How intelligent do you rate your horse?

[Pidge]

I have been teaching Pidge different things, and tonight I asked him "give me your leg" so I can pull it forward after putting the saddle on, however I was by his right leg and nothing happened, looked at his left leg and he was waving it in front of me ready for me to pull forward! Oops had forgotten I had been doing that leg first each time, he obviously hadn't!
So was just wondering whether you think you horse is intelligent or not?

 

[CastleMouse]

Castle is a very clever pony!

He is able to open practically anything!

 

[Natalie_H]

I rate my horse as super intelligent! (but I am biased!). My instructor agrees with me. When I first started schooling him as a 4-y-o off the track, she repeatedly had to keep telling me to remember that he's ten steps ahead of me!! Only have to practice a test twice and he knows it back to front. My instructor tells me not to practice them as he learns them & then works out how to evade everything! I have also been told that while I mix his feed in the barn he scrapes his teeth down the barn door (which I can hear) then puts his ear to the door to listen for my reaction!

 

[Pidge]

too clever for their own good sometimes aren't they!

 

[JoBo]

Blacks- Amazingly intelligent. He picks thing up very quickly.

Otto- Thick as two short planks. Taken him a year to work out which stable is his. Blacks learnt in two days.

 

[Blizzard]

LOL mine is far too clever for her own good! wish she would use it to my advantage!

 

[spotty_pony]

Pug is clever - he can open his stable door, my grooming box and can sniff food out from a mile away!

 

[Natalie_H]

You are right there!!! He also watches me to see when the electric fencing is off & proceeds to smash through it! He knows that when I touch it, it is safe (uses me as a guinea pig!). He was staying at a friends recently - & she noticed he was in the field next door, but the electric fencing was all up (& On!). She brought him back & watched him for 10 minutes from her kitchen to see how he did it. He went nowhere near it. She went to answer the phone & when she came back he was over there again - should have called him Merlin!! We still don't know how he did it!

 

[Natalie_H]

LMAO!!!!! Otto is hilarious!!!!!

 

[Natalie_H]

PMSL!!! How funy - My mum's TB acts like a cabbage but is more clever than we think. The vet was up on Saturday to treat my horse's hoof abscess. He was being a pig, so the vet had to give him 2 intravenous sedatives - my Mum's TB waited for the sedative to take effect, then sauntered in & started eating my boy's hay from right under his nose (my horse is a classic bossy boots)

 

[sevenoceans]

Sue1 it's too true .....

 

[RachelB]

Mine is more intelligent than she wants to let on... she's not so intelligent that she doesn't know what to do with herself, but she is very clever. You only have to tell her something twice and she's got it, and she's so polite that she will do it for you any time after that! I remember when she was having her vetting, she could have done the flexion tests herself... 'ok aunty vet, you want this leg next... then we wait... then we trot like mad to this end of the yard... now we stop and walk back...'! She picks things up really quickly, but gets frustrated when it doesn;t work (like her snak-a-ball, she was fine the first time but now she just stamps on it to try and break it and get the food!)
Maiden always surprises me anyway!

 

[xxcharlottexx]

mine is as thick as two short planks, sweet as anything, but not to bright

 

[Tia]

I think the majority of horses are quite dim where it comes to understanding humans and even within the herd some are positively thick! Being clever or stupid doesn't really rate highly on my yard - I teach the horses something, they learn it - generally by repetition - sorry but it doesn't really make them super intelligent in my book.......


.........however!! I do have one horse who I would definitely consider to be very intelligent.......I call him my little velociraptor.....this would be my big Spotty Horse! He stands and watches everything you do and then copies you!

 

[beaconhorse]

Well you have me there. I have had Beacon nearly 3 years and still can't decide. LOL

On one hand he is very sensitive and his confidence is easily knocked on the other he is fast to forgive.

he is a true gent to handle and ride, so long as you do'nt ask anything of him. But as a late starter he is convinced he knows best. He like being schooled in the pelham because he finds it ieasier (ie false) but in the snaffle it is too easy for me to see when he is not right, So he fights with everything he has.

Not sure if that is dumb or smart lol

 

[SirenaXVI]

Too damn clever - my horse has honed the most sophisticated evasions in the world

 

[4whitesocks]

very clever when it comes to learning stuff that's easy for him to do.....also very clever at evading stuff that's not quite so easy....

In general he's a very clever boy (although a bit too nosey for his own good!)

