Horse Brain, Human Brain: The Neuroscience of Horsemanship

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When the brains of domesticated horses are compared to wild horses, the wild brains are up to 30% larger. However, this doesn’t mean that our pet horses are not as intelligent as their wild counterparts! This reduction in brain size is most likely due to them no longer needing the parts of the brain which are required for them to survive in the wild. Does The Size Of a Horse Brain Matter?

Note: The images in this article were generated by AI and are for illustrative purposes only. Asked by You: Your Equine Brain Curiosities Answered! The diameter of a horse's brain ranges from a little over an inch to nearly four inches in some breeds. An average saddle horse has a brain diameter of about three inches at full maturity. From birth to adulthood, I'm guessing that the overall average is around two to two-and-a-half inches. In the photo below, I've inserted a full-sized photo of a horse's brain (sectioned in half) into the actual skull of a typical adult horse. (The horse skull is courtesy of my good friend, Howard Pitzen, of the North Star Stampede Rodeo in Effie, Minnesota.) The brain in this case is a bit larger than the overall average.One factor affecting the size of the horse’s brain has been identified, and that is evolution. Amazingly, horses’ brains are gradually shrinking! It is believed that over a very long period, horses’ brains have shrunk by up to 16%. The effects of sensory deprivation are cumulative. When horses cannot see out of an indoor arena, they rely more on hearing. If they are close to age 20, chances are good that their hearing is impaired. The combination of visual limitation and hearing impairment forces the equine brain to attend even more astutely to smell. And so on. Hold your horses! We've got some brainy questions from our readers that deserve some spotlight. Let’s trot through these queries with the same gusto a horse shows when it hears the dinner bell. How Big Is a Horse's Brain? As many trainers have found, this is why horses often need to be taught a new skill firstly on one side, and then on the other! They cannot transfer what they have learned directly from one side to the other, although they may learn much faster when it comes to learning on the second side. It may also explain why some horses perform far better on one side than the other. What Are the Parts of the Horses Brain? This natural asymmetry starts at birth, as horses are born in a diving position with one leg slightly in front of the other. The leg that comes out first will usually be the dominant one.

Fig 9. Transverse magnetic resonance image of the equine brain on the level of the caudal commissure. Horses with sensory disabilities like blindness or deafness usually perform well, especially if they have learned their disciplines prior to losing the use of an eye or ear. Eye ulcers require an infected eye to be removed after gradual deterioration of sight. That’s what happened to Addy and Patch. So your horse might be more distressed than you know. Go easy on him during sensory deprivation—build up time in the indoor arena gradually, ask staff to minimize unpredictable outdoor noises, encourage relaxation, and praise calmness. Introduce scary places with a sniffing expedition on halter and lead, making the adventure as pleasant as possible. Add an experienced equine buddy, if necessary. In the first place, horse brains come in a variety of sizes; from new-born to adult, from miniature breeds to huge draft horses. This whole network is intricately interconnected with every single part of the body through a complex series of nerves, and the different body systems can adapt and respond to changes in circumstances in response to signals sent from the brain. How big is a horses brain?

TRUE TRAINING 83 - The Butter Canter

First described over 100 years ago, equine headshaking is still not well understood. UC Davis researchers confirmed that the trigeminal nerve, a large nerve that runs across the face, fires too often in affected horses, causing tingling, itching, or burning. It is seasonal in approximately 60% of cases, and signs can be triggered in response to wind, light, or increased exercise intensity. In severe cases, horses may experience self-inflicted trauma or interference with eating, leading to compromised welfare. The horse’s brain is broadly divided into three regions, each with a left and right side or hemisphere. Radio stations mask some scary noises in an indoor arena. Novice horses often look for the origin of radio voices, becoming calmer when they identify the source. When horses see someone walk to the radio and adjust its volume, they are less frightened than when an equivalent volume change has no apparent agent. These observations refute the notion common among many scientists that animals like horses do not seek the agents of cause. The horse is a precocial species, meaning that the newborn foals are neurologically mature at birth. They are most vulnerable immediately after birth so they must be able to identify danger and flee if necessary.

In humans and horses, when one sense is deprived of information, the brain pays more attention to input from other senses. So a deaf horse pays more attention to sights, and a blind horse pays more attention to sounds. The same compensation accounts for blind riders like Karen Law, who listens for directional cues while jumping mid-level cross-country and stadium courses, or Kristen Knouse who navigates flat classes by hearing hoofbeats echo off the rail. The sense organs have not changed, but the brain is now zeroing in on stimulation we usually ignore. Neurons in the auditory cortex strengthen in response to blindness, so that poorer vision creates better hearing. Training Indoors Moreover, the small keratin deposits known as chestnuts and ergots are believed to be remnants of the horse’s carpal pads.Sometimes chemical changes in various parts of the body can affect the brain; for example, liver failure can cause hepatic encephalopathy. Horses are prey, which is why they are born ready to move. All mammalian brains have the cerebellum; the section that controls coordination, perception, and motor movements. To understand how big a horse brain is, let's briefly look at the cerebellum.

The Forebrain -- which contains the part that I'm talking about when I use the term "brain." Perhaps "gray matter" would be a more helpful term, although there are bits and pieces of gray matter scattered elsewhere which aren't connected with a horse's thought patterns. (In the photo, I've faded all but the cerebral hemisphere so it will be easier to see.) Whether the size of a brain makes a difference to the intelligence of a creature is not entirely clear. Some scientists think that the level of intelligence increases if the size of the brain in proportion to the body increases, but others disagree. Redrup G. 25 fascinating facts about horses (that you will struggle to believe are true). https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/features/horse-facts-653825 Accessed 27 June 2019 ab: amygdaloid body, acn: accumbens nucleus, cca: caudal cerebral artery, cf: column of fornix, cgs: central grey substance, crc: cerebral crus, crt: rubro-cerebello-thalamic tract, dbb: diagonal band of broca, flm: medial longitudinal fasciculus, fmt: mammilo-thalamical fasciculus, gg: Gasserian ganglion, hyp: hypothalamus, ic: internal capsule, IaI: lateral lemniscus, lot: lateral olfactory tract, mca: medial cerebral artery, mcp: medial cerebellar peduncle, ml: medial lemniscus, ntsn: nucleus of the spinal tract of the trigeminal nerve, ob: olfactory bulb, ot: optic tract, otb: olfactory tubercle, pfs: perforated substance, pir: piriform lobe, poa: preoptic area, prr: prorean gyrus, Prr: prorean sulcus, rf: reticular formation, scg: subcallosal gyrus, snr: substantia nigra, tsnt: spinal tract of the trigeminal nerve, vtd: ventral tegmental decussation, VII: facial nerve, 3: third ventricle.

Understanding Equine Sensory Perception: Seeing the World Through Horse Eyes

Unlike humans, horses don’t have a gallbladder and therefore cannot store bile. Bile is an emulsifying agent produced in the liver that helps break down fats. Other scientists have compared the brain size of horses to humans at different ages. They have concluded that the horse has a brain the size of a human child, with the mental capability of a 12-year-old. In the past, horses have been taught to perform basic math, reading, and even spelling exercises!