Did you know that there is a full set of equine vocabulary to describe horses and horse-related things, like their locomotion, breed, anatomy, and life stages?A foal is a horse under one year of age, whereas a yearling is one between one to two years of age. Colt and milly are male and female names for horses under four years of age; mare and stallion are females and non-castrated males above age four, whereas a gelding is a castrated male of any age.Why not continue reading more about these wonderful creatures and learn about their intelligence and smartness. Also, be sure to check out our other articles on horses to find out the answers to the questions, are horses omnivores and can horses eat bananas.How smart is your horse?You will be awestruck to find out how smart your little foal is becoming as it’s growing older. Horses are very social and emotional animals and are smart enough to sense your emotions. So you see, to enjoy your ride, you need to give out proper signals to your equine partner. That is how smart your horse is!Remember that horses are social animals and need company. Even in the wild, they are found in groups. And that is how young horses learn social skills and manners. So if you want your horse to be well mannered, then see to it that the young always have company and you are maintaining good communication with your equine partner. Since grooming just doesn’t involve teaching, most of the time, a little horse learns a lot on its own by observing other mares, making it all the easier to tame it. Spend playtime and develop a healthy and happy relationship when your horse is young to have the lovely company of this majestic beast when it grows big, tall, and handsome.Did you know that people with extraordinary emotional qualities are said to have equine intelligence, a term which humans got from horses’ emotional intelligence?Are horses smarter than dogs?Horses were chosen to ride on battlefields but not dogs, but also a dog is generally preferred for guarding a house instead of a horse. So how exactly can we answer the question, are horses smarter than dogs?Let us see the similarities between a horse and a dog. Both are very social and emotional. As a pet, they connect to their owner very well. Both are attached to their owners to an extent where both horses and dogs demand love and affection from human companions and can also get upset in the absence of attention from their owners. Both learn tricks and respond to instructions and signals given.If we look at the differences between a horse and a dog, one thing is obvious; canine-predatory skills cannot be seen in horses. Horses have smaller brains (in terms of body-brain ratio) compared to dogs. Does that in any sense mean that dogs are smarter than horses?A horse and a dog are unique in their own ways and are smart in their own ways. They fulfill their purpose as domestic animals in their own unique way and live in the wild on their own terms. What do you say? Can we leave the two species to their own smartness without any need for comparison?How smart are horses compared to other animals?This is an extraordinarily wonderful question. What do you think? On what basis can we bring in a comparison of a horse with other animal species? And how can we measure the smartness of a horse with that of other animals?Obviously, we are trying to compare animals belonging to different species that belong to a different class, order, and form. Few are wild while others or not. Correct? Or to answer this question, should we compare horses with animals that humans have domesticated? Can we compare a calf with a colt? How can we compare predators with prey animals, dogs with stallions, or cats with a pony?Research shows that horses are smart enough with extraordinary cognitive abilities, can learn quite complex tricks, and seem to obey commands. They remember their training, people, and places easily. Studies show that horses communicate with other species of animals to discover any predators around, which seems to be an important skill for these prey animals to survive, especially in the wild from their predators.Don’t you think it would be wrong to prioritize one animal’s smartness over another? The form of smartness required by each one of them has evolved through the ages, whether in a domestic set up or otherwise.Do horses have good memories?Yes, it is believed that horses do have a very good memory. It has been observed multiple times that horses meet their old friends just like we humans do. Horses possess a wonderful memory. They remember places, people, and other companions and can recall and react to signals even after a long time gap.You will definitely be awestruck to learn about the horse’s ability to understand its owners and the way they coordinate and respond to their owner’s wishes, even with a very small signal. Studies show that a horse’s intelligence levels are way more developed than one can imagine. Their communication skills, especially with other animal species, are complex to comprehend, but studies reveal that horses possess wonderful cognitive abilities. The cognitive ability of a horse to retain information even after a long gap makes it all the more compatible with humans and other animal species. Research has proved that if you train a horse with skills once, you will be surprised that your clever equine partner never forgets to give you the correct response even if you stop practicing.Yes, this majestic and lovely animal has an excellent memory, so much so that, in research done by scientists to test horses’ memories, they showed large photos of people with different body language, expressions of anger, and happiness. Later, when these people tried to interact with the horses with neutral expressions, these horses were friendly with the ones who had happy expressions on their faces in the photographs but not the ones with angry looks. The experiment proved that horses do have good memories. What do