Horse Language 101 - Those Pinned Ears Mean Something

Horses are very smart animals who can communicate to each other by various signals of body language. Here are the most basic signals horses give and what they mean:

Pinned Ears:
When something makes a horse angry, he will pin his ears back flat against his head. When horses are in a herd, the alpha horse does this to signal another horse to back off if he is too close. Also, when riding or working with your horse, he may pin his ears back if you ask him to do something that he doesn't want to do. If he does this, be careful, a horse usually pins his ears back as a warning that he is about to lash out (bucking, rearing, biting, ect.).

Tilted Ears:
If a horse moves his ears back, it doesn't always mean that he is angry. Only when both ears are pinned flat against his head does it mean that he is angry. Sometimes the horse will tilt one ear back while the other says forward. Or he might tilt one ear back, then switch and tilt the other ear back. This means that you horse is listening to what is going on behind him. This is a good sign when you are riding your horse. If he tilts his ears backward, that means that he is paying attention to you and waiting for you to tell him what to do.

Forward Ears:
When a horse has his ears forward it could mean two things. Many people say that a horse who has his ears straight forward is in a friendly mood. However, most of the time when a horse's ears are perked forward it is a sign of danger. If a horse senses something he thinks is a predator(like a mountain lion or something) he will move his ears forward. If you are riding your horse are he perks his ears forward, be on guard because your horse is likely to spook if whatever it is that scares him moves.

Cocked Leg:
When a horse is relaxed and calm he will cock one of his back legs. He does this to take the weight of one of the legs and he will often shift the weight to the other leg after a while. This is good if your horse does this. Horses often cock their legs when someone is grooming them because grooming relaxes a horse.