*heavy breathing*

October 1, 2013 3:23 PM

A horse with a sense of humor.
posted by mudpuppie (19 comments total)

Horsies! Also, well done to that cameraman for laughing it off and not having a big cry about it, because horsienibbles HURT.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:41 PM on October 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I love how the cameraman didn't make a sound even when she was nibbling on his ear. That's a pro right there.
posted by tommasz at 3:43 PM on October 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

The cameraman is ADORABLE!!!
posted by MoxieProxy at 3:52 PM on October 1, 2013 [5 favorites]

My mom, an amateur equestrian, loved horses like nobody I've ever known, and I spent much of my childhood and adolescence around them. I grew to appreciate horses' sense of humor above all; their capacity for mischief seemed boundless to me, and with the right horse/human combination, you felt a totally unique and deeply loving telepathy between the species. Watching this made me laugh with recognition and miss the hell out of my mom, who would've regaled me with many tales of equine silliness if I'd been able to forward this to her.
posted by mykescipark at 4:33 PM on October 1, 2013 [11 favorites]

Oh man, this reminds me so much of a Japanese game show clip I saw way back in the day. The basic premise is that the contestants have to be quiet in the library. Most of it has nothing at all in common with the horse in the OP, but if you skip to 7:40, there are some hilarious similarities.
posted by Diagonalize at 5:06 PM on October 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

i never knew how smart horses were until i worked on a photo shoot on a rundown estate on Log Island (the house and grounds were at least a partial inspiration for the Great Gatsby, the book). there was a stable with a few horses near the entrance and as we were leaving one day, one of the horses escaped. she had figured out how to unlock not only her own stable but also the gate for the pasture and as i walked up she was playing hide and seek with one of the caretakers. he would come around the barn and she would duck around the corner or hide behind a wall and poke her head out. she even tricked him into going around one side of the building as she changed direction and went the other way. he finally caught her after a minute or two and as soon as he was out of sight she let herself out again, only to be caught right away. she was totally calm the whole time and it seemed like she was just entertaining herself. as we went out the long driveway we honked the horn and she came tearing across the pasture and whinnied as if she were laughing that we'd seen her being bad.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 5:36 PM on October 1, 2013 [7 favorites]

yea that cameraman is a cutie
posted by sweetkid at 6:24 PM on October 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Probably good he didn't do this.
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:46 PM on October 1, 2013

I once had a Houdini horse: given enough time and the inclination he was an escape artist. His stall door was a Dutch door with the top half left open in hot weather and he quickly figured out how to undo tje spring snap, progressed through a more difficult bull snap, then u-bolt with screw closer to the ultimate: unlocking a padlock several times. Of course the immediate direction upon escape was out the front gate.

He was a wonderful horse for a horse crazy me to grow up around.
posted by mightshould at 7:09 PM on October 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Doesn't the nibbling suggest something or other? I thought it showed anxiety or something if your horse is chewing on stuff all the time. Cribbing?
posted by maryr at 8:25 PM on October 1, 2013

(Er, sorry to be the "No, this adorable behavior is actually anxiety" voice of this animal thread.)
posted by maryr at 8:27 PM on October 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I love that Chilean dialect. Who needs vowels anyways?
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 9:17 PM on October 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've never really realised how big a horse's mouth is before. Cameraman is lucky he didn't lose an ear. Or maybe half of his head.
posted by Solomon at 12:01 AM on October 2, 2013

Doesn't the nibbling suggest something or other? I thought it showed anxiety or something if your horse is chewing on stuff all the time. Cribbing?

I don't think so. I don't know much about horses, but I've been around a few. This really looks like the horse is trying to see how much he can get away with. "hey dude, I'm just resting my head next to yours. Oh I'm just lapping you're head. Dude! I bit your ear and you didn't move. How about if I pull on your collar? Omg Omg this is the best day of my life! I can finally see if I can fit a whole humans head in my mouth! "

But seriously, to me it looks like an animal that isn't used to being able to mess with humans in this way and is fascinated by being allowed to.

This is an elephant tickling a sleepy dog.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 12:14 AM on October 2, 2013

Yes, cribbing usually looks and sounds really different than this behavior -- the horse grabs a piece of door or stall and compulsively and audibly gulps in air. It looks and sounds pretty obsessive. This guy is just being a goofball and enjoying torturing that cameraman.
posted by Cocodrillo at 2:53 AM on October 2, 2013 [3 favorites]

another possibility is the dude tasted like the best carrots ever
posted by not_on_display at 2:55 AM on October 2, 2013 [3 favorites]

Adorable! Turning your back on a horse is interpreted as a friendly gesture.. it's the principle behind the famous Monty Robert's 'join-up' for example. It's tough for humans wired in the exact opposite way to keep it up like this!
posted by Erasmouse at 7:53 AM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]

No cribbing - that's a horse kissing
posted by mumimor at 1:36 PM on October 2, 2013

The guy probably smelled good. I've made the mistake of using herbal shampoo once and my horse just had to taste my hair.

And, some horses are very much into lipping or mouthing things. Their lips are almost like stubby fingers... think of a very short elephant trunk.
posted by mightshould at 3:25 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]