Horse reactions to human attitudes and behavior

Abstract

To assess the effects of human confidence levels on horse behavior, 40 veterinary students led the same mare around a fixed course. Multivariate analysis of human attitudes and behavior and horse behavior showed that a positive attitude towards horses related to infrequent ear movement in that horse (accounting for 46% of variance); positive attitude, together with low lead tension, related to a horse's forward ear position (47%); loose lead tension related to both a horse's low resistance (66%) and low head position (11%). Human attitudes towards at least one horse is shown to be associated with changes in human behavior, which leads to altered behavior in that horse.