It is natural to wonder how smart your horse is. You’ve probably contemplated what they were thinking and if they truly understood what you were asking. Riders usually develop meaningful relationships with their horses, which leads them to compare their intelligence to that of another human, dog, cat, or other pet.
Horses are able to recognize human emotions much like a dog would. They can sense when you are frustrated, angry, happy, excited, and sad. They may avoid you when they sense anger or approach you when you seem happy. Your horse is clever enough to recognize your feelings.
If you spend a lot of time with a particular horse, then eventually they will learn your smell, voice, and face. Horses are able to tell people apart, especially those that they spend enough time with.
More than likely, your horse has tried to communicate with you in some way or another. Various studies prove that horses are able to show people what they want once they are shown the signals. They may also try certain approaches in order to get your attention.
An example would include a horse staring at their feed bucket that is out of reach. They will look at their bucket and then back to you. This can indicate they want your help getting it.
Your horse learns through conditioning. They are able to try something over and over again until they get the desired response. Once a positive outcome is achieved, the horse is likely to remember how they did it and repeat the action.
Although your horse might spend a majority of their time grazing and relaxing, they are actually much more in tune to their surroundings than you might have guessed. Horses are highly intelligent animals!