Draft:Horse

Horses are domesticated, or sometimes feral, members of the genus equus. They are specialized runners, and have a strong fight-or-flight reflex. Breeds are divided by temperament: fast, high energy hot-bloods, calm and quiet cold-bloods, and warm-bloods, which are somewhere in between. People with horse phenotypes often feel strongly influenced by their equine instincts and the temperament of their breed. Mythical equines, such as unicorns, may also have some of the habits of an earthly horse.

Experiences

Some says her horse side is more instinctual than their feline or canine side. [1]

Phantom Shifts

Feeling neck should be longer and/or holding neck at a weird angle. [1]

Some wear platform shoes to emulate hooves. [1]

Having separated fingers/toes feeling weird. [1][5]

May feel [9] or act instinctively [1] as if they are wearing a tack.

Behaviors and Instincts

An urge to run (may or may not be activated by seeing other horses run. [1]

May feel trapped if it happens while in a closed space. [1]

A desire to be in open space. [1]

A need to be in a herd. [1]

May only feel fulfilled by horses [1] or may desire human companionship specifically. [7][9]

May need other people to feel safe in unfamiliar situations. [1]

Prone to feeling anxious, paranoid, on edge, sensitive. [1][2][16]

Even irritable [2]

Yourdeer describes the unique feelings of expressing anger as a horse when this is most frequently talked about by predator species [2]

A horse's temperament, including the extent to which they display the stereotypical horse anxiety, which may be influenced by their breed. [6] Some horses speak of needing to deliberately suppress these instincts. [1][2] Envisaging themselves acting out the desired behaviors in their mind might help. [1][2]

Neighing, whining, snorting and other horse vocals [1]

Pawing, stamping, head tossing and other movements often observed in horses. [1][2]

Workhorse specifically: shifts may be triggered by working in general. [10][11]

As Domesticated Animals

Needing to feel useful [2]

May view home as a stable. [1][2]

A desire to wear a tack [8][9]

A desire to be owned by someone, [5] or otherwise enjoy the idea of being taken care of [9]

Living as a horse

Gear

In a thread on the equidae forum, some users share ideas for horse related gear including tails. [15] Shoes with soles that leave hoof prints, [14] and halters and bridles made for petplay. [15] A few horses mention that they use a, mane, a tail and a shampoo brand specifically formulated to be useable by both humans and horses. [12][13]

Relationships to "real" horses

Some horses observe that they are fortunate in actually being able to interact with their phenotype compared to many other kinds of nonhuman. [1]

Differing feelings with wanting to own or ride horses, as for some people it would feel weird [1] due to the fact that it doesn't capture the same feeling of running as a horse. [1]

Jason the horse states that "real" horses can recognize him and that he intuitively understood how to communicate to them. [5]

Horse spirituality

not 100% sure if theres enough sources for a whole section on this, but theres Something here

Some horses feel like their phenotype manifests in an archetypal or elemental way that impacts their spirituality

sonne connects her horse theriotype to the cardinal element of earth [1]

Jason the horse speaks extensively about his connection with what he and Linda Kohanov call the horse ancestors, shamanism, and how he believes horses incarnate as humans for a purpose. [5]

Community

not much and not as interconnected compared to other groups but…

The website unicorn dream and its sub-page 'if wishers were horses' brought together people interested in "human-equine shapeshifting". [3]

In his book, Jason the horse states that linda kohanov (inventor of equine therapy!) received many correspondences from "horses in human form". [5]

The forum 'equidae' was launched in February of 2023. [4]

Some may overlap with the unicorn community.

References

1. https://sonne.sonverrid.org/sanctuary/blog/2021/02/02/midnight-sand-essay-on-horse-august-2006/
2. https://animal-quills.dreamwidth.org/52546.html
3. https://www.unicorn-dream.co.uk/destrier/index.html
4. https://equidae.us/thread/11/early-access
5. https://www.amazon.com/What-You-Horse-Human-Form/dp/B009AN3VDG
6. https://equidae.us/thread/51/coldbloods-warmbloods-hotbloods
7. https://equidae.us/post/23
8. https://equidae.us/post/25
9. https://equidae.us/post/145
10. https://equidae.us/post/152
11. https://equidae.us/post/165
12. https://equidae.us/post/192
13. https://equidae.us/post/199
14. https://equidae.us/post/157
15. https://equidae.us/post/164
16. https://www.reddit.com/r/Therian/comments/120z6n0/horses_are_we_really_all_that_high_strung/

External links

• Equidae - a forum for equine therians