Autism, ESP and savant like qualities in horses

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equine-science

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I am currently looking for case studies to research into horses that have suspected autism, extra sensory perception and savant like qualities. If you feel your horse may fall into one of these realms please could you email me at equine-science@hotmail.co.uk

What we are looking at is:
Horses that are stuborn (rather than just normal stuborn)
Horses that are aware of danger before others
Learn unusually fast or in different ways
Therapy horses
Horses with personalities that switch VERY suddenly
Horses that appear to be affected by different people just on appraoch
Horses that appear to be affected by land energies such as leylines
Also young horses with metabolic syndrome.
 
Thank you for this but really it is the actual owners I would like to be in contact with.

I also forgot to add in my original email that horses with neurological problems such as 'wobblers' (rather than fake wobblers that have pressure in the spine) horses that trip and have co-ordination issues (a bit like a foal but in an older horse) may also fall into this catagory.
 
What do you mean by a horse that is affected by different people? I have a pony who is ultra sensitive, shows odd behaviour (always has done) and is the herd leader so is always aware of 'danger' even when there does not appear to be anything there. Isn't this just a pony with more natural horse behaviour/instinct than others? He reacts to how a person is - ie f they are nervous etc but then surely all horse pick up on people's confidence/nervousness?
 
I work with an autistic child and there are similarities between the way I deal with him and the way I deal with my sensitive horse. In particular in the way I introduce something new. I'm not really sure if the similarities are due to my horse just 'being a horse' or whether he has any 'autistic' tendencies. I know from watching the documentary 'Horse Boy' that people with autism can have an affinity with equines.
 
Yes and no, hence why it can for some be very hard to label these horses as what they are. Autism can also for some mean the horse has something wrong with it. Personally I don't view it in that way. Yes this can be 'normal' behaviour for some horses but for some horses the perception is very different. This is why these horses aren't always being identified as such traits can be normal horse behaviour and viewed as such and others that fall into the autism/ESP/savant realm often have understanding owners that treat them in the correct way which means these 'qualities' aren't always noticed for what they are as reactions aren't seen but none the less their horses may still have these qualities.

I have just been observing a youtube clip posted on another forum. What I was seeing was an autisic horse that was trying to teach someone that 'give and respect' only comes with respect though others may view it differently. I beleive the horse DID understand but wasn't willing to sbe submissive as these horses are very stuborn in the wrong hands, but DUE TO them having such honesty and wanting to teach. many are very much misunderstood.
 
Noblesteed, like the name ;-)

if you work with autistic children then I am sure you may well be drawn to such horses and interact with them in a similar way you do the children, in which case it may well be that you have such a horse but because of HOW you treat your horse you aren't seeing the 'fight back' side to your horse. (though only a guess on my part and I may well be wrong.) as many of us who understand such sensitive horses are drawn to taking on these types in the first place. Sounds like you have a wonderful and very worth while job too :-)
 
Isn't a basis of Temple Grandin's work, though, that large prey animals, such as horses and cattle, have inherent qualities which are similar to the ones we label in autistic people? Hence the success of the "handling" systems she's designed, which are built on similar principles to the the "hugging" chairs etc for people with autism. I guess it's the old spectrum vs pathology approach - do you believe people/horses with such conditions have a definable, single, identifiable difference - a genetic mutation, say, or an allergy, or a point of physiological damage/difference - or do you believe they're simply further along a spectrum than individuals we consider "normal". . . .
 
Hi tarrsteps at the moment my findings are: or do you believe they're simply further along a spectrum than individuals we consider "normal". . . . to quote you. But because the spectrum is so vast there is definatly some things that are common in some that can bring about 'groupings'. Certainly aggressive behaviour (at times and very depending on certain things/people), wobblers and co-ordination problems and certain health issues do appear frequently in such horses from what I am seeing so far. Certainly a horse I worked with two days ago and my own horse have very striking similarities, as have many others had. but that is not to say that they have to have physical symptoms in order to have these qualities. Yes, Temple Grandin is interesting. I have read some of her books though there are the odd parts in them I don't nescessarily agree with, though do much of the content as a whole.
 
equine-science said:
I have just been observing a youtube clip posted on another forum. What I was seeing was an autisic horse that was trying to teach someone that 'give and respect' only comes with respect though others may view it differently. I beleive the horse DID understand but wasn't willing to sbe submissive as these horses are very stuborn in the wrong hands, but DUE TO them having such honesty and wanting to teach. many are very much misunderstood.
Click to expand...

