Are Horses Smarter Than Dogs?

Dogs are a bit smarter than horses. Maria itina/Maria itina/Getty Images

Horses and dogs are very different animals; both are very good at being the type of animal they are. And people often judge the intelligence of an animal by comparing what it wants with what humans want. Because horses typically don't have the same motivations and wants that humans do, some people deem horses to be stupid. Dogs, on the other hand, have similar social needs and respond to negative and positive reinforcement in the same way that humans do, which results in a reputation for being smart.

Another misconception is that a horse's brain is the size of a walnut. In reality, a horse's brain is roughly 25 times the size and weight of a walnut and has a considerable number of convolutions (creases and furrows) that add to the surface area. With surface area often used to define intelligence capacity, this means that horses have considerably more brain area than most people realize.

As any horse enthusiast knows, horses are very good at picking up human body language. However, they may not beat out dogs in this respect. Dogs can read our cues much better. Research has shown we can train horses to do many of the things dogs do, but that it takes much more effort. This may have to do with how we've bred horses—selectively breeding in qualities such as size, speed, strength, and beauty, but not necessarily selecting intelligence or companionship qualities.

There is no definitive way to rank animal intelligence, but when viewed by some of the common criteria for establishing human intelligence, such as memory and problem solving, horses tend to rank below some other common mammals such as apes and monkeys, dolphins and whales, dogs, and elephants. On the other hand, by most human intelligence standards, horses are decidedly more intelligent than cows and cats.