Nickering/whinnying when I dismount?

I'm not sure if this is a health issue but I figure that was probably the closest thing so forgive me if this is totally wrong. =)

So Lacey has always kinda nickered a little when I dismount. She didn't used to do it so much when I first started working with her but now after working with her for a year she's started whinnying, nickering, swishing her tail around like crazy, nuzzling my leg, and sometimes backing up as I dismount. I'm really not sure if it's a pain thing or if she's super excited to see me "return" to the ground, yknow? The violent tail swishing makes me wonder about pain but the rest of it makes me think she's just really happy about something. Haha

Her saddle fits ok. It's not the best fit but it's the best I can do currently and her back isn't sore (I make sure to run my fingers down her spine using a little pressure everyday and she never flinches). She also does this when I ride bareback so I don't think it's the saddle...

Should I be worried about this?
I guess I kinda do make a big production over her when I get off (I baby talk her and hug her and rub her face) and she acts happy so it makes sense that I have kinda trained her to do it, possibly, but I don't want to be ignoring her signals.

I'm really not too sure.
I had a gelding in for training who used to so the same thing. There was nothing pysically wrong him, I think he was just saying "Thank God you're getting your ass off me!" LOL

The tail swishing usually indicates pain or anger, so that's kind of odd. Maybe run your fingers along the edge of her spine and she how sore she is - She will drop her back some, but if it's significant there will be some pain there.

Haha yeah, most of the time I think that's exactly what she's thinking. She's lucky she doesn't have a bigger rider! Lol!

I've tried doing that and either she's not sore in the least, or I'm not doing it right since she doesn't flinch at all (I've seen it done before when the horse did flinch and I've done it and had a horse flinch so I think I'm doing it right...). It's very confusing.

Interesting. Never heard of this before.


Also with the running down the fingers on the spine.. some horses flinch just because you may have pinched a nerve right along the spine, Chance will do this if I go right along the sides of her spine, and my vet mentioned that if anything I should be running my fingers down at least a inch away from teh spine on both sides.. does that make sense???? Once I did that she stopped flinching.

Tanner does a version of this when I hop down and I also do the lovey dovey thing so I think it is a combo of relief that he's done working (well more that the end of the ride is almost always followed by dinner time- he actually loves to work) and the scratching and love he's getting. My old horse Shanti did this too, bareback or saddled, definitely no pain. If you're like me, you're all full of the pink cloud of happiness when you're done with a ride, maybe she's picking up on that and sharing it with you? I know you two have a really special bond, if you're pretty sure it's not pain, I bet she's just joining in the love!

The pink cloud of happiness idea made me laugh so hard, you have no idea. Hahahaha But that could be it. Haha
Good to know she's not the only one that does it. Thanks for saying my girl and I have a special bond, that means a lot to me. She's truly one in a million.
She's so weird, sometimes I'm pretty sure she loves me and other times I feel like I'm just making her mad but I always have a feeling that she's gonna keep me safe, no matter how mad she gets. For instance, I'm the only one that's ridden her in the last year and a half or so that hasn't fallen off at some point (and she's behaved the worst for me). I hesitate to call her my heart horse but she just might be.