Richard Collins: Cross-species communication: yay or neigh? 

A study of horses, wild boar and farmyard pigs may show that Robert Redford's character in The Horse Whisperer was 'onto something'

Real-life horse — and boar — whisperer: using recordings of an actor’s voice, horses and pigs were exposed to human speech for a study on cross-species communication

The Horse Whisperer, a film inspired by legendary cowboy Buck Brannaman, was directed by Robert Redford, who also played the title role. Brannaman ministered to ‘horses with people problems’ by whispering to them. 

The film was a box-office success — although one critic thought it ‘too eager to tug at the heart-strings’. Trainers, however, rubbished the idea that a horse as traumatised as the one depicted in the film could be rehabilitated using a ‘talking cure’. Encouraging people to approach problem horses so closely, they argued, was irresponsible.