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My horse lifts his head when I try to pet his face. Why?

I go to pet his face and he lifts his head real high.... please help.

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You probably smell
your hand is infested....lol
Lots of animals don't like you to approach their face with your hand. You can start by petting him high on his neck and gradually work you way onto his head (jowl area) the work on moving to his face. It will take time and still may not work. He may just be touchy about his face. Move slowly.
Well my first guess would be that he is very head shy. My appaloosa was like that and if you just got him it most likely will go away IF your not smacking or hiiting his face. My only other guess would be that he doesnt like people all that much but one of theses answers has gotta be right cuz theres no explanation.
YOU HAVE A HORSE maybe its because he wants you to scratch his chin like you do with cats
The only reason your horse does this is because some horses get irritated with it. A lot of horses do this when I pet their faces. just let him get used to it. He may just never end up liking it, but its not a problem unless he also does it while you try to put the bridle on. So don't worry about, it has nothing to do with you, he just doesn't like his face messed with. Hope I helped:) Lexi Edit: How did I get thumbs down for telling people why their horse won't let them pet their face. It's the truth! People are crazy...hahaha
any part of his face, or when you approach him head on? if he doesn't want you touching his face at all, he's headshy. if he's only doing it when you suddenly reach to pet his forehead, that's pretty normal. horses have a blind spot, and it could make him nervous since he can't see what you're doing.
He is probably head shy. He might have often been slapped in the face or pushed away for something and now anticipates it enough to move as soon as he see's your hand coming. When you have caught him and have a halter on him, you need to practice making him put his head down. Start by standing at his shoulder and pet, rub, and pat his shoulders, and work your way up. Make sure you rub on the top of his neck. When you get to behind his head, touch your thumb and forefinger (index) to either side of the mane just behind and between his ears. Say "Down" and if he doesn't put his head down, press harder and harder until he does. Don't expect a miracle right off the bat, and if he just bobs his head down and back up, that was a try, so release his neck. As soon as he makes an effort to move away from your fingers, release him and give him a pet, and as soon as his head bobs down say "Down." Eventually, you can ask him to keep his head down, and then to put it down and keep it down when you say "Down." You also need to work on desensitizing the space around his head. For this, I suggest you look on youtube for videos of Clinton Anderson working with a head shy horse.
Horses are flight animals, meaning they run when they are scared (or move away). I've dealt with tones for horses like this. They just don't trust you when your hand gets so close their face. They will learn that its not a threat soon enough. Just don't push them too hard to accept it. Don't threaten or hit your horse or they wont trust you either. Give it time :)
Its either that hes head shy or has ear mites. Some horses that have ear mites dont want anyone going anywhere near their head. Try to hold a treat in one hand and get him to lower his head. When he does pet him and give him the treat. This will help him realize that he gets a positive reaction (The treat) from his action (Letting you touch his face). Good luck.
Horses are prey, and so a lot of their responses are based off of the fact that they are constantly expecting a predator to come out and attack them at some point. Because humans have eyes that are on the front of our face, not on the sides like grazing animals, we are percieved as carnivores. But horses don't react to us as predators unless we ACT like predators. That being said, when a lion goes to kill a zebra, what is the part of the body he goes for first? The head. You rip out the throat or take down the head, and you've got lunch. So when you go for a horse's head to pet it, they can see that as a threat and will react by pulling away, or even running away. Once you build up enough trust between you and the horse, then you can start to desensitize him to having his face touched. To do this, you simply start petting at his shoulder, and work your way up his neck to his face. You have to be sneaky and slow, or else he'll catch on and freak out. Just rub on his shoulder for a while, which he should be comfortable with, and then move your hand up to his mane and rub around there for a while. Slowly work your way up and down his neck for a bit until he's totally comfortable with being touched all the way up to his poll. Then, the next time you rub up to his poll, go ahead and start gently scratching around his bridle path and under his halter a little bit. Don't ever touch his ears. If he's cool with that, then you can sneak your hand around and calmly scratch on his forehead and eventually you will be able to touch his whole face. For touching the cheek, you just do the same thing but you start on his chest instead. =) Just stay calm and relaxed like nothing is going on, and you'll be able to touch his face without him even thinking about it.
Maybe he just doesn't want you to pet his face. It takes a certain amount of trust for a horse to let you pet its face, because they can't see what you're doing, and it's a very sensitive area. I don't think it means that he's headshy necessarily, he just doesn't want to be pet. Just pet his neck, there's more parts of the body to pet than his face.
Basically, he doesn't like having his face petted. He may have been hit around the face or he may have had vet treatment which involved pain or discomfort around his head or face (one of my horses went through a phase of this after having drops for an eye infection). Or he may see your hand as a threat for other reasons. Best thing to do is to stop petting his face for the time being. When he wants you to do it he'll offer his face but if he doesn't then accept that it isn't what he wants. A scratch on the neck or a rub on the withers is an equally good sign of your affection as a stroke or pat on the face.
He's probably just nervous. If someone reached at your face you'd automatically move too, wouldn't you. He might have even been his in the face in his past, or he might have had his head pulled about to force a bridle on. Lots of things can cause a horse to be head shy. Start by patting his neck and move towards his head gradually. Or reach your hand out slowly and let him come to you. He'll put his muzzle to your hand and then work your way up to his face slowly. Do this every day and he'll get used to it and let you do it all the time.