“Horses spook not because they are stupid but because they are smart enough to have survived a few million years.”
Up until very recently, knowledge and appreciation of the equine
mind has been noticeably lacking. Sure, we’ve learned rudimentary
things about horses through the years, but only enough to breed and
maintain pliability. Now, though, scientific curiosity is leading
some to dig deeper. Biologist Dr. Evelyn Hanggi, co-founder of the
Equine Research Foundation, is among the leading experts on equine
intelligence. From her 2005 paper “The Thinking Horse: Cognition and
Perception Reviewed”:
“A review of the scientific literature, as well as practical
experience, shows that horses excel at simpler forms of learning
such as classical and operant conditioning…. Furthermore, horses
have shown ease in stimulus generalization and discrimination
learning. Most recently and unexpected by many, horses have solved
advanced cognitive challenges involving categorization learning and
some degree of concept formation.” In short, she says, “Horses, both
feral and domesticated, are faced with varied conditions that
require an assortment of learning and perceptual capabilities.”
The small-brained horse, Dr. Hanggi points out, is an unkind myth: A
horse’s brain is not the size of a walnut (400-700 grams compared to
15); in fact, this “complex organ” has many folds and “more folds,
more brainpower.” It is equally untrue that their “flight instinct”
(“spook-and-bolt”) is a sign of low intelligence. Dr. Hanggi (Horse
Illustrated, 2001): “Horses spook not because they are stupid but
because they are smart enough to have survived a few million years.”
Although horses do seem to have a propensity to hurt themselves on
doors and fences – seen as “dumb” animal behavior by some – it’s
because they are supposed to live on wide-open ranges, not “in
small, dark enclosures with sharp edges.” This cruel confinement –
for most racehorses, over 23 hours a day – causes mental anguish, as
evidenced by “cribbing, weaving, head bobbing, pacing, and
self-mutilation.”
Horses can sort geometric shapes into specific classes and have
demonstrated an ability to conceptualize. By virtue of an
“exceptional memory,” they can “generalize about things they have
never seen before.” Oh, and they can count. In short, Dr. Hanggi
says, “[H]orses possess some learning abilities akin to those of the
more accepted animal intellectuals, i.e., dolphins, sea lions and
chimpanzees – the result being a far cry from simple conditioning.”
But when questioning the morality of horseracing, the relative
intelligence of the horse is inconsequential. 18th Century English
philosopher Jeremy Bentham:
“The day may come, when the rest of the animal creation may acquire
those rights which never could have been withholden from them but by
the hand of tyranny. The French have already discovered that the
blackness of the skin is no reason why a human being should be
abandoned without redress to the caprice of a tormentor. It may come
one day to be recognised, that the number of the legs, the villosity
of the skin, or the termination of the [tailbone], are reasons
equally insufficient for abandoning a sensitive being to the same
fate.
“What else is it that should trace the insuperable line? Is it the
faculty of reason, or, perhaps, the faculty of discourse? But a
full-grown horse or dog is beyond comparison a more rational, as
well as a more conversable animal, than an infant of a day, or a
week, or even a month, old. But suppose the case were otherwise,
what would it avail? the question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can
they talk? but, Can they suffer?”
“Can they suffer?” A simple, fundamental question with a simple, fundamental answer: Of course they can. And so it falls to us to assuage that suffering – nay, to eradicate it. This is not to suggest that we can end all animal suffering, any more than we can end all human suffering. What I speak of, of course, is ending one specific kind, one that is wholly manmade – the suffering, that is, caused by and inherent to the domestication and commodification of animals – animals like racehorses. And yes, I believe that this is eminently doable. But notwithstanding recent progress and momentum, it is by no means inevitable. For even if it is true that, as Dr. King famously promised so many years ago, the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice, it only does so through the courage, resolve, and diligence of people who believe we have a moral imperative to leave this world a bit better than we found it. Like the good people, most of you included, fighting to end horseracing in the United States.