06/22/2025
HORSES SHOW DISTINCT FACIAL EXPRESSIONS WHEN ANTICIPATING POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE EVENTS
New research has shown that horses display different facial expressions and behaviours depending on whether they are anticipating a positive or a negative experience.
The study aimed to explore how horses express their emotions using facial expressions and behaviour, and whether these could be linked to positive or negative emotional anticipation.
Twenty mares were trained to wait in a designated area (a starting box) before being led to one of two possible outcomes: a positive experience (access to pasture with other horses) or a negative one (being taken alone to an unfamiliar environment). This setup allowed the researchers to observe how horses behave when they expect either a desirable or undesirable situation.
Over multiple sessions, the team recorded the horses’ behaviour, facial movements (using EquiFACS – the Equine Facial Action Coding System), heart rate, and cortisol levels. They also used a network analysis tool (NetFACS) to study which facial expressions tended to occur together in each context.
The researchers found clear differences in the horses’ responses depending on the type of anticipation. When expecting a positive event, horses more often showed behaviours such as head shaking, stepping back, sniffing, and pawing. They held their necks higher, performed more half-blinks, and showed increased mouth movements.
In contrast, during negative anticipation, horses showed less behavioural variety. They were more likely to hold their necks at a medium height, keep their ears back and flattened, and exhibit more nostril movements. Their behaviour was generally more withdrawn and they appeared more tense.
Interestingly, while heart rate and cortisol did increase slightly in the negative condition, these physiological changes were not as marked as the behavioural and facial differences — highlighting just how important it is to observe the horse’s expressions and body language alongside traditional measures of stress.
These findings confirm that horses express emotions in nuanced ways and that facial expressions and behaviour offer valuable insight into how they feel. Understanding these subtle cues can help us better recognise emotional states in horses and improve how we manage and interact with them.
Study details: Phelipon, R., Bertrand, L., Jardat, P., Reigner, F., Lewis, K., Micheletta, J., & Lansade, L. (2025). Characterisation of facial expressions and behaviours of horses in response to positive and negative emotional anticipation using network analysis. PLoS ONE, 20(5), e0319315.
