According to Linda Tellington-Jones, you can analyze your horse's personality based on his facial swirls and this is
discussed in Linda-Tellington Jones' book, Getting in Touch: Understand and Influence Your Horse's Personality.
1.
A single swirl between or above the horse's eye is the standard displayed by the majority of horses in her studies. This
positioning
indicates a horse with a generally uncomplicated nature, but there are variations. Swirls may be set to one side or the other.
Swirls set to the left as you face the horse will tend to indicate a bit more complicated horse, but still trustworthy. Swirls
set to the right may be less cooperative horses than those with center or to the left swirls. In general, swirls of this sort
are less indicative of character than the more complex patterns.
2. A single swirl several inches below the eyes,
Linda found 80% of horses with this feature are unusually imaginative and intelligent. They like to amuse themselves creatively
like: turn on water, open stall doors, untying complicated knots
("locking picking" horses
), find ways to escape
pastures
("Horse Houdini's"
), etc. These horses are usually of above average intelligence and are interesting
characters to deal with.
3. A single long swirl that may be between the eyes, or extend below, indicates a horse who
is friendly and particularly enjoys relating to people.
4. Two swirls adjoining, either one above the other, or side
by side -- these can be above, between, or below the eyes and are sometimes set at an angle to each other: Horses with this
tend to be more emotional and over-reactive than average. They tend to become upset without apparent reason, and at unexpected
moments. When such horses blow up, the best way to handle them is to back off and allow them to settle. Punishing them doesn't
help; in fact it usually only aggravates the behavior more and can even bring on more resistance. However, Linda says, a horse
like this can be a great horse; she has had some of her best show horses with this configuration, but generally, horses with
this pattern are not ideal for inexperienced riders.
5. Three swirls close together on the forehead
(not up
under the forelock
) is rare. In geldings and mares this indicates a complex individual but not an unpredictable one;
stallions, however, with three swirls are another story -- about 80% of the stallions Linda has observed having this three-swirl
marking have exhibited unreliable, often dangerous behavior.
Found this too..........
- The three positions for the cowlick are on the imaginary line right between the eyes, above between the eyes, and
below between the eyes. Some owners actually groom and comb the forelock of their horses according to the position
of the cowlick. According to all the psychological information available to us at this time, equine behavior is determined
by cowlick position on the forehead as follows:
Between
Above Below
Good
Bad Indifferent
Smart Dull
Lazy
Calm Hyper Sluggish
Willing Stubborn
Flighty
Sweet Mean
Shy
Steady Broncy
Fidgety
Cooperative Balky
Forgetful
Nibbler Nipper
Snotty
Easy Keeper Greedy Eater Finicky
Mine
Yours Theirs
