US EditionHorses Really Can Smell Fear, New Study Claims, and It Changes Their Behaviour
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4 Articles
Horses really can smell fear, new study claims, and it changes their behaviour
Inna photographer/ShutterstockHumans have long believed horses can “smell fear”. Nervous riders are often told to “relax, or the horse will feel it”. Until recently, though, there was little scientific evidence to show whether this was anything more than folklore. A new study has found that this belief is no myth. Its results show that horses can detect chemical signals linked to human emotions, and that these signals can influence their behavio…
“The first time I set foot in a stable, they told me: ‘Attention, don’t be afraid, horses smell your fear’,” recalls etologist Léa Lansade, director of research at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE). “But is it figuratively or literally? [...] The post Horses feel the smell of fear in humans appeared first on Diario Digital Cronio de El Salvador.
Horses understand the smell associated with fear in human beings and, when that happens, they become more vigilant. The suggestion is that of a study that went out on the last day 14 in the perico PLOS One. Read more (01/21/2026)
A new study has found that horses can sense human fear - literally. Whether or not a person is afraid of them is revealed to them by their sense of smell. Specifically, the smell of human sweat. They then act accordingly.
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