Horses can discriminate between different letters, research finds

Horses are able to distinguish between certain letters of the alphabet, researchers have found.

In a study published in Animals, and carried out by Clara-Lynn Schubert, Barbara Ryckewaert, Carlos Pereira and Tetsuro Matsuzawa, it was found that four out of five horses learned to discriminate five letters: O, B, Z, V, and X.

The researchers worked with a herd of five Garrano horses – one male, four female – in Portugal. All learned the skill of touching a screen with their noses, in an automated system designed to ensure there was no chance of their picking up cues from their handlers. All but the male learned to discriminate between the five letters.

The horses were trained beforehand to recognise that the X was “incorrect”; they were automatically rewarded with a piece of carrot when they selected the other side of the screen, which was divided by a wooden bar so the horse could only touch one side.

“The error patterns and the analysis of shape features showed that the curved letters, O and B, look similar to the horses, as do the straight-line letters, Z, V, and X,” the researchers said.

“The result is congruent with previous studies of shape perception in other animals.”

The paper added: “Shape perception in horses seems to share features with that of humans and other animals living in different niches. The touchscreen system proved to be an objective and innovative way of studying cognition in the socially organised group of horses. The automated system can promote the welfare of captive horses by maximising their freedom of movement.”

The researchers believe that studying the equine visual system will improve understanding of horses’ perception and cognition, and their links with learning and training.

“The touchscreen system used here opens the window to a range of questions about horse cognition,” they wrote. “Multiple future directions for studies using this system in horses can be imagined.

“Lansade et al. (2018) successfully showed that horses can identify and memorise human faces [58]. How about the identification of horses by horses? Using the same two-choice discrimination as in this pilot study, letters could easily be replaced with photos of horses, for example, to test discrimination of horse portraits that belong to the participant’s [one-male unit] OMU or herd compared with unknown horse portraits.”

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