Can Horses Be Gay? (Answered!)

Sexual behaviors in animals can be a really interesting topic.

Observing how animals interact with one another in this most intimate of acts can shed light on the whole of nature and how it operates.

My son got me thinking about this, recently, when he noticed that two of our male horses had been very friendly with one another recently.

He asked me, ‘Dad, can horses be gay?’

I was a bit taken aback by his question, but I wasn’t really sure.

So, I decided to look into it.

Can horses be gay?

Yes, homosexual behavior has certainly been observed in horses. As far as official scientific definitions go, this can involve everything from direct sexual behavior, to courtship, simple affection and even pair bonding. All such behaviors have been observed in horses, so we can say that horses can be ‘gay’.

There are some caveats to this question, however, as I will get into.

We should understand that our own standards and definitions likely do not apply to horses in the same way that they do to us.

Horses do not have a sense of their own sexual identity that we can ask them about.

In any case, let’s dive further into this question.

What do we mean by gay?

We should first clarify exactly what we mean by this term.

First of all, we obviously can’t use the same definition when talking about horses and people.

The important thing is that a person can come out as gay, and identify with that sexual orientation.

This is often only achieved after a period of learning and discovering things about themselves.

When we say someone is gay, we aren’t talking about their sex life.

We’re talking about their identity, typically as it self-professed.

Horses, naturally, cannot tell us that they are gay and that they identify in this way.

Sexual behavior is the entire metric by which we can understand whether a horse is gay.

And, as I said, homosexual behavior has been observed in horses quite often.

If not directly homosexual behavior, then a complete lack of interest in mares for a sexually mature stud could indicate some form of homosexuality.

Ultimately, when asking the question ‘can horses be gay’, you must understand how loaded those terms are.

The word describes identity and personal orientation more than anything else—things which horses cannot express preferences for.

So let’s break down whether they can really be gay.

Can horses be ‘gay’?

The simplest answer is yes, they can.

Many have observed horses that frequently engage in sexual acts with other male horses, or that simply spend all their time around male companions and have no time for the mares.

As I said, this can involve almost anything, from full on sexual acts to simple pair bonding.

Again, many breeders have observed horses who have no interest in mares.

Thoroughbred racehorses, like War Emblem from the 2002 Kentucky Derby, were retired to stud farms only to have absolutely no interest in mating with mares.

Again, this does not mean we can automatically say he is ‘gay’, but it’s clear that not all stallions have the same interest in mares.

Horses can be gay only as far as we can stretch the definition.

Pair bonding doesn’t necessarily indicate any sexual desire, and for most, the definition of ‘gay’ must cover some level of physical intimacy.

So, yes, horses can embody behavior we might call gay.

Our understanding of the term, however, simply does not apply to animals in any neat way.

As I said, the important thing is that it’s a matter of personal identity—it’s something someone can tell you about themselves, not something you can infer from their behavior.

Why do horses show homosexual behaviors?

So, why might horses show any signs of being gay?

There are many hypotheses and no one definite answer.

The problem for animal behaviorists has been figuring out any kind of evolutionary benefit.

When an animal has evolved a certain behavior, we can usually expect that it demonstrates some kind of survival benefit.

As far as mammals go, the simple fact is that bonding is incredibly strong in mammalian brains.

For whatever reason, they may simply gravitate towards members of their own sex.

It’s a form of protection, of having one another’s backs.

Though we might find it hard to imagine, horses’ emotional needs are just as important to their well being as ours.

They form deep bonds with members of their species they spend a long time with.

This is the simplest answer, but just be aware there is no definite explanation.

So, the question is not particularly cut and dry.

The thing you need to understand is that you simply can’t describe a horse’s sexuality in the same way you can a human being’s.

Horses cannot ‘come out’, and they do not identify with a particular sexuality in the same way we do.

Observing homosexual behavior in animals is fairly common, and has been done with horses, but this doesn’t necessarily scientifically translate to ‘this horse is gay’.

Horses simply have a more relaxed view of the sexual spectrum!