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Since the 2000s, Lea has worked for IFCE at INRAE, Centre Val de Loire, on horse behaviour. Her field of interest concerns personality, cognition and emotion as well as animal welfare. Lea has developed behavioural tests to measure five dimensions of personality, such as fear, gregariousness or sensitivity. On the basis of these tests, her research has highlighted certain genetic or environmental factors which can influence the personality of young horses. For a number of years, within the field of cognition and emotions, Léa has been exploring the cognitive abilities of horses. Some of her experimental work has revealed that the horse is capable of feeling a wide range of emotions and communicating them to others via characteristic facial expressions that are beginning to be identified. The horse also seems very sensitive to the emotions of other horses (emotional contagion). Other cognitive abilities which have been explored include the permanence of objects or the attribution of intentions. Léa’s work regularly leads her to carry out projects with a clearly applied vocation in direct connection with professionals in the equestrian world. In terms of welfare, Léa has worked on assessment tools and factors to improve horse welfare. In addition, she is involved in collaborative projects working to improve understanding of the relationship between horse welfare, their microbiota, certain biological markers (e.g., transcriptomic analysis of blood cells) and their health. Two PhD theses have just been completed on these subjects (Milena Trösch and Alice Ruet). Each year, Léa also supervises students from engineering schools or who are completing a Master’s degree to initiate them in this research.

Contact:

Léa LANSADE
UMR Physiologie de la Reproduction & des Comportements
Centre INRAE Val-de-Loire
37380 Nouzilly
France

Phone: 33 (0)2 47 42 72 79

Mail: lea.Lansade@inrae.fr