Testing how smart a horse is

[Xanthoria]

How do you test the intelligence of a horse for sale? I’ve been in touch with a seller and the horse is described as quiet, just wants to get along, not spooky… but we all know the dim ones, who you have to teach everything 17 times and they forget it all if they have 2 days off, vs the smart ones who learn something on the first try or process things overnight and have nailed it the next day.

Short of asking the seller outright, how can you assess this? I can usually see it in their eye, but this is a long distance sale…

[Abbie.S]

Hmm. If you aren’t able to put hands on the horse or work with them for a bit first to see how quickly they might pick something up, I’m not sure you’re going to have much luck “diagnosing” intelligence levels from afar.

I will say, however, that I actually don’t really think of horses on a scale of intelligence anymore. Every horse I’ve owned has been highly intelligent but had very different needs in terms of motivating them to want to be with you and work for you. Find what motivates them and they’re eager to learn. Fail to do so and you’d think you bought a donkey (and I both love and own donkeys…)

The “dim” horses I’ve encountered were the ones who were all-around kind horses who had been given very basic jobs (like toting around kids, beginners, nervous riders, etc) because they were so kind and gentle and learned so long as they poked around and tolerated quite a bit of fussing, they were going to be okay. Or (and I’ve unfortunately come across a few of these) horses that functioned in a state of learned helplessness and just tuned out everything all the time.

[Xanthoria]

Yeah to be honest I’ve had ONE who was “dim” - he needed to be ridden daily or he’d be back to square 1, he could trot past a cone 10 times, and on the 11th he’d spook at it and dump you, he was totally unfocused on people, sweet, and excessively athletic (ie his reactions were spectacular)

The rest have been smart. Smart as a whip, smart and kind, smart and expressive or smart and internalized, but all smart. Maybe the first horse just never felt the need to focus on his handler? Wish there was a way to know.

[candyappy]

I’ve never had a “dim” one as you describe, but it sounds more to me like horses like that have a lack of good training or were maybe pushed along before they learned things and you are experiencing the results?

Maybe the owner can send some detailed video of the horse at work and at liberty where you can see the spark of intelligence in his eyes?

[Scribbler]

I agree, most horses have all the intelligence they need to be a horse.

They do however vary a lot in how expressive they are with people and how quickly they learn things from people.

Most people understand “intelligence” in animals as “trainability” so the animal is ranked by how many commands he knows. So your sit fetch roll over labrador retriever is “smarter” than your average coyote. But the coyote will stalk and eat the lab if you let your pet off leash.

Anyhow, I think you really are interested in trainability. The horses that are “too smart for their own good” and too confident and opinionated can be hard to train too!

[Xanthoria]

@Scribbler

Anyhow, I think you really are interested in trainability. The horses that are “too smart for their own good” and too confident and opinionated can be hard to train too!

Yes I think you’re right! Trying to avoid the dull, spooky, flighty, disinterested, belligerent or aggressively opinionated ones.

[EventerAJ]

OP, I know what you’re saying. However, I’m not sure how to evaluate this mind “long distance” aside from really trusting the seller’s opinion.

I like a horse with a sharp mind, and a good filter. They are confident in themselves, so they are able to focus on you and your requests, and easily develop a connection. I love these horses. They are perceptive, quickly make positive associations, and have a good memory for exactly what they did to obtain a reward. They think on a higher plane than an average horse; they process and make conscious decisions instead of merely reacting. They are trainable, yes; but in a more complex way.

For example: my late advanced mare was amazing at opening gates for me. I didn’t have to cue her specifically “over to the left, stand still, pivot right, back up 3 steps…” etc. I just walked her up to it, reached out with my arm, and she maneuvered herself so i could reach the latch. She would stand patiently as I leaned, struggled with a rusty broken gate, and when I was ready moved deliberately to help me open it. I didn’t really “train” her to do these steps…but she knew going through gates was necessary to go out and ride home, and I was an active teammate in the process. She was extremely intelligent in other ways, but this was most obvious. Interestingly, her colt was exactly the same way, from his second day under saddle.

[Xanthoria]

@EventerAJ

For example: my late advanced mare was amazing at opening gates for me. I didn’t have to cue her specifically “over to the left, stand still, pivot right, back up 3 steps…” etc. I just walked her up to it, reached out with my arm, and she maneuvered herself so i could reach the latch. She would stand patiently as I leaned, struggled with a rusty broken gate, and when I was ready moved deliberately to help me open it. I didn’t really “train” her to do these steps…but she knew going through gates was necessary to go out and ride home, and I was an active teammate in the process. She was extremely intelligent in other ways, but this was most obvious. Interestingly, her colt was exactly the same way, from his second day under saddle.

Yes - that’s the sort! You reminded me of my last horse who had a lot of issues but his lovely trainable mind was a standout. He couldn’t get gates for a long time after I started him - coordinating his giant legs and so on was beyond him. But one day I sat on him, chatting, by the gate, so long that he got impatient and opened the sliding latch with his nose and pushed the gate open.

After that he opened the gate himself going in or out, and would even shove it closed with his nose. It was REALLY handy… except that his turnout had to have a chain on the gate

[clanter]

had a POA for my son, very pretty pony… Every Day Was A New Day as Everything Taught the Day Before was Forgotten… took us Five years of constant work before we felt he was save enough to not kill a kid… sold him to a real estate developer as a pasture ornament, he was a red roan and they had a blue roan they were using as “the horse” in the pasture to create interest in the equine development of mini farms.

He did that for a few years …but five years after we sold him my daughter had one of her horses at a hunter farm to school their jump course… while tacking up her horse her horse sees “this” pony round he corner of the barn aisle her horse immediately nickers to the approaching pony… it was the POA … the two had not seen each other for over five years but knew one another immediately

[OverandOnward]

One thing that I think is missed in many animal “intelligence tests”, and that is motivation.

There is a big difference between intelligence and motivation. The smartest animal will make little effort without something that they understand as a motivation to respond.

Just an opinion, but I don’t think horses have nearly the range of intelligence, low to high, that humans do. IMO, normal horses in the same general intelligence range, and most of them are normal. Temperament will matter more to a horse being what someone particularly wants in a mount, IMO.

What is far more important to a horse’s learning process the human’s understanding of their instinctive reactions. And the horse having a good training background that has developed their positive responsiveness.

[xQHDQ]

I do think there is a range of intelligence (there is with humans and dogs, so why not horses). My last horse was super super smart and my current baby horse is also very smart; my older guy, not as much. How do I judge this difference? The smart horses seem to study their environment more than the not-as-smart. You can see it in their eyes that they’re analyzing what’s going on around them and making decisions without any interaction from us humans. My less smart horse is just happy to exist, on the crossties, in his stall, in his field. I don’t know how else to explain it.

[OverandOnward]

@xQHDQ

I do think there is a range of intelligence (there is with humans and dogs, so why not horses). My last horse was super super smart and my current baby horse is also very smart; my older guy, not as much. How do I judge this difference? The smart horses seem to study their environment more than the not-as-smart. You can see it in their eyes that they’re analyzing what’s going on around them and making decisions without any interaction from us humans. My less smart horse is just happy to exist, on the crossties, in his stall, in his field. I don’t know how else to explain it.

I get what you are saying … personally I would interpret the difference as motivation rather than smarts.

A lot of behavior (human and critter) is as much situational as it is intuitive. That is, some situations prompt more response from some creatures more than others. Due to individual characteristics at the time. IMO

[LilRanger]

I don’t know, your older horse sounds pretty smart to me; happy and content is a smart place to be!

[LilRanger]

This totally explains why I’m not lazy! I’m just working smarter!