What's Love Got To Do With It?

What’s love got to do with it?

A question was recently raised by one of our members that really struck a chord with me. She asked “Do horses really love us or is it just Stockholm Syndrome?”. Stockholm Syndrome is a theory that tries to explain why hostages sometimes develop a psychological bond with their captors.

Initially this thought hit me hard in its insinuation that we, as ‘carers’ could be seen as ‘captors’ by the horse. However, it did remind me of when I studied attachment theory in both child psychology and horse behaviour. So here are some thoughts, bearing in mind this could go into deep and dark places, I’ve tried to stick to the science as a stimuli for discussion.

Let’s look at the chemical reactions to love and care first. Oxytocin (OT), affectionately known as the “love hormone” or “cuddle chemical”, is responsible for promoting social behaviours necessary for mammalian survival such as pair bonding, recognition and social interaction. It can also that lead to a decrease in stress and fear associated behaviours. 

Secure, social relationships increase oxytocin signalling in the brain.

However, broken social relationships such as separation or disorganised attachment- when the carer is inconsistent in their approach- creates trauma, decreasing OT activity. This plays out as depression, stress, avoidance, isolation, and disrupted interpersonal relationships.  (Samata R. Sharma, Xenia Gonda, Peter Dome, Frank I. Tarazi, What's Love Got to do with it: Role of oxytocin in trauma, attachment and resilience, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Volume 214, 2020)

So, how might this apply to horses in a domestic setting? Consider the relationships in their lives, intra-specific interactions, horse/horse relationships, and inter-specific interactions, horse/human.

In the case of horse/horse, we may consider the implications of early weaning and pair bond separation for example. In horse/human relationships, the effect of inconsistency of a carer leading to disorganised attachment.

What might inconsistency in care look like? Practices such as the use of aversive training methods (pain, pressure, coercion), social isolation and ignoring bids for connection (see previous blog) could all create a disorganised attachment in our horses. The carer loves them, provides for their physical needs, but if the horse is vulnerable, frightened, in pain, their communicating behaviours can be misinterpreted as ‘dominance’, ‘taking advantage’ or ‘disrespect’ and attract a response from their carer that has the opposite effect of what the horse needs.

Being more mindful of our horse’s emotional needs, communication, perception and motivation can only serve to enhance their welfare and quality of life on the deepest level.