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In 2014, under the direction of Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Masaki Tomonaga, a primatologist at the Primate Research Institute (PRI) at the University of Kyoto, conducted an experiment to compare horses’ visual abilities with those of chimpanzees. Carlos Pereira and Sophie Nicod collaborated in this experiment under the ANR COW program’s axis dealing with communication. The aim of the experiment was to assess this visual recognition ability on a computer screen. The theory behind this type of experiments is that of operant conditioning. As a preliminary hypothesis, on the sidelines of this experiment, we suggested that the horse’s activities in this experiment were as much about work as about conditioning. To test this hypothesis, Sophie Nicod observed the daily behavior of horses at the computer. She noted differences between prescriptions and what horses actually did. These preliminary results suggest that theories of work are more relevant to understanding what animals do in laboratories than conditioning theories.