 

[Super_Kat]

Storm - very clever
Allie - bordering on very clever
Missy - is yet to work out that jumps ARE NOT going to eat her, apart from that she's rather intelligent aswell

 

[Skiddaire]

too too intelligent >_<

in the summer i fence an area of the field off with electric fence so i can ride and loose school. the idiot charges at the fence and jumps it :O she also plays with the tape to see if its dead or live XD

she has an equinedecahedron.. rolls it round til the foods gone then somehow boots it into the hedge =/

2 summers ago i stupidly or not, i have yet to decide, i tried to teach her the horse version of 'paw' using a few carrots. introduced the word PLEASE and uh oh.. crisis. now everytime you have something she wants to eat, she raises one of her front legs and waves it around until you either give her some of it or you give her it all.

just recently taught her to 'kiss' where she moves her head so its alongside yours and you can kiss the side of her nose. now when you have her feed or food of another nature, she shoves her head in your face and waves her leg around.

you bring her headcollar out, she whinneys at you then proceeds to plod over and shove her nose into the hole.

she can open doors *rolls eyes* thank god the paddock gate is chained

and this is the best bit.. she chases my boyfriend round the field

which is a plus if he's just peeved me off

 

[Scarlett]

Darcy - tb - super dooper clever... learns everything first time, never forgets it and is polite and well mannered...

Ren - IDx - i like to think of him as 'simple' not stupid, stupid seems a bit harsh as he is very sweet and lives in his own little fluffy world where everyone loves him and he just eats all day... takes a couple of attempts before he picks things up...

Glen - Highland - too clever... has been here before in human form, understands every word I say, knows how to p*ss me off when I am try to teach him something but will cheer me up when i am down. Had to give up on the idea of selling him as he managed to pretend to be lame everytime someone came to see him - every bloomin time, but without fail he was sound the day before and sound the day after with no signs of what it could have been that was wrong.... he is fab....

 

[sorona]

Archie - pretty average, he knows to strech his own legs on request though!
Charlie - Pretty bright, picks up dressage moves straight away.
Branston - was a nightmare as a foal, very sharp, now he is fantastic and learns things very quickly.
Flint - he'll do things in his own time, not the sharpest tack.
Pickle - well, lets just say, I opened all the elec fence gates up so he had the run of the field and swithced the elec off and called all the boys. All the others went through the gates, he went through all 3 fences in a straight line!!!
Holly - now ownded by a new family; an incredibly bright little pony, picked things up immediately. Might not do what you wanted her to, but she knew what you wanted anyway. She loved to learn tricks.

 

[Bex7]

Daft and as mad as a bucket of frogs in the summer sun!

Typical gelding cob, although we have mastered giving the bucket back after a feed and standing in the stable for dinner and the snackaball in 30seconds.....

We cannot master gates, or learn that cows will not kill you if they are in a seperate field!!

 

[fairhill]

Meg - she's a bit of a 'Tim' - nice but dim. She's not scared by anything as she hasn't got the imagination, and is everybody's friend (horse or human). It took her 10 minutes to find her tea the other evening, and it was in the same place it's been for the last 2 years.
Chloe the cob - slow to learn, but once she's learnt (good or bad habits) she never forgets. She's smart in that she attempts every evasion possible when riding. It's took 7 years to teach her right canter lead as she'd had 7 years cantering 'wrong' before we got her. I can't practise a dressage test all the way through cos after two runs through she dives up the centre line.

 

[wench]

mine is as thick as two short planks, scared of everything

 

[Kelly1982]

Too god damn clever and 3 steps ahead of me all the time

 

[SillyMare]

Lexi (15/16ths TB but reg ISH) - definitely clever and has a long memory - will hold a grudge for a couple of days if we fall out).

Merry (TB) - utterly adorable but thick as 2 short planks!

 

[threeponies]

My mare can open gates etc, but only ever lets herself and my 2 boys out! She gives kisses, usually when covered in feed. My Shetlands are clever too- 1 knows one of the liveries covers her morning feed with a bucket so he paws it off, the other says please for his tea. They also have millions of variations on 'how to piss mummy off'

 

[barkinghorse]

Although most people on my yard would say William is stupid because he is always getting into trouble and is mischevious, i actually rate him as "highly intelligent" as i think he does theses things to stimulate his brain. Clever boy!!!

 

[MagicMelon]

One of mine does "kisses" as well which I taught by clicker training. He lifts his head up and plants his mouth on yours! But I do find he does it to strangers if he sees they have treats on them at shows..... which is embarassing! And he does it at home right after he's been licking his molasses lick which covers my face with the stuff. Cute though!

Ive been trying to teach him to bow but he is a very clever boy and often thinks too much and then panics. So, I have to do things slowly with him or he usually just goes back to what he's been taught in the past (kissing etc.!) as if to say "ok, I cant do this yet but look what I DO know how to do so Im not stupid mum!".

My other horses - one likes to ACT stupid although I think he is secretly quite intelligent but nothing like my boy above. Other is very clever at being a little terror, he's so cheeky. Other is of average intelligence.

 

[Bossanova]

Hmm wouldnt say any either of mine are super intelligent in horsey terms. Boss thinks he knows everything and is quick to pick new things up, I just dont think he has an ounce of rationality!!
Moon is fairly average, when she listens she understands but a lot of the time she's busy being stubborn and then she can appear quite stupid!!

Rather interestingly, the most intelligent horse we've ever had (and I mean intelligent- this horse stunned everyone with his tricks and ways of doing things) turned out to have a brain tumour and had to be shot