New Research Says Horses' Intelligence Is Under-Estimated, Capable Of Strategic Thinking

A team of researchers in the United Kingdom has published research indicating that horses have higher levels of intelligence than previously believed.

After playing a game with several breeds of horses, they concluded that horses might be capable of strategic thinking.

Wyomingites who know horses probably won't be too surprised to hear about the bigger-than-expected brains of their equine companions. Horses’ intelligence may have been underestimated, but their intuitiveness is one of their best qualities.

"I hesitate to use the word ‘intelligence,' but they are definitely smarter than what we give them credit," said Wyoming hunting outfitter Sy Gilliland. "We've bred the best-of-the-best horses for years, and it amazes me how well they adapt."

The Lightbulb Moment

To test the cognitive abilities of horses, the researchers developed a simple game for their experiment. When the horses touched their noses to a piece of card in front of them, they received a reward.

Once the horses acclimated to the game, the researchers added a new rule. The horses would only get a reward if they touched the card when a nearby light was off, but not when it was on.

At first, the horses didn't seem to care whether the light was on or off, touching the card indiscriminately. But when a penalty was enacted — a 10-second time-out — the horses quickly changed their behavior and focused on their timing and accuracy, only touching the card when the light was off.

According to the researchers, the experiment revealed that horses have "higher-order cognitive capabilities" than previously believed.

The horses' capacity to change their behavior and focus on the task was an impressive example of "model-based strategic decision-making" that they weren't known to have, according to the study.

The researchers suggested that the horses knew the rules of the game from the beginning and were playfully absent-minded at the start. However, once they learned that they had to follow the rules to get rewards, they focused and adapted to keep getting rewards.

Horse Smarts

Scientific evidence supporting the higher-than-average intelligence of horses might be surprising to some, but not to most Wyomingites. Their horses might not be on the same level as Mr. Ed, but their day-to-day behaviors clearly indicate horse sense.

Gilliland wasn't surprised to hear how the horses showed their smarts during the experiment. In his career, he's seen several examples of horse intelligence maneuvering through Wyoming's backcountry, especially once they're back in civilization.

"We've run across horses that can untie knots with their teeth, and horses and mules can open gates," he said. "They watch you close a gate and can mimic that behavior to get that gate open."

Shawn Acord, owner and head trainer at Quarter Horses LLC, said the parameters of the experiment were like the training he does with horses every day. In that environment, horses are constantly displaying an adaptability to the risk-reward system.

"We make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard for the horse," he said. "If they want to buck, we make it a little harder on them. If they don't want to buck, we make life easier. That's a way of being intelligent, and they figure it out between the two.

“Otherwise, we'd have a bunch of outlaw horses on our hands."

Equine Intuition

Gilliland, who owns SNS Outfitter & Guides in Casper, said he wasn't too impressed with the perceived intelligence of horses indicated by the experiment. However, the intuitiveness of horses never ceases to amaze him.

"The best example in my world is their memory for terrain," he said. "A horse can go up a trail one time and hit that same trail or that same pathway that he went the first time, virtually every single time after that, without even being directed to which way to go.

“Even if they haven't been there for a couple of years, especially these mountain horses that are familiar with the high country and mountains. It always fascinates me how they're able to do that."

That intuitiveness extends to their interactions with people. Horses are particularly adept at reading and reacting to human behavior, something Gilliland sees all the time.

"If a novice is coming up to saddle or ride them, someone who isn't used to being around horses, they can sense that that person is somebody that they can take advantage of. When an experienced rider approaches them, they seem to say, 'All right, this guy knows this stuff, and I'm not going to play games with him. I'm going to do what he asked me to do.'"

Patricia Wyer, director of the Broken Bandit Wildlife Center near Cheyenne, has also worked with 1 Horse At A Time Draft Horse Rescue in Montana. She's seen similar instances of horse intuitiveness, particularly with children.

"These horses sometimes fear people, but when you put them around a kid, they're very, very different," she said. "They know the difference between an adult and a kid, and most of the time, a horse is not fearful of a kid as they would be a person."

Wyer wasn't surprised by the higher level of cognitive ability displayed by the horses in the experiment.

"I absolutely believe people underestimate their intelligence," she said.

Bred For Brains?

Intelligence can be difficult to quantify in people, let alone animals. But while horses have been vaunted for their abilities as companions in peace and war for thousands of years, they've never been seen as particularly smart.

Is the higher level of cognitive ability displayed in the experiment a recent development? Gilliland thinks it could be.

"We have probably increased their intelligence over time by our breeding programs, breeding the best to the best," he said. "We breed all quality animals – horses, pigs, cows – to other quality animals, usually for meat, speed or something else. You want horses to have a good head so that they're kind and respond well to humans. That's intelligence."

Gilliland was curious about the pedigree of the horses in the experiment. He postulated that there might be a difference between domesticated and wild horses and that horses bred and raised by humans might have an intellectual edge over their feral counterparts.

Acord also believed thousands of years of selective breeding in horses could have upped their intelligence. But he also respects the intelligence they've always had.

"I believe that the horse was always smart to adapt to the world," he said. "We've trained our horses to where they're ready to be ridden and automatically have what it takes to perform. It's no different than a track star, born, bred, and trained through the ages into the perfect runner."

Of course, it's not all horses. Gilliland knows that horses, like people, have a wide variability in their strengths and weaknesses, and not every horse is a saddled savant.

"I think there's some horses that would never get (that experiment)," he said. "Some horses would never figure that out, but most horses have been bred well enough to where they have above-average intelligence."

Contact Andrew Rossi at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.