In the chaos of holiday deliveries, porch pirates are a common fear, but one woman discovered the real culprit was already part of the family: her own horse.
One woman, known on TikTok as @emilygracetaylor6, learned the hard way that her packages are not safe near the fence. In her October 25 TikTok video, she approached her horses in the field and realized one had something in her mouth. The horse twirled the package around until it flew out. She considered going back for round two, but the horse clearly knew it was being watched.
“That’s my Amazon package!” the woman yelled, prompting the horse to bolt. But the moment didn’t shock her. She wrote in the caption that this is what happens when “you have a bad horsedog” living on the other side of the fence.
Newsweek reached out to @emilygracetaylor6 via TikTok on Tuesday for additional information and comment.
As of Thursday, the clip reached over 1.2 million views and 192,000 likes, with TikTok users quickly defending the horse’s actions, joking that the “package was left with the receptionist.”
“She signed for it, be grateful,” wrote one person.
Another added: “She says, ‘I’m the pony express.'”
A third commented: “I’m screaming. This is the best thing I’ve ever seen.”
Thankfully, the owner confirmed in the comment section that all the packages were in “mint condition.”
This “horsedog” behavior is nothing new to the owner or experts. Research has found that horses are curious creatures that enjoy playing.
A study published in Scientific Reports found that horses that approached, sniffed or manipulated new objects performed better on both visual discrimination and pressure-release learning tasks than those who avoided the items, suggesting a link between curiosity and learning performance. This association has previously been demonstrated in humans and primates, but now the 2021 study raises new questions about fostering curiosity and its impact on cognitive processes among domesticated animals.
The horse in the video showed natural curiosity by grabbing the package, which can also be interpreted as play. Playing behaviors in horses include nudging, lifting, chewing or swinging objects, and according to Applied Animal Behavior Science, such play can reduce stress and contribute to better welfare.
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