title: The way to a man's heart is through his stomach: what about horses?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  How do we bond to one another? While in some species, like humans, physical contact plays a role in the process of attachment, it has been suggested that tactile contact's value may greatly differ according to the species considered. Nevertheless, grooming is often considered as a pleasurable experience for domestic animals, even though scientific data is lacking. On another hand, food seems to be involved in the creation of most relationships in a variety of species.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this study, we used the horse training context to test the effects of food versus grooming during repeated human-horse interactions. The results reveal that food certainly holds a key role in the attachment process, while tactile contact was here clearly insufficient for bonding to occur.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study raises important questions on the way tactile contact is perceived, and shows that large inter-species differences are to be expected.
authors.affiliation: Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Université Rennes1/UMR-CNRS6552, Station Biologique, Paimpont, France.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sankey
authors.forename: Séverine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Górecka-Bruzda
authors.forename: Marie-Annick
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Richard-Yris
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hausberger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D005502:Food; D006736:Horses / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D009769:Object Attachment; D012201:Reward