New research shows that horses can be just as meaningful objects of affection for humans as other pets or close human beings. The way people get attached to their horse can now also be reliably assessed through a survey.
A new study shows that horses can differentiate between expressions of joy and sadness displayed by humans through facial movements or voice tones. Horses were more attracted by the facial expressions of joy than sadness and seemed more excited by the joyful voices.
Would you like to help advance scientific research on horse behaviour? If you are 18 years old or older and own at least one horse, you can help to better understand the human-horse relationship by filling in a simple and fun online survey!
A new study shows that horses living in big enclosures and in groups of at least three horses are better at following directional indications from humans than horses kept in individual paddocks. The results also indicate that familiarity to the human providing the indications does not matter for the horses.
A new study shows that horses can be more reluctant in new situations if they have multiple riders, have had several owners or the horse has been with its current owner only for a short period of time. The results of the international research group that studied the interaction between horses and humans also indicate that it takes time to build a good interactive relationship with a horse.