Summary

# Editorial Summary Whilst chemical communication of fear between animals of the same species is well established, whether humans can detect emotional states in horses through olfactory cues remained unexplored until this 2021 study. Researchers collected body odour samples from 16 thoroughbred horses during both fear-inducing situations and calm conditions, then had 73 human raters assess whether each sample originated from a fearful or non-fearful state. The participants successfully identified fear-associated odours at above-chance levels and consistently rated fear-condition samples as more intense than non-fear samples, suggesting humans possess a latent ability to perceive equine emotional signalling through scent alone. However, the authors acknowledge important limitations: the study cannot definitively separate whether raters detected genuine emotional markers or simply responded to variations in sweat production and intensity. For equine professionals—particularly those working in close contact with horses—these findings imply that olfactory cues may unconsciously inform our perception of a horse's emotional state, potentially explaining some non-verbal communication dynamics in handling and training, though further research with rigorous chemical analysis of odour components would be needed to establish practical applications.

Read the full abstract on PubMed

Key Findings

• •Humans (n=73) correctly distinguished fear-condition horse odour samples from non-fear samples at above-chance levels
• •Fear-condition horse odour was perceived as significantly more intense than non-fear odour
• •Body odour appears to convey emotional state information between horses and humans
• •Study remains exploratory regarding whether humans detect fear emotion versus simply distinguishing sweat intensity differences

Conditions Studied

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