Human-Horse Relationship Research
A review of the human–horse relationship
By Martine Hausberger, Helene Roche, Severine Henry & E. Kathalijne Visser
"Human–horse relationship has a long and varied history. While meat may have been the first motivation in the very early stages for domestication, horses became progressively important ‘‘tools’’ for transportation and, like other domestic animals, they are currently more and more used as companion animals. Contrarily to many other domestic ungulates, which are mostly kept for breeding, meat production, milk production or wool production, horses ‘‘rapidly’’ acquired a mixed status: source of food for some, for leisure and sport for others, or, less frequently, an agricultural working companion in rural areas."
"Hinde (1979) defined a ‘‘relationship’’ as the emerging bond from a series of interactions: partners have, on the basis of the past experiences, expectations on the other individual’s responses."
"Positioning, i.e. the relative angle and distance from one organism to another organism, has been suggested to be important in cattle but up to now, no scientific publication is available on horses. It is highly probable however that an inappropriate position (e.g. approaching closely from behind) may be responsible for some of the accidents recorded."
"Emotional cues may be carried by humans through different channels: voice (prosody), posture, expression and pheromones."
"However, reactions of horses to interactions with humans are mostly the result of this interplay between their own temperament, the temperament and skills of the human and the experience acquired with humans. Since so little is known scientifically on the best ways to approach the horses, and because of these individual behavioural differences in horses, no recipe-based method can be given by scientists to improve the way horse-people should interact with these animals. However, there is enough present knowledge on horse behaviour and observation methods to help training professionals and non professionals in terms of observational skills and attention, which are, as mentioned earlier, key elements, at least to prevent accidents. The best we can do at present is certainly train people to ethological observational methods, attract their attention to the horse’s body postures and attitudes and prevent anthropomorphic interpretations of behaviour. If attention is given and maintained on the horses’ signals, based on a better knowledge of behaviour, then the horses’ responses to the human approach can best teach to people what is the proper way and how to adapt to different horses."
"The rider not only needs to be in control of his own body and mind but equally prepared to deal with the different facets of the horse’s character. The ability to remain calm and focused, yet alert and positive at all times throughout riding in order to communicate effectively with his/her horse becomes one of the fundamental skills any rider must master. Horse back riding is one of the most dangerous recreational sports.'
"Approximately one quarter of all horse-related accidents was due to the horse being frightened and miscommunication between horse and rider."
"Developing awareness and attention to behavioural cues given by horses would certainly help decreasing accidents."
Perceiving emotions in human–human and human–animal interactions: Hemodynamic prefrontal activity (fNIRS) and empathic concern
By Maria Elide Vanutellia & Michela Balconi
"The human capacity to perceive and understand others’ emotions and intentions is a core mechanism in creating meaningful social bonds. Accordingly, contributions from different disciplines tried to explain how we develop representations and feelings with respect to others’ minds and behaviors. Also, social neuroscience research attempted to identify the neural networks involved in this ability, focusing the attention on the construct of empathy, the state where people feel and represent the same emotion they are observing or imagining in another person."
Equines And Their Human Companions
By Martine Hausberger, Helene Roche, Severine Henry & E. Kathalijne Visser
"Human–horse relationship has a long and varied history. While meat may have been the first motivation in the very early stages for domestication, horses became progressively important ‘‘tools’’ for transportation and, like other domestic animals, they are currently more and more used as companion animals. Contrarily to many other domestic ungulates, which are mostly kept for breeding, meat production, milk production or wool production, horses ‘‘rapidly’’ acquired a mixed status: source of food for some, for leisure and sport for others, or, less frequently, an agricultural working companion in rural areas."
"Hinde (1979) defined a ‘‘relationship’’ as the emerging bond from a series of interactions: partners have, on the basis of the past experiences, expectations on the other individual’s responses."
"Positioning, i.e. the relative angle and distance from one organism to another organism, has been suggested to be important in cattle but up to now, no scientific publication is available on horses. It is highly probable however that an inappropriate position (e.g. approaching closely from behind) may be responsible for some of the accidents recorded."
"Emotional cues may be carried by humans through different channels: voice (prosody), posture, expression and pheromones."
"However, reactions of horses to interactions with humans are mostly the result of this interplay between their own temperament, the temperament and skills of the human and the experience acquired with humans. Since so little is known scientifically on the best ways to approach the horses, and because of these individual behavioural differences in horses, no recipe-based method can be given by scientists to improve the way horse-people should interact with these animals. However, there is enough present knowledge on horse behaviour and observation methods to help training professionals and non professionals in terms of observational skills and attention, which are, as mentioned earlier, key elements, at least to prevent accidents. The best we can do at present is certainly train people to ethological observational methods, attract their attention to the horse’s body postures and attitudes and prevent anthropomorphic interpretations of behaviour. If attention is given and maintained on the horses’ signals, based on a better knowledge of behaviour, then the horses’ responses to the human approach can best teach to people what is the proper way and how to adapt to different horses."
