Are Horses Big Dogs? (Find Out!)

You may have heard it said that horses are little more than giant dogs.

It can be easy to understand why at times, given how they behave.

But are they really big dogs?

Well, it’s a more difficult question to answer than you might think.

Horses are, of course, not literally big dogs, but there are so many fundamental similarities between horses and dogs that it’s natural to wonder if they aren’t the same.

In any case, I decided to look into the question and figure out the truth.

So, are horses big dogs?

Horses are not literally big dogs. They certainly share many behaviors and personality traits, and it’s easy to understand why some people might say horses are big dogs. That said, they’re also very different in a lot of ways, too. Horses are like big dogs, but they aren’t literally.

It’s mostly just an endearing statement made by both dog and horse lovers.

Dogs, as we know, are a man’s best friend.

For some people, they feel the same way about horses, and imagine the bond they have is just like you might have with a dog.

Others have a different experience, so it’s really all relative.

In any case, let’s examine this question more closely.

Is a horse like a big dog?

Sure, a horse is like a big dog in a lot of ways.

They’re four legged sprinters who enjoy hanging out and running around.

We can form really close relationships with our horses, and this reflects a further similarity horses and dogs have regardless of us.

Dogs and horses, in the wild and at home, live in hierarchical groups.

Every pack of dogs and every herd of horses has a sense of who is the alpha and who are the betas.

Horse groups are a bit different, however, since most of the time horse societies are made up of one male and many females.

Hierarchies in dog groups are more about how the males relate to one another.

The similarities are certainly there, though.

This natural inclination towards social stratification is part of why both these animals are capable of forming such deep bonds with us, too.

They have highly complex, highly social brains.

There are important differences, though.

Dogs like to sleep close by, even in your own bed.

Horses, thankfully, usually prefer some privacy while sleeping.

This may seem like a small detail, but it is important.

The other main difference in temperament comes from these animals’ diets.

Horses are herbivores, and dogs are mostly carnivores.

This instinct is usually what drives dogs to enjoy games like fetch.

Horses are happy to just hang out eating grass most of the time.

Can horses bond like dogs?

While I’m sure many horse owners would tell you they absolutely can, and I don’t deny the truth of these cases at all, as a general rule, horses do not bond in the same way that dogs do.

Again, dogs are pack animals; this means a bit more than being a herd.

Packs need to really carefully coordinate and communicate in a lot of complex ways, for hunting and other things.

This gives them additional capacity to form bonds with us, as they can even perceive our emotions to some extent.

Horses do have complex social systems, but they simply don’t need to form bonds in the same way.

Everyday communication is about alerting one another to danger, and that’s about it.

Horses basically just broadcast their presence every so often.

So, again, horses can indeed form deep and complex bonds with people.

In general, though, a dog’s ability to do this is much better than a horse’s.

How are horses different from dogs?

One important point to note is that dogs and horses are both highly individual creatures.

Each individual can have a very different personality.

That said, in general, there are many important differences between horses and dogs.

As I mentioned earlier, one of them is their diet.

This does have a big impact on their behavior and personality.

While dogs have been fully domesticated, horses really have only been tamed.

Dogs, generally, will follow you, and think of you as the alpha.

Horses will often need a lot of convincing to do things they’re unsure of.

That said, their herding instinct is obviously a lot stronger than a dog’s; a dog will be less likely to just follow along with a lot of other dogs than a horse with other horses.

So, though they are very similar in a lot of ways, I think it’s a useful distinction to think of dogs as being domesticated and horses as being tamed.

Horses and dogs share a lot of similarities, but they’re fundamentally quite different.

Horses are prey animals, who spend most of their time grazing and not around people.

While some horses certainly form bonds with their humans, for the most part, dogs do so much more reliably.

This is not anything against horses, they’re just different.

Horses are like big dogs in many ways, but it’s also better for us to appreciate their differences.