Do horses have the ability to sense things more easily and accurately than humans, and if so, how?\u00a0\u00a0And better yet, can we make use of their abilities? \u00a0Like the saying goes, two minds are better than one. <\/em>I’d like to share some personal examples and my thoughts on what I consider an incredible asset offered you by your horse.<\/p>\n Lets make a fair comparison between people and horses. Horses live in the moment. They don’t make plans for the next week nor do they dwell on the past. Horses are prey animals and we are predators. Humans rely on cunning, tools, and knowledge accumulated from experience and external sources. Prey animals rely on their senses, instincts and bodies to preserve themselves.\u00a0 It’s essential that they possess finely honed senses and instincts. For humans…well, not always. We increasingly rely on tools: GPS in our phones to navigate, computers with internet integrated into TV’s, speakers, vehicles and even kitchen appliances to pull up information on anything we want, any time we want.\u00a0 Social websites to learn about a person or business as an alternative to an in-person experience.<\/p>\n I’m going to relay a somewhat embarrassing story here.\u00a0 Years ago, a friend and I were riding on a mountain trail which formed a loop. Not far into our ride the trail passed into a swampy area which was quite boggy due to an excessively wet spring. My friend had the lead and, without warning, her mare dropped into the muck – sinking right up to her belly!\u00a0 They managed to get out without incident, but we decided to break trail to avoid the swampy area. Our adventurous plan was to bisect the loop and connect with the original trail. \u00a0I was riding my gelding, Spud, and ponying our herd leader, Ty.<\/p>\n Shortly after our deviation, we noticed some interesting scenery – of course it was in the opposite direction we needed to go – but it was a great day and we thought we’d check it out. \u00a0The further we strayed from our original path, however, the more challenging the ride became. \u00a0We were spending a lot of time backtracking to get around dead-fall that had accumulated after a record wind storm the previous year. \u00a0We had a general<\/em> idea of where we were within the loop, but had no intentions of heading back; we were determined to reconnect with that trail.\u00a0 We were on a mission.<\/p>\n Four hours into our planned two hour ride, the sun was getting low on the horizon and the air was getting cool. \u00a0Although we had adequate clothing, water and snacks, we had no desire to spend the night in the bush. Eventually we came to the conclusion that as intrepid as our intentions were, the terrain and obstacles had won.\u00a0 Reluctantly we turned around. Of course in turning back we had to face the same obstacles: seemingly impassable dead-fall and swamp. We were, let’s say, geographically challenged<\/em>.\u00a0 We decided to give Ty a chance at leading. I will humbly admit, the humans in this story were not doing so great in that department.<\/p>\n Cut loose, Ty immediately started marching off to the east. That was<\/em> the right direction. We followed him up to a swampy area where he came to a stop. \u00a0Finding him a way around it, we turned Ty loose again. Again, he stopped at some dead-fall he couldn’t get through, and we navigated him around that. After about an hour of following Ty we crested the top of a hill, down the other side into some trees, and popped out on the trail<\/em> a few miles up from where we’d left it. Ty picked up a trot and we followed him right up to the back door of my trailer where he bumped the latch with his nose.\u00a0 His message was obvious, “Let’s load up and go home!” Without question, Ty knew where the trailer was. He needed help getting to it, but the route he chose was the most direct, if not the most efficient.<\/p>\n Another example. I was guiding a few folks on Spud. \u00a0We’d taken a cross-country path from our camp to the trail head, the destination being a scenic mountain lake.\u00a0 The climb was uneventful and the day was sunny – fantastic for riding.\u00a0 After we’d spent time at the lake, we rode back down the mountain and I planned to take a different route back to camp. But Spud had other plans.\u00a0 \u00a0Without warning, he abruptly turned off the trail into the trees at the exact<\/em> spot we emerged on our outward bound leg.\u00a0 I knew it was the exact spot because there was an odd-looking tree that I’d taken note of on our way out. His thought: retracing his steps was the way home.\u00a0 The thing was, he knew precisely where the outbound path was, even several hours later.<\/p>\n The horse’s sense of place and route might be comparable to a GPS. In some cases, perhaps more accurate since they corroborate position with visual information and their incredible memory as it relates to visual imagery.\u00a0 Definitely something we can rely on.<\/p>\n Position and path are just one of their innate abilities.\u00a0 But there’s more.<\/p>\n On a long solo ride on my mare Belle<\/a>, we came up to a fork in the trail.\u00a0 Both paths led to a crossing on the river.\u00a0 To the left was shallow; to the right was a steeper descent into a deeper pool in the river. I chose to go to the right so we could get in the water and cool off.\u00a0 Twenty\u00a0 yards down that trail, Belle froze.\u00a0 Have you ever had the hair stand up on your back?