "stand there", but understands that the trainer IS paying attention to her even though she is talking to the owner, and again the horse is trying to figure out the movements of the trainer. The slightest shift of weight back by the trainer gets the horse to think about coming forwards, and the slightest shift forwards gets the horse to think about backing. Those cues and naturally understood, so this "stand there" command could have been easily explained to the horse using those signals. The rope shaking is on the other-hand NOT understood naturally and is certainly NOT something a horse would do to communicate with another horse.

Horses reacts to movements, the concept of just standing there when someone apparently isn't talking to them isn't something they understand easily. The punishment is telling the horse it's in trouble, but isn't showing the horse what she is SUPPOSED to do. A pretty bad job description...

I have some issues with what the trainer is saying in the video, but that's not relevant to the body language in the clip. It's too long to comment on the whole thing at once, but notice the horses reaction when the owner just has taken the lead-rope and the trainer stands close to the horse and makes a gesture. The horse jerks her head up, thinking it will get the rope correction again. The horse will eventually figure out that she is supposed to stand still, but in the meantime THAT is the lesson the horse has learned here...