Self awareness and mirrors

Do horses know it is their own reflection in a mirror?

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Wagtail

Wagtail

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Do some horses recognise that it is their own reflection in the mirror? I believe that whilst most horses think that it is another horse in the reflection, a few actually work out that it is themselves they are seeing. I believe my mare is one of these. Since retiring her due to injury 3 years ago we have had arena mirrors installed. I am bringing her back into work at the minute. She has never seen a mirror before in her life. Her first reaction was as I expected, excitement. She thought it was another horse and promptly went into show off mode which included lots of passage :D. Then, when I led her up to the mirrors she still thought it was another horse and took up a typical 'new horse greeting stance' all ready to squeal and strike with a foreleg. But then she copped sight of me in the mirror standing next to her reflection. She looked hard, and then she looked back at the real me and again at the reflection. Then again her own reflection. The tension and show off mode disappeared as I could almost hear the penny drop. She nosed the mirror and then stood all quiet. Now when we walk past the mirrors she admires herself if I let her turn her head. That's what I think she's doing anyway. She is very beautiful.
 
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Definitely some ;)

The mirror test has been criticised for being non ecologically valid (i.e. it's not something that would happen in nature and so setting animals up to fail) and as such not a good reason to conclude that other animals do not have a sense of self.

I have seen horses clearly not understand, but I have also seen horses who do appear to know what they're seeing.

Mind you, I also contest the idea that horses cannot learn by observation, since I have one in the field who has never been groundwork trained by me, but who watches everything, and then surprises me by knowing all my cues without being taught :D

Smarter than we give 'em credit for, I think :)
 
My last mare used to scowl at her own reflection in our training mirrors, she even once tried to bite the 'scary horse' looking at her as I trotted past and got bit of a shock when her nose met the mirror!
 
Brightbay said:
Definitely some ;)

The mirror test has been criticised for being non ecologically valid (i.e. it's not something that would happen in nature and so setting animals up to fail) and as such not a good reason to conclude that other animals do not have a sense of self.

I have seen horses clearly not understand, but I have also seen horses who do appear to know what they're seeing.

Mind you, I also contest the idea that horses cannot learn by observation, since I have one in the field who has never been groundwork trained by me, but who watches everything, and then surprises me by knowing all my cues without being taught :D

Smarter than we give 'em credit for, I think :)
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Oh I definitely think they are, yes. I also think that some horses ponder over things. When teaching new schooling moves for example. They can just not get it, but then the following day do it straight away, as though they have thought about it, or the learning has just filtered through. They think about things a lot. A gelding at my yard was really taken by a foal that was born in the stable next to him. He stood and watched everything through the bars. Then when we let the foal out in the adjacent paddock to him he kept the other geldings away. He was particularly nasty in sending the lowest ranked gelding away. This gelding really was a complete loony. He obviously knew that and thought he was the one that would pose the most threat to the baby.
 
Another horse at my yard used to have a stable mirror at his old yard after his companion was taken away. He used to cuddle up to his reflection as though it was his best buddy. When he first saw the mirrors he went up to them and did exactly the same thing as though he had seen his old friend again.
 
LOL I just did a post about Herbs attacking the mirror when he saw his reflection. I don't think he knew it was him. ;)
Merryn loves his reflection but I think he thinks it's another horse and is his friend. He looked surprised when the other horse had an owner who looked just like me ;) :p :D
 
LauraWheeler said:
LOL I just did a post about Herbs attacking the mirror when he saw his reflection. I don't think he knew it was him. ;)
Merryn loves his reflection but I think he thinks it's another horse and is his friend. He looked surprised when the other horse had an owner who looked just like me ;) :p :D
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:D:D
 
I saw a lovely experiment where a sticker was put on a crow's body, but out of sight. The crow paid no attention to the sticker, until he/she was shown their reflection in a mirror. At that point the crow removed the sticker. They were showing that the crow understood that the image in the mirror was their own reflection. As much as I love horses, I think that this concept is a bit beyond them (I'd love to be proved wrong though).
 
Faracat said:
I saw a lovely experiment where a sticker was put on a crow's body, but out of sight. The crow paid no attention to the sticker, until he/she was shown their reflection in a mirror. At that point the crow removed the sticker. They were showing that the crow understood that the image in the mirror was their own reflection. As much as I love horses, I think that this concept is a bit beyond them (I'd love to be proved wrong though).
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My dyslexia made me read your post as being about cows and I was about to ask why you thought they were more intelligent than horses, and why they would want to remove the sticker. But then I realised you said crows.
 
I have no evidence which I can show to proove this, but I am sure that both the Appy mares were aware that they were the reflection (I hope that makes some sense). The Old one and the Current one both appear to admire themselves in windows and the current girl positively preened when going past an arena mirror. Interestingly she spooked at a poor, wobbly reflection in the cafe window of the same arena. I am not sure about others we have had, but am convinced the Appy's knew it was them :)
 
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