RMR June 2011 Article - How Intelligent Are Horses by Caprice

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How Intelligent Are Horses?

From RMR’s Friend, Caprice, who Lives on the Border of Idaho and Wyoming

June 2011 issue

A couple of weeks ago, with the snow still two-feet deep on the pastures here at Border Junction, north of Cokeville, Wyoming, I was called by a neighbor who had observed a horse trapped in a wire pasture fence.

Taking my bolt-cutters along, I hurried to the rescue. Obviously that poor animal had stood here entangled in the wire for more than forty-eight hours. The snow had been trampled down by his rear feet. His body waste was piled.

Yet, he was uninjured; not a scratch. He had not moved or struggled in all that time. Two sharp barbed-wires encircled his legs at his chest, another rubbed his brisket. The three-foot “hog-wire” net entangled his lower legs.

I spoke softly to him as I approached. He turned to face me, ears perked forward, a kind expression in his big eyes. Quietly, I moved in and began snipping wires. He didn’t make a move.

When I thought it safe, I touched his shoulder, telling him, “You’re free. You can go now.”

Quietly he reared, lifting both feet from the pile of wire. He turned about carefully, walking away, looking back at me over one shoulder and then the other.

After ten careful steps, he raced away, bucking and kicking, whinnying to alert the other horses awaiting him out there in the middle of the pasture.

How intelligent are horses?

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