\u00a0 Well, that’s what she did, and subsequently, so did I.\u00a0 I trusted her senses. We turned around and took the left fork. After crossing the river, a group of folks camped on the far side asked me to turn around.\u00a0 I did as requested, and saw a mountain lion right at the spot where we would have emerged from the trees had we followed my original path.<\/p>\n Simply put, a horse’s sense of other animals and perception of a threat is necessary for their survival.\u00a0 But a predator isn’t always out for prey.\u00a0 It doesn’t take much of a search to find pictures of predator and prey drinking side by side out of a stream.\u00a0 A cat and bird sleeping together.\u00a0 A human being is a predator and yet we can earn the trust of a horse.\u00a0 So what’s going on here?\u00a0 The answer is communication<\/em>.\u00a0 I refer to this method of communication as empathic: the ability for one animal to feel what’s going on with another one.\u00a0 Your horse sensing you’re nervous or proud of him\/her is an example you can relate to.<\/p>\n Here is another anecdote.\u00a0 Years ago, old Ty<\/a> had a wreck where he’d injured his lower back.\u00a0 Stall rest was prescribed and I set up an outdoor pen where Ty reluctantly resided. Sometimes I would put Spud (his best bud) or Belle in with him for company when I turned the rest of the herd out to the pasture. At the time Belle had volunteered<\/em> to hang out with Ty. \u00a0Later in the afternoon, as I sat in my office, I heard Spud calling.\u00a0 I looked up and he was staring into the window, right at me. \u00a0As I walked around the barn I saw Spud standing anxiously at the fence, by himself. I figured that he had returned from the pasture to hang out with Ty, and in doing so, gave up a meal in the pasture. So I tossed him some hay.\u00a0He ignored it and continued talking<\/em> to me.<\/p>\n Something was wrong and my first thought was that Ty was hurt. Ty’s pen was behind the horse shelter and I couldn’t see it from where I was standing. I walked around to check and found…the gate was unlatched and Ty and Belle were gone<\/em>. Spud had left Ty and the herd to come and alert me of the prison break.\u00a0 Grabbing a halter to catch Ty, I plodded my way through the snow out to the pasture, with Spud following right on my shoulder. I saw Ty grazing, seemingly content in his new status as an escapee. \u00a0But there was deep snow, mole hills, and uneven ground he might trip on and aggravate his injuries. My intent was to catch him and put him back in his pen. He was having none of that after 6 weeks of captivity; he moved off every time I got near.<\/p>\n Throughout this escapade, Spud<\/a> never left my side, which really had me curious. \u00a0Unused halter in hand, I was slowly catching on to Spud’s intent and tested a theory. I turned and walked back home at a brisk pace. Spud trotted off my shoulder. And guess what? The rest of the herd followed us.\u00a0 Begrudgingly, Ty followed behind all the other horses. \u00a0Once we were on the other side of the gate with Ty back in his pen, Spud relaxed. I praised on him, “Good job, Spud!”\u00a0 Horse sense?\u00a0 Hmmm….<\/p>\n This would have been a great opportunity to personify: look at how smart my horse is!\u00a0 Looking at the facts though, things start to make sense.\u00a0 Fact: Spud knew Ty was injured.\u00a0 Fact: I’ve seen Spud on more than one occasion protect Ty.\u00a0 Fact: When Ty got out, Spud came and got my attention. But was he aware on some level that it was wrong<\/em> for Ty to be out of his pen? Did he communicate to the herd to follow us? Spud is the most alert, sensitive and communicative horse I’ve worked with, but this speaks to an impressive level of awareness and ability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Since then, I’ve done a lot of studying.\u00a0 I’ve read medical papers on the horse’s brain, and researched scientifically conducted studies on the cognitive abilities of the horse.\u00a0 A horse’s brain is the same size as a human child’s.\u00a0 A horse is capable of advanced cognition: they can use their senses along with acquired knowledge toward a specific action or process.\u00a0 They are more than capable of assessing what you know…or don’t know.<\/p>\n Friends have shared many similar stories. A mare running back to alert a husband (that she did not get along with, by the way) when his wife had come off her and been knocked unconscious.\u00a0 A horse that’s injured seeking out human help.<\/p>\n Once I was farm sitting for a friend.\u00a0 He had a young mare and her yearling younger brother.\u00a0 The mare had cast herself under a barbed wire fence.\u00a0 She was aware of the fence and didn’t try to get up. Smart. She had been there long enough to melt a hole in the snow.\u00a0 Her brother was in a panic because she was stuck.\u00a0 Now, this little horse was an in-your-space pain.\u00a0 Always pushing and playing.\u00a0 What folks uninitiated in the language of the horse would call rude<\/em>.\u00a0 I attempted to turn her and move her – it was difficult because she’d melted herself a bowl in the snow that I was struggling with: I could rotate her but not pull her out of the bowl.\u00a0 After each attempt, she’d raise her head, and look.\u00a0 She put her head back down when she didn’t think she could get up without a tangle with the wire.