How a horse trainer got to publish research with Temple Grandin

Caption: Dr. Temple Grandin talks shop with her research and business partner Mark Deesing after they teach a class together at Colorado State University. (Photo by Alison Bert)

Since high school, Mark Deesing has worked closely with horses, shoeing them and later training hunter/jumpers. His experience led him to observe that the position of the hair whorls on their foreheads often correlates with their temperament.

"At the time, I didn't really understand the interaction between genetic influences and environment and how those forces interact to shape behavior," he said.

Also, every horse trainer will tell you that horses prefer to turn in one direction and are reluctant to turn in another direction. There are many examples of handedness in a horse.

This observation became very useful for my ability to approach a horse and train it. If I saw the whorl was on the left side of the horse's head and it gave me some trouble, I would switch sides and go to the other side. That tended to make my job safer because usually by the time I got through shoeing the easy side, the horse was more cooperative on the difficult side.

Getting support for his 'hair-brained' idea

"I said, 'I want to do research; I want to study hair whorls, or I want someone to do the research if I don't do it myself.'

"And she said, 'I know somebody you ought to meet.'

An impromptu meeting with Temple Grandin

"Mary walked me across the street to the animal science building and introduced me to Temple. It was a complete stroke of luck, because I didn't know Temple — I'd never even heard of her.

'Has anyone done this before?'

"The first chore she gave me was to go to the library and study and find out if anybody else had ever looked at something like this – and also to find out about the developmental process of  hair whorls," he said. "Well right away we struck gold in that pediatricians had looked at hair whorls in children for decades."

Deesing explained that people all have hair whorls, or cowlicks, on the backs of their heads, and pediatric studies have shown that children with various developmental disabilities often have abnormal scalp hair patterns.

"What they found was that the hair and the brain formed from the same fetal cell layer," Deesing said. "So early in gestation – about 10 weeks when the brain is beginning to form – hair follicles form on the scalp at the same time. As the brain grows and forms, hair whorls are interpreted as a point of stretch over the underlying structures of the brain."

Those early studies gave Temple the motivation to proceed with his idea. But instead of using horses – which are hard to find in larger numbers with the same experiences and genetics – Dr. Grandin suggested they use cattle.

Science confirms observations

Once thought to be a uniquely human trait, specialized function of the cerebral hemispheres is common in both vertebrate and invertebrate species. In essence, the left side of the brain is geared toward social interaction and food finding (approach behavior); the right side is geared to detect danger (avoidance behavior). These specialized functions evolved in animals such as horses and cattle, allowing them to graze and simultaneously be on guard for danger.

Both studies confirmed Deesing's observations.

In 1994, they also reviewed data and studies on associations between hair whorl patterns and performance in horses. They found in increase in double hair whorls on horses that were more reactive — but also with those who were high performers. In fact the percentage of  double whorls in racing and jumping horses was nearly double the percentage found in all other samples they found in the literature.

Deesing went on to work with Dr. Grandin on the first edition of Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals opens in new tab/window, published in 1997 — and the second edition opens in new tab/window, which will be released tomorrow.

These and other findings about hair whorls are detailed in Chapter 7, "Behavior Genetics of the Horse (Equus caballus)," for which Deesing is the lead author. The chapter delves into the science of hair whorls in horses, cattle, guide dogs and humans – and the practical use of this knowledge.

Practical applications for animal training

Deesing stressed that their scientific observations have important practical applications. For example, in Chapter 7, there's a section on guide dogs and hair whorls and "handedness."

Dogs are both left- and right-handed, he explained, and this has an influence on their selection as guide dogs for the blind because the dogs are trained to work on a person's left side. He cited a 2012 study in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research opens in new tab/window that showed that success was higher for right-preferent and ambidextrous dogs, and that the presence of a whorl on the dog's left side of the head and thorax was associated with a right visual bias.

A dominant right eye is preferable because the dog's right eye is on the side of the person he is guiding, whereas when the left eye is dominant, the dog can be more easily distracted by things going on to its left.

"That's one example of how practical this work is," he said. "It costs thousands and thousands of dollars to teach a dog to be a guide dog for the blind, and now they have a way to look at the hair whorls on the dog to predict what eye is dominant and which dogs are going to be the best suited for this type of training."

Also, he said, this knowledge can help horse trainers make sure their animals are "balanced." With show-jumping horses, for example, the horses have to making quick jumps to both the right and the left. Knowing the weak side of the horse, which can be determined by the hair whorl, would enable him to spend more time on that side to balance the horse out.

Ultimately it comes down to fear: "If horses are difficult to shoe on one side, it's usually fear-related. They're afraid of having you over on that side. And if they don't turn well going left or right on a show-jumping course, it's usually because they are afraid of the novelty and want to keep their good side to the outside," he explained.

A job that pays the rent

Doing academic research didn't pay the bills, however, so Deesing decided he would to return to Salt Lake City and go back to working as horse trainer.

"I mentioned that to Temple one day and she said, 'Oh no you're not – you're staying right here.' She said, 'What's going to take to keep you here?' and I said, 'Well a job would be nice.'"

In addition to his behavior consulting work with horses and cattle, Dr. Grandin taught him to do design work for her company Grandin Livestock Handling Systems opens in new tab/window. Now he travels around the world as a designer and consultant "doing the work that Temple doesn't have time to do anymore." He designs new facilities and troubleshoots existing facilities to make sure they meet animal welfare standards, using an objective auditing system Dr. Grandin developed for the American Beef Industry opens in new tab/window. He also trains handlers how to use the facilities to keep animals calm, including basics like where to stand and how to move.

Deesing, who was headed off to have lunch with Dr. Grandin after this interview, credits her with enabling him to realize a dream by researching his ideas scientifically.

"I  learned what I know in the field," he said, "and Temple always defended me by saying that people who work in the field often observe things that scientists sitting in offices don't see.

"For me it's just been something I have always wanted to do. I just set out to know whether I was right – I didn't care about anything else. But it's turned out to be a very valuable observation that has a lot of practical applications."