Can anybody describe what it feels like to caress a horse?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Oh, get your minds out of the gutter.

I’m making notes for a fantasy short story I’ll write in July or so in which a young girl, replete self-loathing for reasons I won’t expand on, has a healing epiphany when she is encouraged to touch a unicorn. I want to describe the tactile part of that experience, but it occurs to me I’ve never actually done so. So, sometime this month, I am going to seek out a horse and try it out. In the meantime, though, I’d appreciate any stories any of you can tell me about interacting with horses.

Thanks in advance.

2

The thing I remember most vividly is that the skin and muscle layer just under the skin of a horse feel almost independently alive: twitching, and quivering in response to my own tentative touch. The warmth, and coat were what I’d expected from having handled other large and small animals. This isn’t to say that the muscles under that layer weren’t firm, just that the adaptation of the horse’s skin to try to shake off flies and other insects made for an odd feeling.

3

A horsie has the softest nose in the world. :slight_smile: A horse’s nose is like live velvet.

4

The mane strikes me as coarser that what I expected, dry and not near as supple as a similar length of human hair. The coat is coarse too, but being so short it also gives you a good indication of the muscle and power underneath.

The nose and mouth are something altogether different though. Soft as a baby’s behind.

5

OtakuLoki’s description is excellent. The horse’s muzzle is especially soft, delicate, and warm, almost like especially fine suede. The best thing about horses, though, is the way they smell. Once you’ve loved a horse, the smell of a horse will always be like the sweetest perfume. It’s an earthy, rich, grainy fragrance that belongs to no other creature I’ve encountered.

6

If it’s cold out or the horse has just been exercizing, the heat that comes off them is quite noticeable. And the little sounds they make, exhaling and nickering, are subtle for such a large animal. Very soft and gentle mouths and noses with whiskers that tickle.

7

Also, the word “caress” is really yucky when applied to a horse. There’s something, ickishly sexual about it. Maybe my reaction is because horses do not enjoy being touched lightly, (causing the shivering and twitching described upthread) nor do they enjoy the body language of people who are cautious and tentative (they wonder what you’re so scared of, and if they should be scared of it too).

A nice firm pat on the shoulder, or the large muscle of the neck, like you’d give a rambunctious labrador retreiver when it brought back a favorite tennis ball, is what they like and understand. Horses like to be scratched in hard-to-reach spots, like a cat (many enjoy being scratched under the throat, just like a cat) and (with exceptions) groomed vigorously. Grooming each other is how horses socialize with their own kind, and as a whole, they aren’t overgentle.

In the summer, the fur is short and fine, and not particularly soft, although it may be quite shiny. In the winter unblanketed horses grown thick shaggy coats (depeninding on breed, etc) including long “guard hairs” that keep the snow off the skin (snow falling on a horse’s back doesn’t melt)

Horses have a blind spot directly behind them and directly in front of them. Always approach a horse from the side, especially to stroke its nose.

Speaking of that nose, horses have long coarse whiskers, like those of a cat, around their muzzles. Some people clip or shave the whiskers to make the horse look more smooth.

Contrary to popular belief, horses are usually quiet, while cows are noisy. Neighing and nickering are uncommon behaviors. :smiley:

8

A horse’s hide is so close that it doesn’t feel like a dog or cat, where their skin is sort of loose. Because of that, you can feel any little imperfection. An old scar, a fly bite, anything that makes the surface less-than smooth. The mane and tail are coarse, and can get burrs and sticks tangled in it. Although they’re much less likely to tangle than a human with hair that long would. They have odd, straight eyelashes. And wiskers like a dog or cat, although a horse with an owner will generally trim the muzzle. They have a lot of sensation in their muzzle, using it sort of like an elephant will his trunk - poking around feed to get the good bits first and pick around any medicines that might be added. They will lip at you to, bt not because they want to bite, but because they’re curious. They have a lot of hair inside their ears, too, although that is often trimmed with electric clippers.

StG

9

They’re bigger than you expect - beautiful soulful eyes in charge of something that could swat you dead without effort.

Grace walking on razors. Velvet over steel.

Horse smell is nice, but their farts are breathtaking in a whole different way.

Those soft noses aren’t nearly so appealing when the animal in question is nuzzling you affectionately - causing you to lift clear off the ground and tumble ass over elbow.

Try some of the quote sites for pretty sayings. And, if you decide to research, bribe the buggers with apple chunks and let them get a good whiff of you.

