Horses are amazingly intelligent.
I took care of one horse who I swear understood English. I could give her verbal directions and she'd follow them- things like "turn right" or "pay attention". And another one understood me when she got cast in her stall (meaning that she had rolled too close to the wall and couldn't get up and was panicking) and I told her to lie still and I would roll her over. Sure enough she froze in position and stayed stiff as I lifted her by her legs and rolled her over, then stayed that way until I got out of the way.

I'm proud to have known the horses I did. Even the one who shat on my hand as I was changing her bandages- she had twitched her hoof to tell me to get out of the way, so I really couldn't fault her for the mess on my arm.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Mon 8 Sep 2008, 22:34, Reply)