Overview

The last decade has seen an explosion of scientific research on the horse. This book explains the insights of modern science for the benefit of all horse enthusiasts.

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9780753801123

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"Stanley CorenProfessor of Psychology, University of British Columbia Author -- ""The intelligence of Dogs""Few books on horses consider what is going on in the animal's mind. This book provides insights into how horses think, what their level of intelligence is, and how they approach and solve problems. It also demonstrates that horses experience complex feelings such as anger, fear, or affection, and shows how you can read what a horse's emotional state is from its behavior."

Budiansky, a writer at U.S. News and World Report, may not provide as many insights into the true nature of the beast as he hopes, but he serves up fascinating historical, behavioral, and biological nuggets about our equine friends. Troubled that our understanding of Equus caballus is badly flawed, Budiansky (Nature's Keepers, 1995) endeavors to set the record straight, clearing the air of what millenniums of tradition, love, and wishful thinking have sometimes muddled, and telling the horses' story through the objective tools of science. He starts at the beginning of domestication, 6,000 years ago, with the Sredni Stog people. They, it is surmised, either clambered atop the horse or ate him; their bones are mixed together at archaeological digs in the Ukraine, marking the onset of a long, fruitful association. Horses and humans discovered what they had in common: an intuitive language of dominance and submission, an adaptation to grasslands, a social fabric built on subordination to authority and trust. Budiansky's portrait delves into mitochondrial DNA analysis, the mechanics of movement and eyesight and vocalization, but he's hesitant to guess at the ultimate meaning of this data. He is less edifying but far more entertaining when he occasionally hazards subjective rather than scientific information, as in his observation of the horse's ability to interpret subtle social cues shared with humans (dispelling notions of horses as mind readers) or when he simply throws out an idea he has concerning their fabled homing instinct. And he's incisive when describing the curious world of the stud book and the ambiguous effects of inbreeding. As a science journalist, Budiansky brings together a wealth of equine research; as the devoted horseman he is, he knows there is more than the objective interface, and that magic is a persistent part of the equation. (Kirkus Reviews)

Stanley CorenProfessor of Psychology, University of British Columbia Author -- The intelligence of Dogs Few books on horses consider what is going on in the animal's mind. This book provides insights into how horses think, what their level of intelligence is, and how they approach and solve problems. It also demonstrates that horses experience complex feelings such as anger, fear, or affection, and shows how you can read what a horse's emotional state is from its behavior.

Author Information

Formerly Washington editor of the journal NATURE, Stephen Budiansky is a senior writer at US NEWS & WORLD REPORT, where he writes about science, the environment and current affairs. He lives with his wife and two children on a small farm in Virginia.

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