Frightening Stimuli: Does Distance or Direction Matter?

It doesn’t matter where a scary object comes from–if it’s going to scare the horse, it’s going to scare the horse.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

You’re trail riding your horse through the forest, and a tree falls. Knowing your horse, will he react differently if the tree falls behind you, in front of you, or to your left or right? Does the fallen tree’s distance away from your horse matter?

Belgian scientists recently looked into the effects of direction and distance on horses’ fear reactions, and they’ve determined that, overall, it doesn’t really matter where the fright comes from or how far away it is. Essentially, if it’s going to scare the horse, it’s going to scare the horse, said Marc Pierard, PhD candidate, researcher at KU Leuven University, in Belgium. Pierard presented the results of his team’s study at the 2014 International Society for Equitation Science conference, held in Bredsten, Denmark.

“This could mean that direction and distance of a startling event are not crucial to the reaction of a trained horse,” Pierard said.

In their study, Pierard and his supervisor Rony Geers, PhD, also of KU Leuven, investigated the behavioral fear reactions of 43 Warmblood horses used by the Belgian mounted police. Carrying out their initial study on fear reactions in police horses provides a standard reference for the test and allows the researchers to validate their tests’ accuracy, Pierard said

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Passionate about horses and science from the time she was riding her first Shetland Pony in Texas, Christa Lesté-Lasserre writes about scientific research that contributes to a better understanding of all equids. After undergrad studies in science, journalism, and literature, she received a master’s degree in creative writing. Now based in France, she aims to present the most fascinating aspect of equine science: the story it creates. Follow Lesté-Lasserre on Twitter @christalestelas.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
282 votes · 282 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!