They've only explored one variable, which is a measured heart rate, and a definition of "nervous" and "calm" in the human and horse. This is so inconclusive, it's hardly to be mentioned. They don't take into consideration a horse's previous experience in a round pen, or what sort of people have worked with the horse previously. I find a lot of people who are nervous around horses tend to project their energy no farther than about a foot from their physical body. A horse can only stare at that and wonder if it means anything to them. When they realize it doesn't, they tend to ignore the person, which could result in a lowered heart rate. A calm person can project energy much farther from their bodies because they have more confidence. Horses can pick up on that and wonder when the person is going to DO something! They are more likely to worry about that than if the person were creating some kind of energy they knew had nothing to do with them. Worry can send the heart rate up. I've seen many a nervous horse calm down in the presence of a calm human, and I've seen many a calm horse get nervous around a nervous human. So, I think the study is highly flawed and doesn't go deep enough with enough variables to prove the theory one way or another.
"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for." - Socrates
Re: opinion on this article Study: Horses More Relaxed Around Nervous Humans
all good points, Gail. These studies appear awfully simplistic to me, like something an 8th grader might do .. yet I am glad they are being done, because a science in its infancy grows by scientists DIS-proving the studies that came before! If no formalized studies came before there'd be nothing to DIS-prove lol.
Re: opinion on this article Study: Horses More Relaxed Around Nervous Humans
I think it is interesting they only used drafts. My experience with the drafts we've had is that they are usaully more easy going and mellow to start with.
Santa Rosa, CA
Your horse prefers you to be twitchy. I am helping the most.
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. -Albert Einstein Situs: El Granada, San Mateo County, CA - 5 miles north of Half Moon Bay
Its because animals want to be our friends and naturally want to help us. I know my horse is more calm and gentle when someone is really scared. I always tell them, see --she knows your afraid, so she's gonna go extra slow and be extra gentle. Yes, horses are smart, sentimental creatures and they want us to love them. They also want us to let them out of their stalls to live with other horses and create the balance between riding time and being out in the outdoors. They want and need access to other horses. I'm able to ride my horse with no saddle or bridle and she completely listens to everything I ask her to do, with no fear that I'm ever gonna get hurt, but it wasn't like that until I let her go out and live in pasture during the day. I can see how happy she is. I was always terrified of her getting hurt, but I have to risk it so she can feel freedom. Just my opinion!
I love horses, but I really, really, really love MY horse. <img src="http://a965.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/65/m_8b2b9d0734e571cbcc3610e43a55fedc.jpg">
Re: opinion on this article Study: Horses More Relaxed Around Nervous Humans
Well I'm no genius, but I have noticed that a person nervous around a horse will usually take no action towards a horse, in fact, will retreat or get very very still. This can cause a horse to get very curious, as there is no threat, and in fact, get very confident. I would think his heart rate would lower. A long time ago a fellow told me, sometimes it is better to: "Don't just do something, stand there!"
My first thoughts were about how sometimes children or even drunk folks sometimes seem to "get away" with what some of us would not .. when a horse takes care of a weak / impaired human, when the same horse might act up or challenge a more experienced rider. My mare Sony did that .. it was fascinating to me.
I have followed the equine science thing and it is in it's infancy. Yup, I'm envious that I am not in the field, doing what appears to physicists as "science lite" and setting up "little" studies to prove this or that. Must be a nice job if you can get it!
Bit of sarcasm, skepticism and a dash of envy aside .. I am awfully glad that animal psychology studies, in particular equine ones, are being done at all!!!
These type of studies are a start .. imperfect studies as the science goes, but important in setting the base for what hopefully will grow from here.
As much as humans think we know about horses, from a scientific point of view we know next to nothing in a formalized scientific format. We think we know, but we recall anecdotes, not "data." We think Xenophon or another ODG (Old Dead God) said it all about horses, but we barely have a notion of the *art* of riding; real science is pretty scarce. Hence, the "fights" about techniques, etc -- IMO, if we compared horses with music, it's like learning to sing /play by ear alone and by imitation, without the benefit of written scores, formalized music theory sharing, or even a consensus about notation.
For what is worth, we also know appallingly little about many aspects of human psychology .. but there also, making good progress lately in the last decade.
Some of the psychology research is helped by technology and gadgets and the amazing progress in the lab, think DNA and such, and of course by the availability of computer/ statistical stuff -- but creating good statistical data is not trivial.
So to make a long story short, I look at this particular study as a TINY step in a good direction -- trying to formalize and prove/disprove/change a particular hunch or hypothesis about the horse-human interaction.
I cannot analyze this study on the base of the short report in The Horse, I'd have to read the original study then chat about it with the authors or others. I'd need a specialist to explain to me some of the basics (define "nervous") etc etc. The statistics of such a small sample are awfully dicey, it might qualify as a "pre-study" and help scientists and psych students set up better studies to follow up (if there is money for such endeavors.) Nothing wrong with that, this is how science works .. a "small" study can show that a "bigger" study is relevant and not a waste of anyone's resources.
But as a scientist, let's just say that the generalized headline does not science make .. no one can draw a definitive conclusion from one teensy study .. but it's a good start! Glad The Horse wrote about it and that the study was done!
from Equine Facilitated Mental Health studies as a better basis for any attempt at generalization. The form that 'nervous' takes, as well as the cause, is the major variable. Since neither of those are consistent, a blanket statement is not very reliable.
Support lawn order. Grow neat grass. Sunnyvale, CA
I am helping the most.