I know a horse - well, a few now I come to think of it - who is like this. I wouldn't call it Autism, just how the horse (himself, as well as the species) is.

I'd be really interested to hear more about your research so if you would keep me informed I would be really grateful. :)
 
i'd love to have the link to the youtube clip, please.
this is fascinating and i think a friend's event horse probably fits your criteria. he is very odd and super-aware of things, for instance someone pointing at him from 50-100 yards away would have him freaking out. if you pm me i can give you her email address.
i've had a little to do with autistic children through RDA and it has never occurred to me that a horse might be autistic.
 
Yes, Naturally this is how many horses are but whether they are or are not autistic as individals is I guess another matter all together.

Also unfortunately autism is seen by many as something that is 'wrong' with a horse, human...whatever. Maybe what we should be questioning is, is a certain level of autism NORMAL and that we have moved away from it. In autism different parts of the brain are also used that aren't by the average. In most human cases people use only 3 parts, that is a very small amount of what we have, so I guess we can also question is the average person NOT normal because they don't use the brain as nature intended?? but I guess thats a whole other story :-)
 
I tried my best to stay out of this thread, I really did, but I just can't bite my tongue anymore.

OP I don't mean any disrespect, but what does autism (a developmental disorder which affects how people interact with each other) have to do with ESP (a made up ability to gain information outside of the five human senses, using the only the 'power of the mind')?

How can autism be applied to non-human animals??? Autism is a developmental disorder which affects the person's ability to interact with other people. All this is based on emotions and emotional responses characteristic of the human species. The whole point of Oliver Sack's analysis of Temple Grandin is that she finds it easier to understand and empathise with the behaviour of herd animals rather than humans. Grandin feels like an anthropologist on mars exactly because the behaviour of other human beings is alien to her. Her understanding of herd animals seems to suggest that her autism makes her better suited to these kinds of interactions. This doesn't make herd animals autistic - that claim doesn't even make sense!

The idea that we only use part of our brain is really old-fashioned and discredited (never heard of the idea that we only use "3 parts" - which three parts are you opting for? Hope you are including the frontal lobe! Then on the other hand I am rather fond of my parietal lobe as well and not sure I would want to give up my occipital lobe. I might opt for giving up on my temporal lobe, but that would be the end of this discussion, wouldn't it?!.). Neural networking models of the brain suggest we use all of our brain.

The differences between autistic brains and other people's brains are very little understood. I am not aware of a study that suggests that autistic people use 'more parts of their brain' than other people. The most current theory is that autism may involve a processing problem in the brain (hence the Philadelphia test for autism which measures the perception time of a sound).
 
Kerilli, I will have to look the clip out again.

Booboos I am sorry if I have upset you in anyway as it appears the thread has caused some antagonism which wasn't my intention. For this reason is anyone wants to contact me it might be better to PM or email me.

However to answer a few of your first questions as I'm off in a minute to do the night check on my lot.

''How can autism be applied to non-human animals''
The wanting to ''apply'' it is what humans may do. However, something doesn't NEED to be applied in order that it exists. In the same way that whether you choose ''to apply'' emotions to animals or not doesn't stop them having them. The fact they have neuro peptides is self explanatory. They many 'people' still would argue that they do experience them, is this just a human ego thing?

''autism is a developmental disorder''
Says who? it can also be argued that varying levels of autism is 'normal' and that what we percieve as 'normal' might well not be. So that statement is an assumption that is made by many but might well not be the case. What is 'normal' for one might not be 'normal' for the next. As I have already stated
some use different parts of the brain, so are they then not normal? just because they don't fit in to the 'percieved norm'.

''What does ESP have to do with autism?''
I didn't say it did have anything directly to do with it, I just mentioned it in the title of the thread.

However, I do find your response interesting as it was so different to others.
 
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