About us
We study horses as social animals, targeting their social interactions with people and with each other. The specific themes in our research include social personality traits, social cognition, and emotions in interaction.
Our research is not only theoretically driven, albeit there are many interesting things to discover in these fascinating animals. We are equally driven by the goal of improving horse welfare through scientific understanding of their behaviour.
In addition, we study people interacting with horses. Interspecific empathy and compassion are sorely needed in the current world. By studying the forms and connections in human-horse interaction we wish to illuminate, and thus promote, global understanding of our connectedness with the others amongst us.
If you are interested in conducting graduate research in our group, please contact sonja.koski (at) helsinki.fi
We thank…
The generous owners who have let us play with their horses, and the stables who’ve let us use their facilities and helped us in so many ways. We could not have done this without you!
Hännilän tila
Granåsa Hästgård
Aulangon Ratsastuskoulu
Kylämäen hevostila
Anders Ingmanin talli
Kulta-ahon ratsutila
Artukaisten Ratsastuskeskus
TEHO Ratsut
Horse Interaction Project 