Horse people: are these horses in distress or excited?

https://fb.watch/lFWUjeTjER/?mibextid=Nif5oz

Sorry for the Facebook link, I hope you can view the video.

I noticed the horses in this video all seem to be "prancing" a little bit, like the riders are struggling to stay in control of them. Dozens of horses in this parade, acting similarly.

Every horse I've seen in a parade looks calm, mellow, or bored. So, are these horses excited and happy to be there? Or are the riders forcing/encouraging this behavior? Are the horses in distress?

For context, this is part of a festival in Tomato, Portugal.

11 points · 3 comments · view on lemmy.world

3 Comments

SandLight@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 3y

I can't say for sure, but you can train a horse to do that. It's probably not "happy" but it's not necessarily "distressed" either. Just doing what it was trained to do.

Tbf, I didn't watch the videodsue to the Facebook link but I have seen horses prance. So I guess take my answer with a grain of salt.

Source: I dated a horse girl for a few years.

Devi@kbin.social · 3 pts · 3y

Two of the riders are using a style of riding where they keep the horses head tucked close, this leads to a prancing type gait. It's on purpose. The horses themselves seem calm but I'm not really a fan of the style.

marcos@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3y

I wonder what behavior you are talking about.

Those horses don't look distressed or excited to me. They look well trained and well managed.