Study: How Horses Use Their Eyes and Ears to Communicate

Researchers recently took a closer look at how horses use their faces and ears to communicate with herdmates.
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Most owners quickly learn that horses communicate through body language: the warning lift of a hoof or chomp of the teeth that says, “I don’t like that,” for instance. And now, a study from the United Kingdom is offering insight into how horses also use their faces to communicate with herdmates.

Jennifer Wathan, a PhD student, and Karen McComb, BCs, PhD, a professor of animal behavior and cognition at the University of Sussex, in England, designed a study in which horses viewed life-sized photos of two different “model” horses. The model horses were pictured with their heads turned toward food with either their eyes covered, their ears covered, or nothing covered. Researchers then studied which facial features appeared to direct the study horses’ food choices.

The team found that study horses chose the bucket that the models with uncovered faces were looking at 75% of the time. The researchers said that when the model horses’ eyes or ears were covered, the study horses’ bucket choices were random.

Wathan said that because of the side placement of the equine eye, her team was surprised to find that gaze was important. More surprising was that horses were using their ears to communicate, she said

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Sarah Evers Conrad has a bachelor’s of arts in journalism and equine science from Western Kentucky University. As a lifelong horse lover and equestrian, Conrad started her career at The Horse: Your Guide to Equine Health Care magazine. She has also worked for the United States Equestrian Federation as the managing editor of Equestrian magazine and director of e-communications and served as content manager/travel writer for a Caribbean travel agency. When she isn’t freelancing, Conrad spends her free time enjoying her family, reading, practicing photography, traveling, crocheting, and being around animals in her Lexington, Kentucky, home.

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