Do Horse Think?
Horses certainly do think - to survive in the wild over millions of years they have had to develop the ability to think extremely quickly (although their initial “startle” reflex on becoming aware of dangers such as a predator is more instinct than thinking). Once they have become aware of a potential danger, they must quickly assess the situation, and decide whether or just move to keep the danger outside their personal space.
Some horses seem to show more intelligent thought than others. For example, some work out quite quickly how to undo their stable bolts and escape - a few even learn how to undo the doors of other horses in the yard and let out the occupants. This requires both planning and understanding of the outcome of their action.
The ability to look ahead shows high-level thinking ability, and although horses may not be able to plan and look ahead to the extent that humans can, they understand time and know that certain things will happen at a certain time of day, for example feed times. If a horse is thirsty, it has to think to go to the water source. If it is in a field at feed time, it shows thiking ability by wandering over to the fate and looking expectantly (looking ahead) in the direction from which you will come with its feed bucket.
In order, for example, to complete a round of jumps, the horse has to cocentrate quite hard, thiking about the various aids its rider is giving it and what they mean - more impulsion, slow down, and turn here - and it has to realize that the humps its rider has aimed it as is the one it is required to clear. It then has to gauge its own strides, or perhaps regulate them in accordance with its rider’s instructions, and take off into the air in the right place. Only the horse itself can decide, by thinking quickly, just how high to propel itself into the air. This take considerable judgement, even with experience and practice, and cannot be done without clear thought.
REASONING POWER
It is often said that horses have no reasoning power, reasoning being the ability to think out a problem or situation and overcome it. Many experienced and sensitive horsepeople deny this, knowing from their own experience that horses can solve problems. In one informal experiment, horses were given feeds in buckets with loose lids which they had to remove before they could eat. Mos of the horses clearly considered the situation and by various means remove the lids calmly. Only a few bashed frustratedly at the buckets, showing no ability to think through the problem.
In another incident, a mare was caught by one hind leg in a looses wire fence. She was seen to turn her head and look for several seconds at the loop of wire round her leg. She then raised her other hind leg, felt the wire carefully with her (shod) hoof, stepped on the loop pressing it down to the ground and freed her trapped leg. This is an obvious example of clear thought and reasoning power.