02/08/2026
A horse's heart is 5 times larger than ours. And there's growing scientific interest in what that might mean, not just for them, but for us too.
This is still an open field of research: there are preliminary (not conclusive) observations about a horse's heart electrical field and its possible influence on the heart rhythm of people nearby. What is well established is that horses are extremely sensitive to our body language, and that slow-breathing techniques like cardiac coherence help activate the parasympathetic nervous system — something any rider who's had to calm down before mounting can relate to.
Sources:
📌HeartMath Institute, research on magnetic fields and heart rate in professional riders: https://www.heartmath.org/research/research-library/dissertations/correlations-earth-magnetic-field-professional-riders/
📌Independent critical analysis of HeartMath's claims about horses (Horse Sport Magazine): https://horsesport.com/magazine/behaviour/human-horse-heart-math-does-it-add-up/
📌Scientific review on slow breathing and heart rate variability (PubMed): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40252198/