Horses Perception of Time

Baileysno1

Baileysno1

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Sorry to get all deep and meaningful, but just had a chat with my boss about her little babies perception of time, shes been reading up about it her lad is 8 months old, and her little girl is 2 altho the older one can rember specific events ie cleaning her teeth she can't place them in time, ie she cleaned her teeth yesterday morning with the nanny and today even though she hadn't done it she rembered the day befores and insisted she did. Her young baby gets unsettled if left with the nanny while shes at work but not for about 3 or 4 hours.

I just wondered if anyone knew if horses have a perception of time ie an hour versus 4 hours I supposed nature gives them clues ie daylight and routine association, but would they know they had been in a trailer for 20 minutes or 2 hours?

Sorry to babble just find it interesting.
 
I perosnally think animals have a very good perception fo time. Obviously they don't know what minutes are as im pretty none of them wear watches but they must know roughly how long events last as they always know when its dinner time or time to come in etc. I was told by a vet that my dog has no perception of time but his reaction to people coming home is different depending on how long you have been away. For instance if you just pop to the shop he will glance up with a little tail wag, if you have been at work all day you get him running from wherever he is to the door and big tail wags and pushing up against you, and if you have been away a long time like my mum when she works away for 2 months you get an unbelievable reaction with full on barking and whimpering and he won't leave you alone for ages!!!!
I think they are a lot more intelligent than we give them credit for.
 
My horses perception of time is ...

Is it breakfast yet? When is breakfast? Oh look her comes breakfast Yummy breakfast Wheres my hay? Am I off in the field today? Did I eat breakfast? I am sure I ate breakfast Whens tea time?

I guess their time revolves around routine and association, ie around 9am it is breakfast time, shortly followed by hay so if the routine is changed the expectation is still there?

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If I'm at work I go down and do the same routine every day, but if I'm not at work I go to the horses up to 5 times a day. But if they know time and know when to expect you by the daylight etc how come, when I was driving home from a night out the other day at 2am I decided to stop off at the field and take my boys fly sheet off. He and his wife were at the gate waiting for me. How did they know I was coming? Some days though when I turn up say at 5am before work to put fly masks on (not needed to do much with the crap weather) anyway, their faces, they look so pleased to see me and thats when I usually shout "Surprise, loves ya both!" So if they weren't expecting me then, they must know time because they know I'm not normally there at that time in the morning!!??????
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OK just read that back and I'm defo confused - do they or don't they know time????????????????
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They definitely know their routine... same with dogs. But their perception of time is nothing like ours. If we're waiting for someone to come round, or to finish work, we'll watch the clock and think 'five hours to go', 'four hours to go' etc. Animals can't do that - i.e. wish their time away! They can't 'think' ahead like that. It just gets to the time they're normally fed and their stomach juices will start working and tell them its feed time.

As for your dogs giving you different greetings... don't forget they can read even the most subtle body language. If you've just nipped out to the shops for five minutes your own body language towards them on your return is likely to be different than if you haven't seen them all day. The more pleased to see your dogs you are the more pleased they will be to see you.
 
i'm convinced they do , i keep at home & on work days do the horses at 7am , just before that my gelding shouts a couple of times for me , just as a reminder
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doesn't matter what time of year wether its light or dark ,

if it's a weekend & i have a lay in he gives me til 8am & then starts the angry 'come on' shouts at regular intervals!

he has to know!
 
Actually, my dog never ever gives me a lay in at the weekend.
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He's whining for breakfast from 6.30am onwards and doesn't normally get fed until 7.10am when I leave for work!!!
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The only way I get a lay in is if I have blacked out the room and shut the bedroom door!!! But then I feel v v v v guilty!
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I think their perception of time is routine. Even horses living out, or on the moors etc, when I was in Wales we could practically set our watches by the mountain ponies cresting the hill to come down to the spring at 9.45am! They'd hang around for an hour, then always set off to the left, along the same route up one side of the mountain and then along the top of the hill into the sunset.

For my few here:

In and breakfast. "Where the heck are you?" Gate rattling and screaming.
Lunch time hay. More shouting.
OUT! Noses pushed into halters and yet more yelling. Very vocal bunch my lot.
 
its def routine, if u think wen u feed them all at say 5pm, and each day they are all shouting at 5 because they know thats wat time u feed them at the yard. however if u were still at a show at 5pm, your horse wouldnt suddenly start screaming 4 its tea as you have changed its environment and wont associate this with tea time if that makes any sense at all!!!!
 
My horses never get fed at the same time, just at the end of the day when I've finished everything so it could be 5pm one day or 9pm another day. So it can't be routine for them??? Although, I suppose I do go down at the same time every work day evening with the same routine - walk dog whilst poo picking then go home to get the car and tack - ride - fuss - feed. But the regime is not the same when I'm not working, then I go down morning first, ride - fuss - poo pick then go home to do house work and gardening then come back down again in the evening with the dog - poo pick again and feed. Does this mean that they know when the weekend is???? - do they know that after 5 days of the same routine its going to change and then I throw them totally out of sync by taking annual leave!!!
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My horse isnt fed at the same time either, and is not ridden at the same time each day.

I think he does have perception of time.
He will always have his nap at 9:30am
if i come up at that time, i will always find him fast asleep!

In winter, they all come up at 5:30 and wait at the gate to come in

Its obviuosly nothing like ours. But then again, if you didnt look at your watch... would you have any idea what time it was!?!
 
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