Humans have been communicating with horses since we first domesticated them, around 5,500 years ago. But the conversation has been pretty one-way. We gave orders. They behaved as if they understood--or not.
Meanwhile horses have been watching us, reading our moods, and communicating in ways that we usually fail to understand. But science is finally catching on to that and taking a fresh look at the horse-end of this long relationship.
I See What You're Saying
Horses are highly visual animals. In groups, they establish a pecking order1, mainly by making threats. The longer the horses have known each other, the more subtle the threats become, until just a squinty-eyed look from a boss can get a lower-ranked animal to move away. So it makes sense that facial expressions would be important to them, but horse facial expressions went unstudied until very recently.
Research at the University of Sussex in England has identified 17 different facial expressions in horses. That's more than dogs or chimpanzees. Some horse expressions are similar to those of humans---for instance, both horses and humans raise the skin above their eyes when experiencing negative emotions.
Next, the Sussex researchers wondered whether horses recognize human facial expressions. They showed horses photos of people with angry or happy faces. Horses turned their heads to view the angry expressions with their left eyes. Dogs also tend to look at angry faces this way. The horses' heartbeats sped up while viewing angry faces. Smiling expressions didn't prompt either a head turn or a change in heart rate. Scientists were interested to learn that, though horses and people have very differently shaped faces and skulls, horses appeared to accurately read human emotions.
Horse people have always known that horses are good at reading our moods, but we've attributed that to some kind of sixth sense. Turns out they're using vision, one of the same five senses we do---sort of. Horses see very differently than we do. Their large eyes magnify objects so they seem up to 50 percent larger than they do to us. (To them, a bike might appear as big as a pony!) They're also highly attuned to motion. A little twitch of a frown on a human face may seem like a great big scary scowl to horses. They interpret it as a threat.
Can You Get Me That?
So we know horses communicate with each other through expressions and that they understand some human expressions. Could they ever communicate with us using these skills? Another new study indicates they can.
Researchers based at the School for Ethical Equitation in Italy created an experiment in which they placed a bucket of oats, carrots, or apples beyond the reach of a horse. A human stood passively nearby. Researchers observed horses looking at the bucket, then at the human, then back at the bucket. If the human did nothing in response, the horse would try other tricks to attract the human's gaze---nod its head, jerk its nose quickly toward the bucket, or change position so it could make eye contact. If the human walked away, some horses would go over and touch the person.
Up until now, scientists had only formally observed this type of purposeful interspecies communication in dogs. Which makes you wonder, as the title of Frans de Waal's bestselling book asks, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? Horses might have an opinion about that!
Flashcards for Horses
Horses can use more than body language to tell us things. A 2016 Norwegian study showed that horses can use abstract symbols to communicate. Basically, they can read.
Putting blankets on horses in winter is common, but controversial. Opinions differ on whether they actually need or prefer it. So the Norwegian scientists decided to ask.
Horses were trained to distinguish among simple shapes presented on boards. A vertical bar meant "Take my blanket off." A horizontal bar meant "Put my blanket on." And a blank board meant "No change." The horses were systematically trained, using positive reinforcement (treats), to touch the appropriate board. All 23 horses in the study learned the symbols within 14 days, in sessions lasting 10 or 15 minutes.
Next, the horses were given a challenge---a heavy blanket on a warm day or no blanket on a cold day. When presented with the three symbols, all horses chose appropriately, asking to have a blanket taken off on a warm day, or put on when it was cold and rainy. On another rainy, moderately cool day, 10 out of 12 horses asked for a blanket. Two signaled, "I'm good!"
It's About Time!
Horses have been watching us more closely than we imagined, for thousands of years. They've been trying to tell us stuff, which we've mostly ignored. Now, finally, we're starting to create ways for them to speak in more detail, ways that we're capable of hearing. What else might they have to say?
Probably "What took you guys so long?"
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Explain what new research reveals about horses' ability to communicate?