It’s no secret that horses are highly intelligent creatures, and they might be even smarter than we think. Researchers from Nottingham Trent University conducted a new study looking into their intelligence and came to the conclusion they can plan ahead and think strategically.
The Nottingham Trent University study analyzed horses’ responses to a reward-based game, which involved three stages and 20 horses. The first stage saw them rewarded with a treat for touching a piece of card with their noses, while the researchers started using a “stop light” in the second stage and only gave them a snack if they touched the card while the light was off.
Their behavior didn’t change when the “stop light” was introduced, but something shifted in the final stage. The team introduced a 10-second timeout penalty if the horses touched the card while the stop light was on, and saw them adjust their behavior and learn the rules of the game to get the treat.
The study was published in the Applied Animal Behaviour Science journal and it offers new evidence about horses’ cognitive abilities.
“Previously, research has suggested that horses simply respond to stimuli in the moment, they don’t proactively look ahead, think ahead, and plan their actions – whereas our study shows that they do have an awareness of the consequences and outcomes of their actions,” said Louise Evans according to The Guardian.
