Temperment vs. Racing Ability

[griff]

can you get them to answer my post?/

griff

[valjoe]

Griff I would not be knocking horses' intelligence quotient while you make four spelling mistakes in a short post, surely they are on purpose. Horses are VERY smart if only their handlers would listen to them.

[reenci]

look....everyone knows....a horse is smarter than a dog.......a dog is smarter than a cat.....and a cat is smarter than me..

[valjoe]

look....everyone knows....a horse is smarter than a dog.......a dog is smarter than a cat.....and a cat is smarter than me..

..and you're smarter than Griff's goat which is as smart as the squirrel that I just run over....
on the serious side people that can't make a horse understand them makes them somewhat dumber...

[griff]

I did not say I was smart, I said horses are not smart.. And they are certainly not as smart as dogs.

When you pair a horse with a mule the mule will pull just enough to keep the traces tight and eventually, if not corrected, the horse will over heat and die.. On the other hand when a mule gets too hot it will stop and you can not make it go until it has cooled. Again, goats, mules, pigs dogs and many other critters are much much smarter than horses.

I really do like horses, and blonds.

griff

[Bunty Lawless]

can you get them to answer my post?/

griff

The smart ones wouldn't bother.

[Toccet02]

Don't horses get credit for being as intuitive as they are? Look at dressage horses who respond precisely to cues that the uninitiated can't even see.
Doesn't that count for something? Dogs couldn't do that. Not for a whole 8-10 minute performance. Besides, there are different types of intelligence.

[pfrsue]

Look at dressage horses who respond precisely to cues that the uninitiated can't even see.
Doesn't that count for something? Dogs couldn't do that. Not for a whole 8-10 minute performance.

With rare exceptions...

[griff]

the dressage horse is very well trainer but resonds immeditely to the cues they recieve; they do not store the 8 to 10 minute preformance.

And dogs can and do respond to cues w/o physical contact.

griff

[Fair Play]

There are the hot, silly ones that seem SO high strung that people expect them to go like a flash on the track - and lose their race on the way to, or in, the paddock. Then there are the stubborn, brutish kind that can run a hole in the wind in the morning but will usually get a bee in their bonnet in the afternoon and get rank and refuse to run. I have a pal who is a trainer who calls these kind "common." As in low class.

Then there are the elegant, smart ones that keep it all between the ears until the gate opens. They listen to their rider, pay attention and focus, and are all guts. They are all about the game. Those are the horses with CLASS. That kind of temperament is my favorite of all - in a racehorse, a riding horse, a show horse, or a horse to train for anything at all.

Yeah. What Madelyn said . . .

I have seen this more often than not as well. It reminds me of the thread we had a while back about aggression in the field. It seems that some of the tough ones are just out for themselves and the kind ones will do anything for you. I have galloped hundreds of babies over the years, and will take one who is more laid back (until the quarter pole) everytime. I hate the ones who come unglued over every little thing.

[Toccet02]

the dressage horse is very well trainer but resonds immeditely to the cues they recieve; they do not store the 8 to 10 minute preformance.

And dogs can and do respond to cues w/o physical contact.

griff

I know they don't store the whole performance. I was referring to the focus and discipline to remain responsive and alert that long.

[Toccet02]

Look at dressage horses who respond precisely to cues that the uninitiated can't even see.
Doesn't that count for something? Dogs couldn't do that. Not for a whole 8-10 minute performance.

With rare exceptions...

WOW. What a clip! OK, I take it back.

[Dave C]

Intelligence in animals is rated on their ability to learn new skills or routines and the number of skills or routines they can learn. On both measures horses do very well, which if you think about it is only natural since the domesticated horse has been subjected to training for the entire period of domestication, and partially selected for on the basis of that training. Of all the domesticated species those that are strictly beasts of burden are unique in this regard.

Dogs can rate very high on intelligence scores as well but it can vary widely from breed to breed depending on the degree to which learning was a prerequisite for breeding selection. Those breeds of dogs which have been selected for the quality of their meat (in certain countries) are noted for their below average intelligence for their species.

In all species the variation between individuals of the same species (even when closely related) can be very large.

[Sylvie Hebert]

what separates man from animal is not intelligence but imagination...