The Way to a Man's Heart Is through His Stomach: What about Horses?

Carol Sankey,Martine Hausberger,Aleksandra Górecka-Bruzda,Marie-Annick Richard-Yris,Séverine Henry,Georges Chapouthier

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015446

Carol Sankey, Martine Hausberger + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0015446

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Abstract

BackgroundHow do we bond to one another? While in some species, like humans, physical contact plays a role in the process of attachment, it has been suggested that tactile contact's value may greatly differ according to the species considered. Nevertheless, grooming is often considered as a pleasurable experience for domestic animals, even though scientific data is lacking. On another hand, food seems to be involved in the creation of most relationships in a variety of species.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn this study, we used the horse training context to test the effects of food versus grooming during repeated human-horse interactions. The results reveal that food certainly holds a key role in the attachment process, while tactile contact was here clearly insufficient for bonding to occur.Conclusion/SignificanceThis study raises important questions on the way tactile contact is perceived, and shows that large inter-species differences are to be expected.

Highlights

How do we bond to each other? What is it that leads to the process of attachment? In psychology, bonding is defined as the process of development of a close, interpersonal relationship [1]
While on the last day of training almost all horses trained with the food reward had successfully reached the last step and managed to maintain immobility for 1 min, only 4 of the GR group did (NFR = 9/10, NGR = 4/10, Friedman test: P = 0.03; mean step reached on day6: FR6SE = 4065.7 s, X GR6SE = 1866.1, Mann-Whitney U-tests (MW): U = 20, P = 0.02)
More interesting is that while food-reward group (FR) training had a positive impact on the relationship, the grooming procedure had none, showing that it is not a proper reinforcement

Summary

Introduction

How do we bond to each other? What is it that leads to the process of attachment? In psychology, bonding is defined as the process of development of a close, interpersonal relationship [1]. Food sharing has been described as a reciprocal act of physical affiliation [8] and an essential component for the development of pair bond [9]. Food calls are another example of how food holds a prime position in the formation and maintenance of close relationships [10]. Grooming is often considered as a pleasurable experience for domestic animals, even though scientific data is lacking On another hand, food seems to be involved in the creation of most relationships in a variety of species

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Results

Conclusion