Anyone who’s feared for their life on the back of a horse that likes messing with people can absolutely confirm that they smell your fear, relish it, and will rigorously calculate the optimal route to getting under your skin.

“Are you scared, human?”

“…How could you tell?”

“I can smell it. The piss in your pants. Did you also have asparagus?”

I am still really surprised when I read research that confirms something that I have always accepted as the truth. My grandpa told me this when I was very young. He told me not showing a horse fear did no good. He knew they could sense fear through any pretense you showed. He never mentioned smell but he had observed its effects all the same.

The few times I’ve been close to them in my life I just stood calmly with them and it does put a horse at ease. Fearing them wont necessarily make them aggressive toward you but it can make them fear you in return and get them agitated.

Makes sense, this is why Bad Horse leads the evil league of evil.

And dogs can smell cancer. I’m starting to think researchers are just trying to tell us we stink.

They thrive on it.

I am a dog person. I don’t mind cats, but I am allergic. But horses? Hell no. NOPE. Horses are scary as fuck. One boot to the dome and they can make your head explode. Dogs show they are angry. Same with cats. I don’t have experience with horses to know that they are upset. I look at their eyes and all I see is the void of cold, indifferent, death staring directly back at me.

Now you are telling me that not only are they peanut brained, massive, beasts that we have enslaved for our enjoyment and labor, but they can also smell my fear? Get outta here.

Is it the urine?

and I smell horseshit!

Horses seem to be fearful of just about everything. I wonder how they distinguish between the scent of their own fear and the fear of others.