A study from the University of California, Davis, indicates that interacting with miniature horses and donkeys can significantly improve the emotional well-being of adolescents. Spending just three minutes with these animals led to reductions in feelings of loneliness and sadness, particularly among teens who were able to interpret the animals' body language.
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The findings were published in Scientific Reports and suggest that improving the experience for the animals may enhance the benefits for humans. Rebecca Calisi Rodríguez, an associate professor and director of the Green Care Lab at UC Davis, stated, "Our work raises this beautiful possibility that making the interaction better for the animal may be part of what makes it better for us."
Historically, studies on animal-assisted interventions have focused primarily on the human benefits while considering animals as passive participants. Calisi Rodríguez emphasized the importance of recognizing that both parties in an interaction actively respond to one another. Claire Short, a co-author of the study, noted that her observations of the equines' varied reactions depending on how they were petted led her to question the consistency of existing research on animal-assisted interventions.
For this study, researchers analyzed interactions between 61 adolescents and a small herd of rescued miniature equines, including two horses named Olivia and Randy and two donkeys named Mary and Memphis. Teens were divided into two groups: one group was instructed to gently stroke the animals, while the other group was directed to scratch their necks in a manner similar to how equines groom each other. Participants were also trained to recognize key equine behaviors, such as lip-wriggling, which signifies enjoyment, and walking away, which indicates a need for space.
The results revealed that during neck-scratching interactions, animals exhibited lip-wriggling 75% of the time, compared to 48% during petting interactions. Conversely, equines walked away nearly 89% of the time during petting, while this occurred only 42% of the time during neck scratching. All teens reported improvements in calmness and reductions in nervousness, sadness, and loneliness irrespective of the interaction type. Notably, those who observed lip-wriggling experienced greater decreases in loneliness, while unexpected findings revealed that witnessing an animal walking away led to larger reductions in sadness.
Calisi Rodríguez remarked on the significance of these results, highlighting that deeper engagement with animals isn’t always necessary for beneficial interactions. "A meaningful interaction may not require an animal to engage with us continuously," she said. This study underscores the reciprocal nature of human-animal interactions, suggesting that understanding animal welfare is crucial not only ethically but also for enhancing the effectiveness of animal-assisted interventions.
The research was supported by academic enrichment funds from UC Davis.