10/19/2026
Mustang Facts Monday 🐎
Ever seen a horse do a HUGE full-body shake after something exciting or stressful?
You know the one…
Head shakes.
Neck wiggles.
Skin ripples.
And suddenly the whole horse looks like a 1,000-pound wet dog. 😂
That shake can happen after rolling or because of flies and irritation but you may also notice shaking after periods of excitement, handling, or heightened arousal.
And after a weekend like Spooktacular, there was plenty to process!
🎃 New sights
👻 Strange decorations
👥 Lots of people
🔊 Different sounds
🐎 Plenty of activity
Horses are incredibly responsive to changes in their environment. When something unfamiliar happens, their nervous system can shift into a more alert state-heart rate, muscle tension, attention, and breathing can all change.
Then, when the moment passes, you may see behaviors associated with returning toward a calmer state:
💨 A big exhale
🐎 Lowering the head
👄 Licking or chewing
😌 Softer muscles and expression
🌪️ And sometimes… that magnificent full-body shake
But here’s an important piece of horsemanship:
No single behavior tells the whole story.
A shake doesn’t automatically mean a horse has “released trauma” or completely relaxed. Good horsemen look at the whole horse, the environment, and what happened before and after the behavior.
That’s something mustangs teach us beautifully
observe first. Interpret second.
Because the more we learn to notice the little changes, the better we become at understanding what our horses are actually telling us.
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