Some people instinctively use childish language when talking to their pets. The same happens with people who have horses, you may tend to speak with a watery voice or exaggerated intonations. But is it any use to speak childishly to horses?
According to the French Riding Institute, horses are more attentive and better understand people’s intentions when spoken to in this way. Therefore, horsemen and breeders could use this method to facilitate daily communication and improve animal welfare. In addition, the results of the study have been published in Animal Cognition .
Use of children’s language in animals
Some animals are receptive to this way of speaking, which is known as pet-directed speech. In the case of primates and dogs, for example, humans can better capture their attention when they use this language. As for horses, various studies have shown that they are very sensitive to human emotions.
This team of researchers had already shown that horses are capable of recognizing human expressions in photographs. However, speech directed at pets has never been studied in horses.
A preliminary survey of 845 riders and horse owners showed that 93% of them regularly talk to their horses using this type of language, but only 44% think the animals are sensitive or react to it.
Investigation Development
To find out the impact on the horses, the ethologists conducted two series of tests on 20 horses that had never been exposed to this type of language. In the first test, they spoke to the horses individually, using both pet-directed speech and neutral language (similar to that used among adults) while grooming them.
Thus they were able to conclude that, when they used speech directed at pets, the horses responded more favorably and were calmer. In fact, they reflected the tip of the snout against them and allowed themselves to be groomed, a gesture that the ethologists could not appreciate when they addressed them in neutral language.
In the second test, the ethologists provided information to the horse: the location of the food. They faced the horse with two closed buckets. And, with their arms, they repeatedly pointed to the cube that the horse had to choose to obtain its reward.
In this way, the researchers appreciated that when they spoke to the horse in a neutral language, the horses chose a cube at random. However, when using pet-directed speech, the horses understood the instructions better and were able to complete the task.
This study shows that the way people talk to young children (and which they often instinctively use with certain animals) facilitates human-horse communication in everyday interactions. In addition, this research could contribute to improving the welfare of animals, since they are very sensitive to human emotions.
