Horses can smell fear: In experiments where horses smelled sweat from scared humans, they reacted to scary and sudden events with increased fear and reduced human interaction
Published 2026-01-14 · Original archive entry · Explore research explainers
Horses can smell fear: In experiments where horses smelled sweat from scared humans, they reacted to scary and sudden events with increased fear and reduced human interaction
Article URL: https://plos.io/49nDTft
Article title: Human emotional odours influence horses’ behaviour and physiology
Author countries: France
Funding: This study was granted by ANR Emodour (grant number ANR-23-CE20-0033) and Institut Français du Cheval et de l’Équitation (IFCE, grant number 32001331 Cognition Emotion). PJ was funded by the French Ministry for Research. These funding sources had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation and submission of the manuscript.
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Article URL: https://plos.io/49nDTft
Article title: Human emotional odours influence horses’ behaviour and physiology
Author countries: France
Funding: This study was granted by ANR Emodour (grant number ANR-23-CE20-0033) and Institut Français du Cheval et de l’Équitation (IFCE, grant number 32001331 Cognition Emotion). PJ was funded by the French Ministry for Research. These funding sources had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation and submission of the manuscript.
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