Ponies Can "Read" Faces - Study Proves It

Created: 09/20/2022, 2:30 p.m

By: Lara-Sabrina Kiehl

A new study shows that ponies can recognize the mood written directly on a person's face.

In interpersonal communication, not only words play an important role.

It is usually facial expressions and gestures that reveal a lot about our emotional world.

The ability to recognize and interpret facial expressions is not only possible for humans, but also for some animals.

Studies have already shown that horses can recognize human moods from photos.

But can you also do this with people who stand in front of you?

A new study has the answer: ponies can "read" faces.

Ponies Can "Read" Faces - Study Proves It

Ponies can tell how people feel by looking at their faces.

(Iconic image) © Westend 61/Imago

To gain this insight, Canadian researchers from the University of Guelph involved 20 ponies aged between six and 25 in their study.

They showed the four-legged friends different facial expressions from two actors.

The actors should express anger, joy and sadness with their face and show a neutral look.

The women were similar in appearance, weight and height, and both had long brown wavy hair.

They didn't know the ponies.

Canadian researchers have also found that whinnying doesn't always mean fear.

Ponies can "read" faces - the experiment

First, the ponies were clicker trained to draw their attention.

It also allowed them to get used to their new surroundings.

For the experiment, both actresses showed the four facial expressions to each pony.

For this, the 20 animals were released individually and one after the other in the run.

Sitting about a meter behind the fence, the actress used the clicker and showed one of the facial expressions for 60 seconds.

After that, the other expressions followed for the same time.

This procedure was repeated for all ponies.

The next day, this process was repeated with the second actress.

You can find out how to determine the age of your horse here.

The researchers focused on the behavior of the ponies, their heart rate, how long they gazed with their right or left eye, and the delay in their approach to each actress.

The result: All ponies looked with angry facial expressions first, more often and longer with their left eye.

In contrast, the animals looked with the right eye first at the expression of happiness.

Another study shows that horses help people process bad experiences.

Ponies can "read" faces - the result

The different expressions did not cause any stress in the ponies - their heart rate remained unchanged.

However, there was a difference between school and private horses: school ponies that have contact with many different people had a lower heart rate and a lower head posture.

They turned their ears more to the actresses.

The researchers find it interesting that the animals preferred an actress.

Namely those with horse experience, where the ponies showed shorter gaze and approach times.

"Previous research has shown that horses approached people with horse experience more quickly than non-horse people," the scientists explain.

The conclusion of the study: ponies can “read” faces.

But there are other human factors that contribute to reactions in horses.

Further research would have to clarify which factors are most relevant.