10

oh, Wiiiillburrrr!!! snort :smiley:

11

When you reach out and tentatively pat a horse in its summer coat on the neck for the first time, what strikes you is “warm”, and “soft and silky”, quite different from cat or dog soft and silky. A horse’s summer coat is thinner and not as puffy as a cat or dog, without the feline/canine layers of undercoat and guard hairs. (I’m assuming your unicorn lives in a magical tropical forest where nobody ever has to grow a winter coat. :smiley: )

What strikes you about tentatively reaching out and petting a horse’s face–not the soft fleshy muzzle, but the long front of it, from its forehead on down, where the “blaze” markings if any are–is “bony”.

When petting a horse’s rump, what strikes you is “muscle”. That’s a whacking big muscle right under your hand, no doubt about it.

A horse’s mane, as noted, is quite coarse. Nobody pets an horse affectionately on the mane except little girls obsessively braiding it. :smiley:

You pet a horse affectionately on its neck, or on its muzzle, because that’s where it feels good to you.

If you pet a horse on its muzzle, ten to one it’s going to reach out inquisitively with its lips, on the not illogical assumption that there’s an edible treat there somewhere, and get slobber on your fingers. Children frequently panic and freak when this happens, snatching their hand away, thinking the horse is trying to bite them.

A horse’s hoof feels like nothing else on God’s green earth except a hoof. Think “humongous filthy Godzilla toenail”.

Horse manure does not smell too bad. Compared to cow manure, it’s less acrid, and actually not that stinky. Stepping on a few horse apples is not a crisis like stepping in a cowpie; it’s fairly easy to knock the clumps off your shoes.

Horses pee enormous puddles directly under them. “Pee like a racehorse”? Yup. When working with horses out in a dirt paddock, it’s not just the piles of droppings you have to watch out for, it’s also the mudpies where somebody peed.

Standing next to a horse for the first time, you are struck by an overwhelming physical sense of the sheer size of the beast. And you cannot imagine how anyone could lead it around on a string. Someone hands you a lead rope attached to his halter (the leather straps around his head), and says, “Bring him over here”. And you have NO clue how to proceed. You tentatively pull on the rope. “C’mere…” Nothing happens. You pull a little harder. “Hey. C’mere!” Still nothing happens. It’s like pulling a houseboat. His neck and head flex, but he doesn’t move.

Finally, somebody (giggling) points out that you’re standing directly in front of him, pulling on him, and if he did take a step, he’d step right on you, and not being stupid, he’s declining to do this. So the giggling person stops giggling long enough to show you how to stand alongside of him, facing the direction you wanna go, with your right hand up underneath his chin, holding onto the rope where it’s attached to the halter, and the rest of the rope in your left hand, and tells you to take a step yourself in the direction you wanna go, pulling his head along with you with your right hand.

So you do.
And he moves.
This enormously powerful beast is allowing you to lead him around by a string.
That’s a magical moment.
“Hey, he’s coming!”

12

Oh, I remember those heady spring nights when I would sneak out of my parents house and steal into Farmer John’s stables to see my favorite horse. Not time, not fate, not even Farmer John’s threats to call the sherriff could stay the emotions we (presumably) had for each other.

As far as what it felt like? Well, I just remember wondering how anything that felt so natural and right could possibly be illegal. How could it end badly? What kind and loving God could possibly want us apart?

But then I’d feel the cuffs go on again!

13

After reading these posts, I have a greatly increased respect for horse people.

Your various descriptions are truly poetic, and one can sense the love y’all have for the wonderful beasties.

Thanks all.

14

Look, there are times when you have to log off the Internet and conduct research.

Go feel a horse.

Seriously, you can rent a riding horse or just visit the stable. These descriptions are poetic and they’re true – direct experience of any large animal is pretty awesome to people who are truly paying attention – but they’re not YOUR descriptions. This is not only something you CAN do, it’s something that will probably improve what you bring to your writing.

And it’s probably tax-deductible somehow. :stuck_out_tongue:

Sailboat

15

If your character will ride the unicorn at any point… go pay for a riding lesson or six. Most schools will start you off on a lunge line, with someone else guiding the horse in a circle, and all you have to do is get a feel for the motion and basic commands. That beautiful, flowing gait you see in movies, the canter, is something to be experienced.

I wish I could afford to ride regularly.

16

Actually, no; it’s a world with seasons like ours. But it’s the first day of autumn there, so I assume the summer coat is still in place.

17

Did you read the OP?
Go feel a horse.

18

Yeah, pretty much. Horses, like dogs, tend to start growing their winter coats before they’ll actually need them. But you wouldn’t notice the puffy feel of a horse’s winter coat until it had completely grown in, later on towards winter.

19

Shouldn’t a unicorn feel a bit different from a regular horse, though? I mean, being a mystical, legendary animal and all?

20

Sailbot, I did not mean to append "go feel a horse’ to my response to your post; it’s the result of poor coding and not intended as an insult or mockery. If I offended you, I apologize.