"The rider not only needs to be in control of his own body and mind but equally prepared to deal with the different facets of the horse’s character. The ability to remain calm and focused, yet alert and positive at all times throughout riding in order to communicate effectively with his/her horse becomes one of the fundamental skills any rider must master. Horse back riding is one of the most dangerous recreational sports.'
"Approximately one quarter of all horse-related accidents was due to the horse being frightened and miscommunication between horse and rider."
"Developing awareness and attention to behavioural cues given by horses would certainly help decreasing accidents."
Perceiving emotions in human–human and human–animal interactions: Hemodynamic prefrontal activity (fNIRS) and empathic concern
By Maria Elide Vanutellia & Michela Balconi
"The human capacity to perceive and understand others’ emotions and intentions is a core mechanism in creating meaningful social bonds. Accordingly, contributions from different disciplines tried to explain how we develop representations and feelings with respect to others’ minds and behaviors. Also, social neuroscience research attempted to identify the neural networks involved in this ability, focusing the attention on the construct of empathy, the state where people feel and represent the same emotion they are observing or imagining in another person."
Equines And Their Human Companions
By Susan M. Keaveney
"Anthropomorphism, the tendency to project human characteristics onto animals, is more common among predators because each instinctively recognizes the meaning of the other's facial expressions, body postures, and even playful games. Horses may also recognize such similarities, but react with fear when staring, sudden movement, or loud low voices remind them of their natural predators. Thus, horses share few similarities with humans on which to hang human characteristics."
"Horses think differently from humans. Safe consumption of horse-related experiences requires that consumers learn very quickly to “think like a horse” by detecting and interpreting novel sensory stimuli that might trigger an injury-causing spook (the horse's quick and sometimes violent reaction to a scare). In contrast to human, feline, and canine predators, horses are prey. Every fiber of a horse's being is tuned to flee at the first sign of danger. Like most prey animals, horses have a highly developed set of physical characteristics that help them survive. For example, horses' eyes are set on the sides of their heads, in contrast to predators, whose eyes are in the front. This means that horses have a near 360- degree field of view, which explains why they will spook at objects behind them that a human cannot see. A horse's natural gaze fixes on distant objects (hence they will spook at objects in the far distance that a human would not normally attend to); they have exceedingly high sensitivity to visual contrasts (areas of darkness can look like holes or pits, hence spooking at creeks or puddles); and they have rather variable depth perception (so a distant object can suddenly appear to be close, hence spooking at “nothing”). Beyond vision, a horse's hearing and sense of smell are acute. As a result, though horses and humans physically spend time together, they never perceive the world in the same way."
"Consciousness of imminent danger when around horses, combined with recognition that the horse thinks, perceives, and socializes differently, means that consumers of horse experiences are motivated and sustained by needs very different from the drive for a household-animal companion."
"The questionnaire asked most questions from the point of view of both the human and the horse; though, of course, only the human can answer, this technique reinforced the two-way relationship between human and horse and stimulated deeper thinking on an issue by changing perspective from the human to the horse."
"Perhaps the closest similarities between human–horse relationships and consumers' relationships with their pets is the theme of friendship or of companionship and caring. Most informants report strong feelings of friendship toward their horses and speculate that their horses consider their humans to be friends, protectors, and caretakers. Similar to their relationships with household- animal companions, humans report mutually evolving relation- ships with their horses that involve deeper levels of commu- nication and understanding over time. People enjoy the satisfaction of communicating with another species and prize the feeling of connection to wildlife and nature. Similarly, in terms of companionship, informants talk about the enjoyment they receive by just “hanging out” with their horses: “We seem to enjoy each other's company. Just a neat feeling.”"
"The first key theme underlying the human–horse relation- ship is that riding a horse adds a level of physicality, intimacy, and intensity unique from anything experienced with house- hold-animal companions: “Riding makes the relationship that much more intense. I feel every move he makes and am so much aware if he is in pain or [has] misunderstood my cues.” With training of both horse and rider, the horse translates minute movements in different parts of the rider's body into cues (or “aids”), which may be as general as direction and speed or as specific as which limb to move and how. Similarly, the rider interprets subtle movements in the horse's body as complex information about whether or not the aid was understood and executed."
