Emotions in horses and humans

There is plenty of research to show that horses not only show emotion but are sensitive to emotions in humans. Are horses also sensitive to emotion and pain in other species? And does this influence the horse’s behaviour?

In this blog I will be focusing on empathy, sympathy, fear and disgust. Some writers contrast the terms sympathy and empathy whilst others use the terms interchangeably. I tend to get confused with these two terms. These definitions may help.

Empathy: Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. Being close to experiencing another’s feelings, perceptions and thoughts. Empathy does not necessarily mean that you help a person in distress.

Sympathy: Feeling concern or compassion for another which may lead to trying to help. Sharing and responding to the concerns and feelings of others.

Some people have ways of describing and explaining animal behaviour that just make joyful sense. In his book ‘Are we smart enough to know how smart animals are?’ Frans de Waal challenges our notions of the difference between us and non-human animals. He argues that in order to take an animal’s perspective we need to enter their Umwelt – that is, we need to try to see the world the way that a specific animal sees it. We can try.

Horses are prey animals; they have large ears, nostrils that inflate and eyes on the side of their heads. They also have extremely powerful legs ready to be galvanised for flight. These evolutionary moulded characteristics aid a horse’s survival. Inevitably, a horse’s or pony’s response to the environment is very different to ours. See my ‘straight from the horses mind’ blog for a discussion of spooking at new aspects of the environment. It makes good evolutionary sense for horses to be wary of anything unfamiliar in their environment as it may be an indicator of a predator close by.

Fear and Spooking

Here’s an interesting example of Tally and Freddie responding to an unfamiliar visitor in their environment – Jumble the teddy. I bought Jumble at a village jumble sale. He will be ideal for desensitising Freddie to having someone on his back before a child is put in the saddle. But first Freddie needs to get used to jumble.

1. Freddie getting ready for flight 4. Freddie getting closer to Jumble

2. Still wary 5. Getting braver

3. Approaching warily 6. Getting really acquainted

 You can see from Freddie’s posture when he first meets Jumble the Teddy that he is ready for flight. Those front legs are ready to push off and take him further away at the first signs of threat. However, Freddie is a confident little pony and is soon approaching and engaging with Jumble. But note the angle from which I am taking the photos – Freddie was more willing to approach when I was standing close to Jumble. 

Tally was introduced to Jumble after he had seen Freddie interacting with the Teddy.

Tally meets Jumble

Tally gets acquainted

You can see that Tally is wary (ears pricked far forward) but his body is not quite as ‘ready for flight’ as Freddie’s at first introduction. Is this because Tally has watched Freddie and been reassured that there is nothing to be scared of?

Do horses experience disgust?

As I ride Tally across fields and through woods I often think about his response to his environment. Sometimes he spooks at, what to my eyes is, nothing. But a horse’s sense of the world is so different to ours – his spook might be entirely the most adaptive behaviour. I have belatedly spotted road kill at the side of the road where Tally has been spooky (e.g dead badger). An aversive fear response to blood and dead flesh makes lots of sense for a horse (would we call it disgust?). Human’s disgust response is also to move away from bad smells, accompanied by a facial expression that scrunches up our eyes, firmly closes our mouth and effectively makes our nasal passages as tight as possible. This facial expression is adaptive and communicative – keeps noxious substances from entering our body whilst at the same time letting others know that there is something aversive. Now here is a story that contradicts my musings on disgust and aversion. It’s hard to be smart enough to understand animals!

A Story: Freddie and the Pigeon

A few days ago I heard a loud bump in the smallholding carpark. As I walked in the direction of the noise I saw a pigeon struggling on the ground with another similar sized bird on top of it. Not mating birds, unfortunately. A small bird of prey had taken the pigeon on the wing and was proceeding to eat/peck it to death. The bird of prey flew off as I walked towards the carpark. The pigeon was not moving so I walked away leaving the bird to return to its prey.

Sympathy or Empathy Across Species?

Soon afterwards my son arrived for a visit with my 8 year old grandson. I quickly checked the carpark and the pigeon had disappeared. My grandson got out of the car and pointed, excitedly, “Oh look there’s a pigeon in the field!” The poor pigeon had been carried by the bird of prey into the horses’ field and was struggling upside down. To make matters worse, Freddie, the Shetland pony, had decided to investigate. The very badly injured pigeon was struggling and writhing – Freddie went slowly towards it and gently nudged it. I was making my way to the entrance to the field so that I could pick up the pigeon when I hear my grandson shouting “He’s licking it!” Horses are usually frightened by the smell blood and dead animals. Who knows what was going on in Freddie’s head? But he is one of the sweetest, gentlest little ponies I have ever come across so I like to think that he cared about that poor pigeon.

This episode with Freddie put in mind of the gorilla, Binti Jua, who saved the 3 year old boy who had fallen into her enclosure. 

Human Sympathy or Empathy for others?

Now to the human reaction to the pigeon’s pain. I picked up the pigeon and carried it out of the field. It was very badly injured with one wing hanging off. It was close to death but obviously still in pain. There was only one decision – I had to put it out of its misery. But there was resistance. My grandson shrieked “You can’t kill the pigeon!” His father and I carefully explained why it would be better to kill. And it needed to be done swiftly as the pigeon was in agony. Eventually my grandson agreed and we told him that he didn’t need to watch. No, he wanted to watch. Then my grandson (helped by dad) carefully dug a grave for the pigeon which he buried with a wildflower. Then we put the obligatory large stone container on top of the grave – to make sure a fox didn’t dig it up!

Questions: Do humans need to be taught empathy (understanding that another creature is feeling pain)? Do animals instinctively feel another creature’s pain? Is this sympathy or empathy? Was I overestimating Freddie’s empathetic (or sympathetic) actions?