Equine Perception: How do they see us?

As horse enthusiasts, we all want our equine companions to thrive and be able to effectively work with us as teammates. Have you ever ridden a horse that was so sensitive that all you needed to do to elicit a transition was to think about asking for it and they would immediately act? Sensitive horses can pickup on the smallest cues and changes in our body that we might not even be aware that we do. An interesting 2016 study conducted in Sussex and Surrey, UK by Smith et al demonstrated that horses were able to perceive emotions in human facial expression by viewing a photo. The horses were able to perceive both happy and angry human facial expression from these photos. As a result, the horse had a bias for which eye they used to gaze and also had a spike in heart rate. The study surmises that horses had an evolutionary need to be able to read the emotions of their herdmates. Through time as horses co-evolved with humans, they were somehow able to shift this application to evaluating the expressions of humans.

As humans, we like to think that we are perceptive and are able to pick up on cues easily from other species. But how many cues do we miss from our horses? If we aren't paying close attention, probably many. Maybe this is because we are predators and don't have the same security concerns as horses do. Maybe it's the world that we find ourselves in where we are fairly disconnected from the world at large. Either way, it's something interesting to ponder. Our horses do their best to be present with us and they deserve the same in return. My promise to you and your horse is that I will always try my best to be present with them and to be attuned to their unique needs. We all just want to be better understood, right?

warmest wishes,

Gloria

Resources:

Smith, A.V.; Proops, L.; Grounds, K.; Wathan, J.; McComb, K. Functionally relevant responses to human facial expressions of emotion in the domestic horse (Equus caballus). Biol. Lett. 2016, 12, 20150907. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0907

Proops, L.; Grounds, K.; Smith, A.V.; McComb, K. Animals Remember Previous Facial Expressions that Specific Humans Have Exhibited. Curr. Biol. 2018, 28, 1428–1432. https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)30364-6?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982218303646%3Fshowall%3Dtrue