They’re everywhere – advertising vacations to vaccinations (if you love your horse, you’ll immunize with…)

Winston Churchill got it right- “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”

Horses are therapy.  They make us feel good.

But let’s be honest, our horses might not be feeling the love as much as we are when they’re kissed.

1. Kissing isn’t your horse’s “love language”. Horses express their bonding preference for herd mates in other ways. Kissing is a human expression, we learn as toddlers.  Research shows they actually prefer being scratched or massaged, particularly around the withers, by their people.

2. Horses will tolerate, but not naturally enjoy their noses touched. First, he can’t see you. Objects immediately in front of or below a horse’s nose are beyond his range of vision. Second, it’s a really sensitive zone. Muzzles are designed for “seeing” – sorting through bedding to get the last hay strand.  

3. It’s risky – if you’ve ever been bopped by a horse’s head, I’ll bet your eyes are tearing up just thinking about it.

Ever consider how we may speak a different love language, human to human?

Dr. Gary Chapman noted that we each have a primary way of expressing and interpreting love and we all identify primarily with one of the five love languages: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch.

 He also found that, for whatever reason, people are often drawn to those who speak a different love language than their own.

If that’s true, as we study our children, spouses, friends…and horses, we’ll be “speaking” in the language they understand!