I don’t know if horses simply view humans as just other horses, but once they work out that you are not going to eat them, they definitely apply the same rules to you that they apply to other horses. This includes gaining confidence from you being around them, trying to push you around and when to kick or not kick you. The only time this really changes is once a rider is on a horse’s back, they lose that confidence they had from having you around as if you were another horse and feel as though they must take on the role of being a ‘leader’ to themselves. They will make their decisions as if they were a horse on their own. When riding a horse alone you need to give him time to figure out how he is going to react, or how he should react, as if he was on his own.