Baby Talk for Horses?

Brandy comes for a visit

Baby talk, technically Pet Directed Speech (PDS), is defined as a higher pitch with greater variation (sing-song). A study showed it was effective with horses in both tasks tested:
1. When an experimenter used PDS while scratching horses, they looked at her more, moved less, and showed more mutual grooming gestures toward her.
2. When an experimenter pointed at the location of a reward with her finger, horses spoken to with Pet Directed Speech found the food significantly more often than chance, and more often than when spoken to in normal speech. Comments on this post represented a wide range of reactions. Many people liked the scientific validation of something that works for them. Others consider it a useless insult to horses' intelligence. I think some of the disagreement is explained by diverse perceptions of "baby talk", and when it might be useful. Multiple people reported using something like it, but in lower, rather than high pitched, tones more like a horse's soft nicker. There are multiple aspects of PDS that can be positive because horses are so sensitive to voice tone and body language. PDS tends to go along with a gentler, softer voice and softer body language, both of which make horses feel more comfortable with us. Horses already comfortable with us likely recognize the gentleness as an expression of affection. Varied inflection makes us more interesting to listen to.

Reference: “Horses are sensitive to baby talk: pet-directed speech facilitates communication with humans in a pointing task and during grooming” by Léa Lansade et al.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-021-01487-3