(2) One ear lopped forward and the other back, head sideways, gait sidelong, may be defined in the words of a learned Hindu: "Sir, the horse with which your Honour entrusted me has been behaving in a highly obstreperous and devil-may-care manner."
Horse speech
(3) The love call is a little whinney, soft, sweet and low.
(4) The demand for food is a rumbling neigh.
(5) A cheery neigh greeting other horses in passing means: "How d'ye do!"
(6) A loud trumpet peal of neighing at short intervals is a demand, sometimes a piteous appeal to other horses to join company.
(7) The groan of great pain is the same as that of a man, and may be attended by crying, when tears run from the nostrils. The sound is heart-rending, beyond endurance.
(8) The scream is only uttered in sudden and mortal agony as from burning, or from some kinds of wounds received in battle.
Signs and protests
(9) Ears thrown back even ever so slightly express anger, but thrown back along the neck mean fighting rage. In wild life the fights between stallions are mainly with the teeth, and horses forced to fight as a sport for men, as in ancient Iceland, rear up against one another, striking as well as biting. The ears are thrown back to save them from being bitten.