The Mind of the Horse: An Introduction to Equine Cognition

by Michel-Antoine Leblanc, Giselle Weiss (Translator)

Horses were first domesticated about 6,000 years ago on the vast Eurasian steppe extending from Mongolia to the Carpathian Mountains. Yet only in the last two decades have scientists begun to explore the specific mental capacities of these animals. Responding to a surge of interest in fields from ethology to comparative psychology and evolutionary biology, Michel-Antoine Leblanc presents an encyclopedic synthesis of scientific knowledge about equine behavior and cognition. The Mind of the Horse provides experts and enthusiasts alike with an up-to-date understanding of how horses perceive, think about, and adapt to their physical and social worlds.

Much of what we know--or think we know--about "the intelligence of the horse" derives from fragmentary reports and anecdotal evidence. Putting this accumulated wisdom to the test, Leblanc introduces readers to rigorous experimental investigations into how horses make sense of their world under varying conditions. He describes the anatomical and neurophysiological characteristics of the horse's brain, and offers an evolutionary perspective by comparing these features with those of other species. A horseman himself, Leblanc also considers the opinions of renowned riding masters, as well as controversies surrounding the extraordinary powers of the horse's mind that have stirred in equestrian and scientific circles.

Although scientists understand more today about how horses think than at any time in our species' long acquaintance with these animals, much remains in the dark. The Mind of the Horse brings together the current state of equine research and will likely stimulate surprising new discoveries.

Genres: Horses

464 pages, Hardcover

First published November 4, 2013

Reviews

[Milena Boyadzhieva · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stated the book book and left it a few time before I finally finished it. It is an excellent collection of studies and I would call it that, not a book. It is way too technical for the general public.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A review of the current understanding of perception and cognition of the domestic horse. The author gives a comprehensive overview of the published literature to date, beginning with learning experiments and following with chapters devoted to the various sensory modalities, including three chapters on vision alone. My version was translated from the original French and a little too technical for me to follow completely in many places but the extensive use of graphs, figures, and illustrations helped. The extensive bibliography will make more in depth reading easy to pursue.