<\/p>\n After a good hour of shoveling snow and pulling on her hind legs to move her, sweat dripping off my brow, I finally managed to jockey her into a position she was happy with.\u00a0 She got up and shook herself off.\u00a0 We know that a horse can be smart in that regard – to resist struggling when tangled or caught – but what struck me was how saving his sister changed the relationship between the young gelding and I.\u00a0 From that moment on, he was my best friend and had nothing but respect for me.<\/p>\n From an encompassing perspective, some of theses stories might seem unbelievable. But just like training a horse – if you break it down into pieces, things make more sense.\u00a0 When we comprehend how a horse thinks, develop an appreciation for their motivations and reactions, the actions of a horse make complete sense.<\/p>\n Yet another example. \u00a0After being gone for a week with work, I was anxious to get out and ride Belle. I wasted no time in heading to the pasture the moment I got home. As it turned out I didn’t need the halter I’d brought. Belle came trotting up to me, wobbling like she was drunk. \u00a0She was tossing her head this way and that, in obvious discomfort.\u00a0 She had an infection in both eyes and the amount of crusty stuff<\/em> that had accumulated was preventing her from seeing. She literally couldn’t see where she was going. She followed me right into the barn and let me rinse her eyes out with contact lens solution. She had no problem with me putting antibiotic right in her eyes: twice a day pulling the bottom of her eyelid open to put a strip of ointment in. The halter remained unused during these treatments. Days later, when she considered herself healed<\/em>, she wanted nothing more to do with the ointment.\u00a0 She knew when she needed help and she knew when she was done with it.<\/p>\n In the human world we are skeptical of things we can’t see or touch. \u00a0We shy away from conversations involving anything that isn’t explainable with our five senses.\u00a0 We discount the fact that other animals have advanced cognitive abilities, simply because they think and act differently<\/em> than humans do.\u00a0 And moreover, they communicate<\/em> differently than we do.\u00a0 How often in history have humans been condescending to one another because of different customs, beliefs and language?<\/p>\n We personify horses when they display human-like behavior, but give little credit them for the abilities they actually have.\u00a0 It’s clear in many of these examples that the horse is capable of communicating their perception and needs.\u00a0 Ever had a horse bump you because he or she wanted something?<\/p>\n Horses continuously demonstrate that they have acute, innate senses that are above and beyond those that humans typically make use of.\u00a0\u00a0And that is to be expected since they are, after all, a prey animal whose lives are governed by senses and responses that allow them to continue surviving as a species. The human brain has several areas that are responsible for speech production, articulation and language processing.\u00a0 The horse’s brain significantly lacks the complexity ours does for these abilities.\u00a0 However, they’re still able to communicate, and exceptionally well I might add, without that.<\/p>\n Consider horsemanship in part as the art of learning<\/em> how to communicate with a horse. And art\u00a0has no boundaries – we can shape it; take it in in many directions. Try different things and view the results. Explore and adapt.<\/p>\n Similarly, communication itself involves multitudes of factors.\u00a0 Successful communicators are artisans. Communication in the realm of horsemanship is what we refer to as feel<\/em>. \u00a0The horse feels of us primarily through our focus, space, energy, empathy and intent.\u00a0 The aids are secondary.<\/p>\n Pursuing an understanding of horse sense: their senses, cognitive abilities and instinctive behaviors yields many positive results: our actions become thoughtful, our timing becomes more precise, our releases become more natural, our horses try harder for us because we’re directly addressing their needs.<\/p>\n The other part is, well, if you don’t have a GPS you can use that horse sense to get back to the trailer and avoid mountain lions along the way!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hey, while you’re here, are you interested in sharing your horse stories?\u00a0 We might use them in future articles and podcasts!\u00a0 You can view member submitted horse stories here<\/a>.\u00a0 To add your own, just sign in to your AHC Account, <\/a>or if you’re signed in, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scott Phillips<\/p>\n November 2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do horses have the ability to sense things more easily and accurately than humans, and if so, how?\u00a0\u00a0And better yet, can we make use of their abilities? \u00a0Like the saying goes, two minds are better than one. I’d like to share some personal examples and my thoughts on what I consider an incredible asset offered you by your horse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Horse Sense: GPS<\/h3>\n
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Horse Sense: The Alert System<\/h3>\n
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Advanced Cognition and Self Awareness<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Great Communicators<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>