Seven Core Emotions We All Share

SEEKING: A novel object arouses Sapphire's curiosity

All learning and behavior is based on emotions. Positive emotions feel good, so they motivate animals to do the things that help them survive and thrive. Negative emotions motivate animals to avoid anything that causes distress or might threaten survival. There are no neutral emotions. All mammals, including humans, share the same 7 core emotions. Four of them are positive, three are negative. They are written in capital letters because they have specific scientific meanings based on the part of the brain activated and the chemicals produced. This convention was devised by Dr. Jaak Panksepp, the courageous neuroscientist who pioneered the study of animal emotions at a time when it was considered professional suicide for a scientist to even acknowledge that animals had emotions. These are the 7 core emotions, and how they relate to horses.

Positive Emotions:
SEEKING is the urge to explore or investigate. It leads animals to discover resources they need to survive. SEEKING is the emotion that activates horses’ curiosity and Investigative Behavior. We do not need to reward Investigative Behavior because SEEKING is associated with the “feel-good” neurotransmitter dopamine, and thus is self-reinforcing. In the photo above, Sapphire shows that her curiosity is still strong at the age of 34.

CARE: Gentle touches are a sign of a bond

CARE is the emotion that ensures that the young of the species are nurtured and cared for. Young animals deprived of it cannot become emotionally healthy adults. The bond a horse has with his mother is just the first of many social bonds he will form in his lifetime, because horses need social groups for survival, and social groups survive on cooperation, not competition. Those bonds are required to have a cohesive, cooperative group. Research validates what astute horse people have always known, that horses are quite capable of forming bonds with humans, too. In the photo above, Brandy has left off grazing to come greet me, a sign of the bond between us.

PLAY: Bronzz plays with the hoop instead of standing in it

PLAY relates to joy. PLAY is essential for normal physical, social, and emotional development. PLAY is defined by the underlying emotion of spontaneous joy, not the activity itself. All foals play, but colts play more physical, body contact games than fillies do. In free-roaming and naturally kept herds, older colts and stallions play with youngsters, tempering their actions to avoid injuries. Mares generally do not play; they must spend more time eating to make milk and gestate the next foal. In the photo above, Bronzz has played a trick on me, picking up the hoop instead of standing in it. It was a spontaneous action of his own choosing, and probably done with the expectation that it would make me laugh. It did. Horses understand that human laughter is a good thing.

LUST is responsible for sexual-related behaviors aroused by sex hormones. It has to be a strong urge in order for a species to survive. LUST explains why stallions need careful training to be reliable in the company of other horses, and why some mares periodically present behaviors that are problematic no matter how carefully they are trained or how well they are handled.

Negative Emotions:
FEAR (Anxiety) is meant to help animals avoid or escape danger. In horses it can show up as Fight, Flight, Fidget, or Freeze. It can also be hidden by good manners, too-strict training, or eagerness to please. When anxiety is not noticed and addressed, multiple stressors can stack up and lead to explosive behaviors that take people by surprise.


RAGE (Anger) can be aroused when a frightened animal is restrained. When a frightened horse is restrained by equipment or fences, aggressive behaviors are self-defense from his point of view. When expressing anger towards people, most horses show great restraint compared to the lethal damage they are capable of inflicting.

PANIC/GRIEF (Separation Distress) first shows in the distress cries of young animals separated from their mothers. Throughout life it relates to loneliness and loss, and can lead to depression. In horses, this is seen when foals are separated from their mothers for early weaning. When their unheeded cries eventually cease, they appear to have “adjusted”. In fact, their brain chemistry has been altered, and their acquiescence is despair. This magnifies the separation anxiety that plagues many adult horses and their owners.

I do not have photos of FEAR, RAGE, or PANIC, because I work hard to avoid provoking these emotions, and because when I see them, I act quickly to address the situation rather than photographing it.

Protector Leaders encourage the positive emotions of SEEKING, CARE, and PLAY. When horses associate us with positive emotions, they want to be with us and work cooperatively with us. My book "What Horses Really Want: Unlocking the Secrets to Trust, Cooperation, and Reliability" describes how to be a Protector Leader. Brandy, Bronzz, and Shiloh appear in numerous demonstration photos, and each chapter ends with a list of "Things to Try" based on the information in that chapter. It is available from Amazon and directly from the publisher.
Amazon
Horse and Rider Books

Here are a few articles about being a Protector Leader

References:
Affective neuroscience of the emotional BrainMind: evolutionary perspectives and implications for understanding depression by Jaak Panksepp, PhD https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181986/
Jaak Panksepp's Neuroscience Of Emotional Processing https://www.owenparachute.com/jaak-panksepp-neuroscience.html
The science of emotions: Jaak Panksepp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65e2qScV_K8
“Connection Training” by Hannah Weston and Rachel Bedingfield (Describes how core emotions relate specifically to horses)
Rachel Bedingfield’s youtube series on how emotions relate to horses is well worth watching, especially since she had the opportunity to discuss the topic directly with Dr. Panksepp.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=rachel+bedingfield+panksepp+youtube&t=chromentp&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D2iFkHYj9pLQ