"Mutual trust and respect are two core values embodied in the partnership between humans and their horses. Riders trust their horses with their lives: “My horse relationship is entirely more intimate [than with my household pets] in that my life is literally in his control to a degree.” In return, the horse owners recognize that trust is a two-way street. Owners speculate that the horse trusts the owner to guide them both safely on a ride and to feed and care for him; the human trusts the horse to obey commands and be “sensible”: “R– and I are a team. I rely on her judgment and skills. She relies on my guidance and care. There have been countless times in which I’d have been “toast” if she had [over- reacted]. Frankly I’ve trusted her with my life.” Of course, horse owners also trust the horse to “act like a horse.” This means, for example, that a horse who spooks, bolts, or shies in honest response to a sudden and frightening stimulus has not broken trust but is behaving as expected within the human–horse mutual trust paradigm."
"Anthropomorphism, the tendency to project human characteristics onto animals, is more common among predators because each instinctively recognizes the meaning of the other's facial expressions, body postures, and even playful games. Horses may also recognize such similarities, but react with fear when staring, sudden movement, or loud low voices remind them of their natural predators. Thus, horses share few similarities with humans on which to hang human characteristics."
"Horses think differently from humans. Safe consumption of horse-related experiences requires that consumers learn very quickly to “think like a horse” by detecting and interpreting novel sensory stimuli that might trigger an injury-causing spook (the horse's quick and sometimes violent reaction to a scare). In contrast to human, feline, and canine predators, horses are prey. Every fiber of a horse's being is tuned to flee at the first sign of danger. Like most prey animals, horses have a highly developed set of physical characteristics that help them survive. For example, horses' eyes are set on the sides of their heads, in contrast to predators, whose eyes are in the front. This means that horses have a near 360- degree field of view, which explains why they will spook at objects behind them that a human cannot see. A horse's natural gaze fixes on distant objects (hence they will spook at objects in the far distance that a human would not normally attend to); they have exceedingly high sensitivity to visual contrasts (areas of darkness can look like holes or pits, hence spooking at creeks or puddles); and they have rather variable depth perception (so a distant object can suddenly appear to be close, hence spooking at “nothing”). Beyond vision, a horse's hearing and sense of smell are acute. As a result, though horses and humans physically spend time together, they never perceive the world in the same way."
"Consciousness of imminent danger when around horses, combined with recognition that the horse thinks, perceives, and socializes differently, means that consumers of horse experiences are motivated and sustained by needs very different from the drive for a household-animal companion."
"The questionnaire asked most questions from the point of view of both the human and the horse; though, of course, only the human can answer, this technique reinforced the two-way relationship between human and horse and stimulated deeper thinking on an issue by changing perspective from the human to the horse."
"Perhaps the closest similarities between human–horse relationships and consumers' relationships with their pets is the theme of friendship or of companionship and caring. Most informants report strong feelings of friendship toward their horses and speculate that their horses consider their humans to be friends, protectors, and caretakers. Similar to their relationships with household- animal companions, humans report mutually evolving relation- ships with their horses that involve deeper levels of commu- nication and understanding over time. People enjoy the satisfaction of communicating with another species and prize the feeling of connection to wildlife and nature. Similarly, in terms of companionship, informants talk about the enjoyment they receive by just “hanging out” with their horses: “We seem to enjoy each other's company. Just a neat feeling.”"
"The first key theme underlying the human–horse relation- ship is that riding a horse adds a level of physicality, intimacy, and intensity unique from anything experienced with house- hold-animal companions: “Riding makes the relationship that much more intense. I feel every move he makes and am so much aware if he is in pain or [has] misunderstood my cues.” With training of both horse and rider, the horse translates minute movements in different parts of the rider's body into cues (or “aids”), which may be as general as direction and speed or as specific as which limb to move and how. Similarly, the rider interprets subtle movements in the horse's body as complex information about whether or not the aid was understood and executed."
"Mutual trust and respect are two core values embodied in the partnership between humans and their horses. Riders trust their horses with their lives: “My horse relationship is entirely more intimate [than with my household pets] in that my life is literally in his control to a degree.” In return, the horse owners recognize that trust is a two-way street. Owners speculate that the horse trusts the owner to guide them both safely on a ride and to feed and care for him; the human trusts the horse to obey commands and be “sensible”: “R– and I are a team. I rely on her judgment and skills. She relies on my guidance and care. There have been countless times in which I’d have been “toast” if she had [over- reacted]. Frankly I’ve trusted her with my life.” Of course, horse owners also trust the horse to “act like a horse.” This means, for example, that a horse who spooks, bolts, or shies in honest response to a sudden and frightening stimulus has not broken trust but is behaving as expected within the human–horse mutual trust paradigm."