Can I ask a question of people who understand horse behaviour?

[TisapityshesaGeordie]

This happened years ago, and I've always been curious about why, and it's just occurred to me that someone on here might be able to shed some light on it.

At the time, my mum was living in a little village on Dartmoor and I was visiting. We were walking her dog on the moors, surrounded by lots of small groups of Dartmoor ponies, who were quietly ignoring us and getting on with their day as they normally did - these ponies are used to people, but they're not tame and have no interest in being petted or stroked.

Then, mum's dog took off after a rabbit, caught it, snapped its neck and ran back to me, proudly bearing her still-warm gift. Being the squeamish type, I shrieked slightly and moved away.

As I did, several of the ponies immediately trotted over and gathered round me in a tight circle, pressing into me very closely. It seemed like a protective gesture - but why? I am very obviously not a pony!

Very interested to hear any theories from those of you who know about such things.

Quite an unusual reaction. Maybe someone wh knows Dartmoors can explain. What I do know is that horses are quite curious, so will come over to investigate something new and interesting. However, I would have thought your shriek would have sent them in the other direction.

It sounds more like they were being inquisitive, or they have learned that squeals/cries/shouts mean children and children mean sweets and food - horses are very food orientated and learn food sources very fast! Their body language would tell you a lot.
Were they jostling to get to you and facing you, with ears forward and looking interested, pushing each other out of the way?
Or were they looking around with ears flicking around, still and listening but gathered around you?
If it was the former they were looking for grub!
The latter would be more they were gathering themselves due to a potential threat and you just happened to be there too.

I would wonder if the noise you made had some kind of similarity to a distress or warning equine vocalisation, perhaps?

Were the ponies looking for food, nudging you or were they using their bodies to block something else since you thought it was protective?