you say?Are some horses smarter than others?Oh yeah! Some horses are smarter than others. A pony grows into a horse with its own personality, depending on its experiences as it grows older. Hence, the smartness or the knowledge it gains also depends on it. Of course, some ponies are born intelligent because of their lineage.Research shows that the way a horse is groomed and trained changes the smartness of each horse. Clever Hans’ story is one such example. In the early twentieth century, Wilhelm von Osten owned a horse fondly called clever Hans. This gentleman trained the horse in such a way that it could solve basic math problems, math tricks, track calendar dates, and differentiate musical notes. Mr. Osten proudly performed with his horse all over Germany.So you see that some horses are smarter than others depending on their genetics, grooming, training, and individual experiences. Therefore, every horse is unique, and every horse has its own personality.Literature has given us many examples of horses performing extraordinarily. Bucephalus was the horse of Alexander the Great and is very famous in history. Roheryn, the horse of Aragorn from ‘Lord Of The Rings’ by J.R.R Tolkien, Black beauty from the movie ‘Black Beauty,’ and Disney horse Maximus from ‘Tangled’ are all examples of fantastic fictional horses. How did people come up with these characters? Don’t you think a few smart horses seem to have inspired these writers at some point in their lives to each write such a story?Which horse breed is the smartest?If you ask this question to any horse lover, the reply will probably be the Arabian horse. Yes, undoubtedly, this breed of horse is said to be the smartest of all the horse breeds. It is said that this particular horse breed picks up tricks and skills during training rather quickly, and no trick needs to be taught twice.The Landais pony, Lijiang pony, Lundy pony, and a few more ponies are also famous.Did you know that having horses around is very therapeutic? Yes, treatment and rehabilitation involve horses in cases where coordination, balance, and strength are needed by human beings because of various issues such as Cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and an Autism spectrum disorder. Horses are trained to be around patients. One such treatment where a horse is used as a healing medium to treat physical, behavioral, and emotional disorders is ‘Hippotherapy.’ According to the American Hippotherapy Association, the equine body movement is manipulated purposefully to engage the sensory, neuromotor and cognitive abilities of human beings to bring out positive outcomes.Quarter horses are popular for therapeutic riding programs as they have strong legs. Appaloosa and paint horses also are popular for their good temperament and intelligent animal behavior. The Landais pony, Lijiang pony, Lundy pony, and a few more are popular ponies.Riders participating in equestrian events where horses are used for show jumping, dressage, hunting, and visual feats, love Danish, Swedish, German, and Hanoverian Warmblood horses.Altogether, it is not easy to pin down one particular breed in the world as the smartest of all. Each horse has its own characteristic features, behavior and set of complex skills and knowledge, and every horse’s ability is unique.Interestingly, the word ‘hippotherapy’ is derived from the Greek word ‘hippos,’ which means horse.Can horses read human body language?Can those who spend time with horses tell us how smart horses are? Horses can read human emotions and understand their emotional state from their body language.Do not think that it is easy to have a horse around. Horses are emotional and social animals, and they demand respect and love. If you get a chance, talk to trainers, groomers, or owners of horses who know very well that attitude towards these beautiful giants matters a lot if you even want to get near to them. A horse loves its space and knows just how to intimidate people if that space is not respected. So don’t just go near and touch one out of curiosity without any guide beside you to avoid harming yourself. These lovely creatures live in a family structure and communicate emotions, sense empathy, feel stress, notice tension, and need a healthy and happy environment and strong relationships. Though horses cannot speak, they connect with humans and understand them with their body language as well.Caring For Your HorseCaring for your horse becomes easy once you connect to it. Once you connect to your horse, you gradually understand its needs, and eventually, both you and your horse can gallop around in sync with each other.Once you are friends with your lovely pony and are able to cater to its physical and emotional needs, you will be surprised at the levels of horse intelligence. Its equine intelligence can sense a human’s emotional state from body language, facial expression, and behavior. It can warm up to your emotions with its whinnies and demand petting. Scientists believe that petting a horse’s body can regulate your heartbeat, thus bringing down any tension inside of you. Also, your horse will be more than happy to take you on a ride to cheer you up.And yes! Taming a horse, learning to gain confidence, understanding body language and emotions, and the knowledge to act accordingly make humans emotionally and psychologically stronger. Riding a horse makes humans self-conscious and develops many positive qualities like confidence, trust, bonding, and decision-making ability.So yes, we see that humans and horses have been traveling hand in hand, balancing themselves for the needs of one another for ages and not exactly outsmarting one another!Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for ‘How smart are horses?’ then why not take a look at ‘Biggest horse’, or ‘Horse Facts’.
Did you know that there is a full set of equine vocabulary to describe horses and horse-related things, like their locomotion, breed, anatomy, and life stages?
