Are horses intelligent?

[Accy cyclist]

I ask because out on my bike today i passed some horses in a field. I pass this field quite a lot and there are either horses or cows in it. Today as i was approaching i saw one horse and a Shetland pony come running up towards me. I stopped expecting them to stick their heads over the fence then i could stroke them, but they ignored me and stood there making a neighing sound. I looked across the road and they must've spotted a man and a woman coming back in a horse box. The man and woman got out of the horse box, opened it and let some other horses out. Then the neighing got louder and the horse and pony started running along the side of the fence like they wanted to be with the other horses or something. Are horses so intelligent that they can recognise a horse box before anyone gets out of it.? I was impressed!

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Neigh.

 

[Andy_R]

No. They're stupid prey animals that think bicycles are lions.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I'm surprised horses are not in charge of the local councils round your way...

 

[Fab Foodie]

I'm surprised horses are not in charge of the local councils round your way...

Stop foaling around ....

 

[Shut Up Legs]

No. They're stupid prey animals that think bicycles are lions.

Is that what's called "horse category"?

 

[fossyant]

Said big horse to little horse "Oh bugger, it's Accy, he will be doing another poll, best of pretending we don't see him !"

 

[winjim]

Latawnya the naughty horse was intelligent. She learned to say "no" to drugs.

 

[Cubist]

We once had a 3/4 Arab gelding. His field was next to a woman known locally as a bit of an eccentric. Her bungalow garden bordered the horse field, and she was known to be a bit animal mad. I once went into her house and there was birdshit all over the lounge. She told me that she kept the windows open so the birds could come in and feed in comfort. She did not own cats.

Anyway, having set the scene, the point of this story. The horse had one day stood at the gate next to her garden and coughed. She did the only thing she could think of and soaked a sugar cube in Bells and gave it to him. She tells us he returned every day to the same gate and coughed.

 

[bonsaibilly]

They were just doing their fillyal duty.

bb

 

[graham bowers]

I asked a lady rider, who also had a border collie, how the intelligence of her horse and dog compared. She said that horses are intelligent, but that its hard to make a direct comparison because the dog is descended from predators, and the horse is a flight animal, so they see the world in completely different ways.
Graham

 

[bonsaibilly]

I asked a lady rider, who also had a border collie, how the intelligence of her horse and dog compared. She said that horses are intelligent, but that its hard to make a direct comparison because the dog is descended from predators, and the horse is a flight animal, so they see the world in completely different ways.
Graham

Much like club riders and solo cyclists, then ;-)

bb

 

[stephec]

Did you ever see a horse on The Krypton Factor?

 

[bonsaibilly]

apart from this one?

 

[Accy cyclist]

I'm still wondering how the horse recognised the horse box from about 100 yards across the road.The next time i plan on passing that field i might take some carrots for the horses, but what if it's full of cows instead. Do cows eat carrots?