Horse Brain, Human Brain: The Neuroscience of Horsemanship

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UC Davis professor and Terry Holliday Equine and Comparative Neurology Endowed Presidential Chair Dr. Monica Aleman shared her extensive expertise on these facts about equine neurology. 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 The brain is very complicated, so it’s always helpful to make a more simple ‘map’ of this ‘territory’, so we can find our way through the matter. During Straightness Training we keep him out of his survival state, out of his reptilian brain, and out of his right brain.

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.) Horses who become blind or deaf during their lives—for example, when an infection damages the organ gradually—have few problems adapting. In the first place, horse brains come in a variety of sizes; from new-born to adult, from miniature breeds to huge draft horses.So, a walnut may not be a perfect comparison, but a tennis ball -- let alone a grapefruit -- is much too large, a golf ball is too small, and I can't think of any other common object that is as close in size. //end// Aging a horse by looking at his teeth is very accurate up to the age of eight and after that it is only the approximate age. The adult horse has 40 teeth, which consists of 24 molars, twelve incisors and a male horse has four tusks. Sometimes the horse may also have four wolf teeth. At the local Horse Expo, there was a cut-away horse skull. About ten walnuts would've filled the cavity, and that apparently was the cerebral part -- the cerebellum was not exposed to view. I'd say it's more the size of a good grapefruit. A horse has a reptilian brain. This is the part of the brain responsible for its survival. It is the part that activates flight, fight, and freeze during survival.

This concept has nothing to do with the two ‘hemispheres’, the left part of the brain and the right part of the brain. A) Lateral view: Ans: ansate sulcus, ans: ansiform lobule, Cor: coronal sulcus, Dia: diagonal sulcus, Ecs: ectosylvian sulcus, ecs: ectosylvian gyrus, Ectm: ectomarginal sulcus, enrh: endorhinal sulcus, flo: flocculus, ob: olfactory bulb, Obl: oblique sulcus, obl: oblique gyrus, paf: paraflocculus, po: pons, Prr: prorean sulcus, prr: prorean gyrus, Prs: presylvian sulcus, Rfi: rhinal fissure, Sgs: sagittal sulcus, Sss: suprasylvian sulcus, Syl: sylvian fissure, syl: sylvian gyrus, V: trigeminal nerve. (B) Ventral view: cho: optic chiasma, chp: choroid plexus, crc: cerebral crus, dbb: diagonal band of broca, log: lateral olfactory gyrus, ob: olfactory bulb, op: olfactory peduncle, opn: optic nerve, otb: olfactory tubercle, pg: pituitary gland, po: pons, pyr: pyramidal tract, Sgs: sagittal sulcus, slu: semilunar gyrus, tb: trapezoid body. (C) Dorsal view, ans: ansiform lobule, Ans: ansate sulcus, Cor: coronal sulcus, Cru: cruciate sulcus, Ecs: ectosylvian sulcus, Ectm: ectomarginal sulcus, Enm: endomarginal sulcus, Mar: marginal sulcus, ob: olfactory bulb, Obl: oblique sulcus, pml: paramedian lobule, Prs: presylvian sulcus, Sss: suprasylvian sulcus, Syl: sylvian fissure, ver: vermis. (D) Frontal view, Ans: ansate sulcus, Cor: coronal sulcus, Cru: cruciate sulcus, Dia: diagonal sulcus, ob: olfactory bulb, Prs: presylvian sulcus. (E) Midsagittal view, Ans: ansate sulcus, cc: corpus callosum, Cing: cingulate sulcus, Cor: coronal sulcus, Cru: cruciate sulcus, dbb: diagonal band of broca, Eng: endogenual sulcus, Enm: endomarginal sulcus, Ensp: endosplenial sulcus, Gen: genual sulcus, Spl: splenial sulcus, Sspl: suprasplenial sulcus. If the horse is suspected of having seizures it is helpful if these can be videoed - easier said than done if you don’t know if or when your horse is having one but fitting a CCTV camera in the stable is a practical option. A horse is the only type of pet that you can ride. For outdoor lovers, a horse is one way that you can enjoy the environment while exercising. Unlike the gym, you get to exercise while exploring nature with a worthy companion. Instead, Zancanella relaxes herself, tells her horse that he is safe and ensures they both switch to using their parasympathetic nervous system. Even talented horsemen like Rashid came away from the seminar with new ideas and insights into how to better work with horses.So when we want to teach a horse something, we should take care the horse is in a learning frame of mind, and therefore he needs to feel calm, relaxed and comfortable. It’s our job to keep him out of his survival state and ‘reptilian brain’ and to keep him in his thinking state and a learning frame of mind. Left brain and right brain “concept”

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. Perform a more specialised neurological examination to assess your horse’s responses to its environment and specific stimuli

TRUE TRAINING 82 - Indoor Arenas

Airplane ears: the ears flop out laterally with openings facing down, usually meaning the horse is tired or depressed. Under domestication the horse has diversified into three major types, based on size and build: draft horses, heavy-limbed and up to 20 hands (200 cm, or 80 inches) high; ponies, by convention horses under 14.2 hands (about 147 cm, or 58 inches) high; and light horses—the saddle or riding horses—which fall in the intermediate size range. Domestic horses tend to be nearsighted, less hardy than their ancestors, and often high-strung, especially Thoroughbreds, where intensive breeding has been focused upon speed to the exclusion of other qualities. The stomach is relatively small, and, since much vegetation must be ingested to maintain vital processes, foraging is almost constant under natural conditions. Domestic animals are fed several (at least three) times a day in quantities governed by the exertion of the horse. Senses 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. 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?