Researchers have found that horses have different facial expressions when they feel frustrated or frustrated.

Straight out of a horse’s mouth: Researchers have found that horses have different facial expressions when they feel frustrated or upset about not being given food.

  • Researchers at Lincoln University challenged 30 horses to reward food.
  • They found that horses have different expressions of frustration and frustration.

According to the study, horses have different facial expressions to indicate disappointment and disappointment.

Researchers at Lincoln University challenged 30 horses to reward them with food that either disappointed or upset them.

Frustrated horses tend to blink a lot, raise their nostrils, stick out their tongue, and chew.

When they were upset, they showed more of the whites of their eyes and turned their ears back.

Dr Claire Ricci-Bonot, lead author of the study, said horses tend to be herd animals living in complex social systems.

According to the study, horses have different facial expressions to indicate disappointment and disappointment.

According to the study, horses have different facial expressions to indicate disappointment and disappointment.

She added: “They can communicate with other horses through subtle visual cues like ear position.”

“These cues will play an important role in the group, especially during social interactions.”

The team hopes their research will enable riders to better care for their animals’ mental health by understanding their emotions.

Dr. Ricci-Bonot added: “The physical health of a horse is easier to assess. However, for mental health, this is more difficult to do.

“Better recognition and understanding of horses’ emotions through their facial expressions can lead to better management of these animals, that is, to try to eliminate situations that can cause negative emotions in horses.”

“From the riders’ point of view, the ability to interpret horses’ facial expressions would avoid situations that could compromise the safety of the rider, such as understanding that the horse is afraid of something.”

The researchers trained 30 intact and neutered male and female horses to perform a task in which they expected a food reward.

Attached to the outside of their stable was a feeder, covered by a clear perspex panel.

Dr. Claire Ricci-Bonot, lead author of the study, said horses

Dr Claire Ricci-Bonot, lead author of the study, said horses tend to be herd animals living in complex social systems.

The researcher poured food into the feeder under the supervision of the horse, and ten seconds later the transparent panel was pulled back to allow the horse to access the food.

This was repeated so that the horse learned to expect food after a ten second wait.

Next, to testing. For some of them, the transparent panel stayed in place after ten seconds, so the horse could see the food but couldn’t access it, which was frustrating.

In other trials, the transparent panel was removed, but the opaque panel remained, so it looked like there was no food at all, which was disappointing.

The horses were filmed so the researchers could analyze their facial expressions and behavior.

The results were published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science.