Exactly how intelligent are horses?

Question

I'm very impressed by some of my horses' actions. For example, I was hosing off the horses dirty fly sheets on the fence rail when once of my 1/2 Arabs trotted up and nudged me. He stood between me and the hose indicating he wanted to be washed. I put the hose on him and he didn't move a muscle until he was soaked all over. Then he rolled in the mud to soothe the fly bites. I've been around horses for years, but it seems either I'm getting more intelligent about their needs or they are much smarter than I ever imagined.

Answer 1

well when ur around horses a lot especially the same horse(s) they go a little your way and you go a little theres so u both get that connection all horse owners strive for to where you both just kind of understand each other =]]

Answer 2

You're learning to speak horse...:)  Horses are NOT as dumb as a lot of folk think.  I've had them tell me that they haven't been fed, they were out of water (Somebody else's horse) and that I'd gotten too heavy to swing over on their back to name a few times we "communicated". I've had them ask where their best friend went, I've had them tell me that they weren't long for this world and my fondest memory, their version of another human riding them for the first time.

Back in the late 80's I was boarding at what's now Sunset River Trail Stables, El Monte, CA.  I got to the barn about 11AM on a Sunday morning and did my usual look in on all the horses routine.  When I reached my then 18 year old AQHA gelding, he looked at me, then looked at his feeder, then grabbed the sheet of plywood in his stall that needed repair and "RIPPED".  Then repeated the whole proceedure again.  I got the idea, walked up to the ranch house and got the owner out of bed.  Told him the horses hadn't been fed, the worker was nowhere to be found.  He asked me how I knew this and I told him my old horse told me.

As he was feeding the horses, the owner of the stable told me that his worker had left during the night without so much as a word.

Horses aren't dumb, most just don't speak their lingo!

Answer 3

Ava,  What a great way to phrase a question.

I think the last statement says it all.

It's hard to measure intelligence of an non-human on a human scale.  And individuals within a species vary in intelligence.  Many people will say they are as intelligent as they need to be.

This story you tell I think also tells something about your relationship with the horse.  He must trust you an awful lot - they dont readily take to being sprayed with water.  The only good experience I ever had spraying a horse with cold hose water was on a day about 105 degrees.  He actually stood still and allowed it.

I've always washed with warm water whenever I can or used rainwater that's the temp of the outdoors - I avoid ice cold hose water if I can.

He's obviously learned that water won't hurt him and that if you spray him and then he rolls, the flies will stay off.  It's very similar to my situation - an older mare not raised by me won't allow me to flyspray her unless she's haltered.  However, when my fillies were young, kicking at flies while tied, I would stand there and squirt the flies with fly spray.  They learned pretty quick what was going on and to this day, if I walk out in the pasture on a day when the flies are bad with a fly spray bottle, I'll about get run over.

The more you know about how they think and their nature the more you can teach them - the cycle goes on and on; the more you learn the more you learn every day about them if you'll open your mind and watch and listen they will show you just how intelligent they really are.  some people say Appaloosas are stupid and I disagree - they were bred to be highly intelligent, so many are smarter than the average horse handler at communicating.  If one doesn't know well how to teach a horse what one wants, they will be less successful with an App than any other breed, I think.  This is why I don't own 'em.  A 1200 lb animal smarter than me isn't safe - and I haven't gained the patience yet to fully understand the effects of my every activity with them.

Keep having fun and keep learning!

Answer 4

It is my personal opinion that horses are smarter than people in a multitude of ways. Your horse will never do long division, but you can train your horse to look for cues so people can think that your horse can do division. The fact of the matter is horse's are insanely perceptive. My boyfriend left to go back to school and I went to go see my horse and he was such a brat, and I assumed he was jealous because he knew my mind wasn't on my horse. As soon as I let go of the sadness I had my horse was an angel again. My horse knew just what to do to make me feel better and it was amazing. When I'm hosing off my horse after we've ridden he'll tuck his nose to drink the water off his neck and when i put the hose up to his mouth he bites it and drinks as much as he wants. My horse also tries leading himself .. If I'm holding the lead line he'll grab it with his lips and try to walk me or himself .. That's a cute one. After I've curried my horse he always wants to smell the brush so one time he bit it and I turned away to get another brush he curried my back. My horse is really playful and likes to play keep away if you try to catch him, but I just stand by the fence and put his halter over the fence and he sticks his nose right in the halter. Horse's are also a master at understanding nonverbal cues. I've seen people totally furious at someone and the person doesn't even realize it. If a horse is furious at another horse, that horse will definitely try and get out of harms way. The longer you're with a horse the more you will understand why they do certain things. Someone other than you may have thought your horse was just being curious, but you saw how wonderful and amazing your horse is. The more you're around horse's the more you realize how little we really understand about them. The things my horse does never ceases to amaze me.  

Answer 5

Well the truth of the matter is that horses are probably much smarter than we give them credit for. And the fact that you have Arabs means a lot. It is known among horse trainers that Arabs pick up on things a lot faster and tend to be much smarter than the average horse. I have heard of many of the horse trainers on tv such as Julie Goodnight and on the horse babies show on RFD.  

Answer 6

I think maybe your have become more attuned to horse language and you are listening to them better than you have in the past.

Someone who was not attuned to their horse might have thought he was just being a pest rather than asking for something.  

Answer 7

They can be very very intelligent- it's one of the reasons you see al those books and movies about humans bonding with horses, horses are said to be able to understand us on a higher level than other animals