Horse Brain, Human Brain: The Neuroscience of Horsemanship

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There is not much data available to help us understand what affects the size of a horse’s brain. The most obvious difference is the size of the horse – smaller horses tend to have smaller brains. This doesn’t seem to affect the overall intelligence of the animal though. In fact, ponies are often regarded as more intelligent than horses. Consider sensory compensation when you’re training outdoors as well. Wind excites the horse’s powerful motion-detector cells, creating unusual sights. Some of them are not even visible to you. At the same time, the noise of wind reduces information from hearing, and its sweep carries scents away. With a triple whammy like this, your horse will appreciate some reassurance. But My Horse Isn’t Nervous! When the animal is experiencing these responses, it can't use the brain to learn anything else. It is why you should get an animal in the right state of mind before you teach it anything. These traits are the result of Arabians having one less pair of ribs (17 instead of 18) and lumbar vertebrae (5 instead of 6), as well as fewer tail vertebrae.

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? Undeniably, horses are beautiful animals, which is one reason some people are attracted to them. Even from a distance, the way a horse moves leaves an impression. Keeping a horse is similar on certain fronts to other pets, in that it needs care and love. In the horse´s brain, the process starts in the same way, but the signal from the thalamus is sent directly to the motor center, which causes the horse to move without thinking about it first. In other words, in a horse the way from thought to action is very short.Human-centric perceptions can interfere with your horse training because the two mammals don't behave alike. Concepts such as right-brained, which is the dominant use of the survival side of the brain and left-brained- the use of the emotional side of the brain, will help you understand equine behavior. It is impossible to identify why this has happened. The main factor is thought to be the domestication of horses. They just don’t need to think for themselves as much anymore! Another theory is that the breeding of horses to maintain characteristics has led to a gradual reduction in the size of the brain.

The brainstemis a bridge between various parts of the nervous system and contains tracts carrying information from the cortex and cerebellum towards the spinal column. Many horse people know to release pressure to give a reward when the horse is doing what he is asked. It’s not that horses don’t think like we do,” she says. “It’s that they can’t think like we do. Without a well-developed frontal lobe, horses cannot hold grudges, plot revenge, try to win, plan a way to get out of working or take pleasure in making us mad—even though these are ideas that generations of horsemen have believed, especially during a frustrating experience with a horse.” However, the growth rate of hooves does vary somewhat depending on season, nutrition, age, exercise, and whether the horse wears shoes.In the centre the brain’s core is ‘hollow’, containing a system of cavities, called ventricles, and ducts filled with cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF). If the liver is damaged and unable to remove waste toxic substances such as ammonia from the body, the levels of toxic chemicals in the bloodstream may rise and mimic the effects of the brain’s usual chemical messengers (neurotransmitters). This can adversely affect brain function and lead to neurological signs such as depression, staggering, central blindness and weight loss. Around 50% of horses will recover from this stage of liver disease if the underlying cause is treatable. This area of the brain is responsible for our reasoning and is something that makes humans completely unique. There is no one else who has as well-developed a prefrontal cortex as we have. With this part of the brain we can plan, we can compare, we can assess situations based on past experience. We can weigh the pros and cons of a situation, and we can link factors that do not necessarily occur simultaneously. Showing white around the eyes: usually means they are angry or scared. (White around the eyes is also a normal characteristic of the Appaloosa breed.) The average human brain weighs between 2.6 and 3 pounds (1.2-1.4 kg), or around 2% of our body weight. On the other hand, the horse’s brain typically weighs 1.3 to 1.7 pounds (0.6-0.8 kg), or 0.15% of their body weight. Its size is comparable to that of a grapefruit or a child’s brain.

The horse’s general form is characteristic of an animal of speed: the long leg bones pivot on pulley-like joints that restrict movement to the fore and aft, the limbs are levered to muscle masses in such a way as to provide the most efficient use of energy, and the compact body is supported permanently on the tips of the toes, allowing fuller extension of the limbs in running. Horses have retained many instinctive behaviors which humans have lost. The parts of the brain which control these instincts are much more highly developed in horses. For example, horses are prey animals and must always be ready to flee from potential predators. Therefore, the part of the brain which controls movement and coordination – the cerebellum – is much more developed in horses than in humans.

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Ans: ansate sulcus, ansl: ansa lenticularis, cc: corpus callosum, cfo: corpus of fornix, cho: optic chiasm, chp: choroid plexus, cig: cingulate gyrus, cin: cingulum, cla: claustrum, cn: caudate nucleus, cso: centrum semiovale, ec: external capsule, Ecs: ectosylvian sulcus, ecs: esctosylvian gyrus, ex: extreme capsule, fo: fornix, fsc: subcallosal fasciculus, gp: globus pallidus, ic: internal capsule, log: lateral olfactory gyrus, lot: lateral olfactory tract, lv: lateral ventricle, Mar: Marginal sulcus, mar: marginal gyrus, max: maxillary nerve, mca: medial cerebral artery, prpc: prepiriform cortex, put: putamen, rc: rostral commissure, rcc: radiation of corpus callosum, Rfi: rhinal fissure, smt: stria medullaris thalami, Spl: splenial sulcus, Sss: suprasylvian sulcus, stra: striate artery, stt: terminal stria, Syl: sylvian fissure, syl: sylvian sulcus, III: oculomotor nerve. On average a horse’s brain is the size of a large orange but weighs significantly more at roughly 623g and it is around half the size and weight of a human brain. Given that horses are much larger than humans the brain size is proportionally much smaller in relation to body size. The one behind the horse can be easily covered by the animal moving their head slightly. Whereas, the horse’s whiskers act as a “third eye” to compensate for the blind spot ahead.