Is it to be expected that if you pet a horse it will bite your arm?

How did he pet it? Did he start out by coming up slowly to the horse and beginning to pet its nose, or did he go straight for the mane?

He gently stroked it beneath it’s eyes down to the nose.

Horses have personalities just like everyone else, and this one may have been a bit cranky- or expecting a treat.

I’ve found that blowing into their noses helps make friends- it’s what another horse would do. And don’t go for the eyes- many animals are touchy about that.

ok; but was what the horse did pretty much to be expected? Should we shy away from petting them?

We used to have horses. They are wonderful creatures. However, it surprised me that someone thinks they can go up to a horse without its owner (especially a stranger) and pet it. The horse does not know you. The horse may be very gentle with its owner or someone they know but with a stranger may react differently. If someone wants to pet a horse or any other domestic animal they should approach the owner first.

Always use good sense and caution when near ANY strange animal! I’ve worked with horses, dogs, cats, etc and I let them make the first (friendly) move.

It could have been horsing around!Mules, you really have to watch….they’ll kick your @ss.—sorry—XD

@autumnsunset Is right.. horses are like kids, you don’t know how they’ll react to strangers… so you can’t “expect” anything from them. No matter how much you “tame” them, they are still wild animals.

Horses also can’t really see directly in front of them, so if you get the bright idea to go petting strange horses, approach them from the side so they can see you.
Spooked horses can do a lot worse than bite.

Horses have personalities just the same as people; I’ve known a few to be bad-tempered like that. Often it’s due to boredom or ill-treatment. Although in general horses don’t like to be touched on the nose like that because it’s their blind spot, they can’t see your hand if it’s right in front of them. Many horses also dislike having their ears touched. The best place to pet a horse is on the side of the neck where they can more clearly see what you’re doing with your hands. You should always approach a horse from the side, not from directly in front.

He didn’t touch his nose; just the area in between the nose and the eyes. I was too chicken to touch it!

Nose.. face.. same thing.
Don’t touch it unless you know the horse.

Also, if he acted scared, no doubt the horse reacted to it. Horses are very good at picking up fear and taking advantage of it- they are herd animals, after all! I used to have a horse that had bitten a few people- he never even tried to do it to me because I never let him think I was scared of him.

@Aster anywhere on the front of the face is bad because the horse can’t see you there.

If they can’t see what’s in front then how do they run safely? You’d think they’d be running into things??
He saw my friend at the fence and walked right up to him.

@Aster As much as I’d like to type a long answer about horse vision.. read this.
And it doesn’t matter if a horse can see you or not, really.. if you don’t know the damn horse, don’t pet it.

I’d be afraid to pet it. sheesh.