Horses Are Amazing Detectives!

 

Our horses can “detect” things about us by clues that we send out without even knowing it.

Did you know that horses can read human facial expressions?  A new study shows they don’t only notice when you’re in a bad mood, they remember it later, even if you’ve done nothing to upset them. Horse behavior can be a mystery!

Be aware!

Evidence based on research conducted by the Universities of Sussex and Portsmouth suggests horses will respond differently to a person based on whether a previously seen photograph shows them with a smile or a frown.

“What we’ve found is that horses can not only read human facial expressions but they can also remember a person’s previous emotional state when they meet them later that day – and, crucially, that they adapt their behaviour accordingly,” says psychologist Karen McComb.

Studying Horse Behavior

 

To see if horses had a knack for responding to the emotions we wear on our face, the researchers tested them with photographs displaying angry and happy expressions.

They found that the subjects’ showed negative reactions and increased heart rate to the more aggressive looking images.

Surprisingly, they also showed a bias in how they looked at the images, turning their head to gaze at it with their left eye, possibly thanks to differences in how their brain’s hemispheres process threatening stimuli.

To follow up on this study, the team recently went back to the stable and used the same basic method to test if the response had a lasting impact on how 24 different horses in four locations across Sussex treated the people behind the smiles and snarls.

A few hours after seeing a photograph of an individual grinning or frowning, the horses got to meet the subject in the picture. Only this time the person wore a neutral expression.

It didn’t matter – the horses appeared to remember the person and their mood, using different sides of their head to look while displaying an elevated heart rate for those they recalled as looking rather grumpy.

And that’s not all!

Horses are incredibly intelligent animals that pick up on the smallest shifts in posture.

In the first decade of the 20th century, a horse named Hans drew worldwide attention in Berlin as the first and most famous “speaking” and thinking animal. Hans solved calculations by tapping numbers or letters with his hoof in order to answer questions. Later on, it turned out that the horse was able to give the correct answer by reading the microscopic signals in the face of the questioning person. This observation caused a revolution and as a consequence, experimenters avoided strictly any face-to-face contact in studies about cognitive abilities of animals—a fundamental lesson that is still not applied rigorously.

 

Your “Heart Horse”

Have you ever wondered…can your horse’s heart rhythms reflect its emotional state? Do horses respond to your emotional state?

 

The answer is yes, according to data collected in a pilot study conducted by
Alliant International University Professor Ellen S. Kaye Gehrke, PhD and the Institute of HeartMath.

“When in contact, a horse’s heart rate may mirror a human’s emotions, signifying a close unspoken form of communication between man and beast,” writes Gehrke. “The horse as emotion detector may be the key to eliminating invasive procedures such as those that measure cortisol, a stress hormone.”

According to Gehrke, horses have long been known to be sensitive to their environments. The preliminary research project “Horses and Humans Energetics: The Study of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Between Horses and Humans,” is the first step to proving horses to be as equally sensitive to the humans within that environment.

So what does all of this mean to us? I think, as “horse people” deep down, we’ve suspected all this on a certain level. But now, with scientific proof we can be certain that how we interact with our horses is perceived and interpreted by them, which affects our relationships. Human behavior…horse behavior…science is helping us solve the mysteries!

We can improve communication and strengthen our relationship with our horses using these 5 great tips from Animal Communicator Courtney French Moffatt on how you can get better communication with your horse.

#1. If anything is going to involve or affect your horse in any way, let them know what’s going on, why it’s happening and what behavior you expect them.

This can be as simple as a friend is coming to visit or it can be as complex as moving into a new place. It doesn’t matter how big or small, let them know what’s going on. You do not want any surprises.

#2. Always make sure that you are talking to them in a positive language. 

Horses, like people, see things as pictures in their minds. We see pictures in our mind all the time, but some people don’t even realize it. If you are talking to someone, listening to someone, or even reading a book, the information is playing out like a movie in your mind. That is why we can read a book and it’s just like watching a movie!

 

Because horses see the words we are saying as pictures in their minds, there are some words that do not have a clear picture. The word “not” is one of them. There is no clear picture for not. Therefore, there is no clear picture for the words don’t, can’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t, couldn’t. It’s very hard for us humans to not use those words. They are part of our language and it’s second nature for us to say them. We have to really think about what we’re saying before we say it!

#3. Believing what you are telling them.

Whatever you are telling them, you have to 100% believe it. If you have a shred of doubt in the back of your mind, they will definitely pick up on that.

 

This can be easier said than done. Especially if it’s the behavior that has gone on for a very long time, or, if there is any fear involved.  For example, if you got bucked off your horse and broke your leg, once you get back on your horse months later, you’re going to have that accident in the back of your mind. Your horses will pick up on that and may or may not react. However, it is very hard to act like everything will be 100% fine, when the last time you rode it wasn’t. So it is something that will help strengthen your message, but is not easy to do. Everyone struggles with this, even people who have practiced this for years!

#4. Giving horses a pep talk – this is as needed.

Pep talks can be given to help issues such as fear, anxiety or low confidence.

 

A pep talk should be given as often as possible. If they have severe behavior then I would recommend doing this several times a day. It’s also good if you can have other people give pep talks. I use the analogy of a 15 year old girl in high school who thinks that she is fat and ugly. Her mother tells her she’s beautiful, but she doesn’t listen to her mother because she’s “Mom”. However, if other people tell that girl how beautiful she is, then she just might believe them. So if possible, try to have other people talk to them as well.

#5. Giving a job to redirect undesired behavior – as needed.

Horses love when we assign them a job to help us out. They always want to feel useful. Get creative and give them a job to help their behavior. Even a minor job is a big deal and your horse would take that very seriously.

I recommend mixing up the pep talks and the jobs after a while so that they don’t become stale. You don’t want your horse to tune you out because they are tired of hearing you say the same things over and over again.

A word about the subconscious mind…

Our horses have a subconscious mind just like humans do. Your subconscious mind is what controls all of our involuntary bodily functions, such as breathing. It also acts similar to a Cloud Server because it stores all of our memories. It’s where our habits are formed and where our personalities are derived from.

The problem with the subconscious mind is it does not know what’s real and what’s fake. It doesn’t know what’s good and what’s bad. Anything that we experience, it thinks iis real and true. That is why whenever we watch a scary movie, we know it’s fake, but we still get scared!

The Power of Positive Thinking

Every single behavior problem for people or horses can be fixed, if you can change the wiring of your subconscious mind. You do this by thinking positive thoughts of what you want to have happen. You never think of anything negative or worst case scenario. It is just happy, positive thinking

This will not happen overnight, nor will it happen in a week. You have to think likr this consistantly, possibly for a couple months. Of course, it depends on how much change is neeeded. If it’s just a slight problem it might only take a few weeks, but if it’s a severe problem it could take many months. Everyone has a different timeline.

 

A great analogy about the subconscious mind is to think of your conscious mind as the gardener, and your subconscious mind as the garden. How your garden fairs all depends on how well the gardener takes care of it. Is the garden going to be full of weeds? Or will it be full of beautiful vegetables or flowers? It all depends on how it was taken care of!

Consistency is key! You can change whatever you want by changing your thinking. The power of positive thinking is real! You just have to commit to it and be consistent!

Relax, SMILE…Communicate!