Microgestures: Sentences We Don't Hear

Horses communicate mostly through subtle movements that humans initially don't notice at all. The position of the ears, the position of the neck, muscle tension around the eyes, the orientation of the shoulders and hips, the rhythmic flaring of the nostrils, and changes in gait tempo.

Another horse reads these signals as perfectly clear sentences. Come closer. Move away. Leave me alone. I'm not sure. Danger. Everything is fine. For us, these signals are almost imperceptible; for the horse, they are as loud as spoken words.

The same applies in reverse. What a human considers a quiet signal, for a horse is shouting. What a human perceives as a small movement, a horse interprets as a big change. That's why it often happens in work that a horse reacts to something we didn't intend to communicate at all.

Learning microgestures is actually learning to observe. I suggest an exercise without any specific task. Stand by the fence and just watch the herd for ten minutes. No phone, no plan. After a few such sessions, you will start to see the conversations that have been in front of you all along.