Alongside the evolution of humans, many animal species became domesticated sometimes for a purpose and sometimes by accident. Archaeological evidence has been found that determined that dogs (Canis familiaris), were the first domesticated species. Bones of ancient wolves found in glaciers show morphological differences to the wild wolves, showing the first signs of domestication (Moore, 1995). Scientists have not come to an agreement about when or where exactly dogs were domesticated but claims have been made for the appearance of tamed dogs anywhere from 30,000 to 15,000 years ago (Larson and Bradley, 2014).
It is often thought of that animals learn problem solving abilities from humans. Since the domestication of the horse, horses have become reliant on humans for interaction. Horses look to humans to complete tasks for them. In a study done by Lesimple et al. forty six horses were tested to assess the individual cognitive functions of domesticated horses. The goal of this experiment was to see if horses can still be self-sufficient, or if the domestication of the horse really has made them dependent on humans. Each horse was given a box with its grain in it for dinner. It was timed to see how long it would take for the horse to open the box and reactions of the horse were recorded (Lesimple et al., 2012).
The Equus caballus is the horse as we know it today. The fossil records for the evolution of the horse dates back to approximately sixty five million years ago. The first horse, known as Hyracotherium, shows that the horse originally was a small, dog-like mammal. The fossil records of the Hyracotherium show that this mammal had four toes in front and three twos behind. Over the sixty five million years, the horse went from being a wetlands mammal to a herbivore on the plains. In able to adapt to the environment changes, horses changed drastically. The soft padded toes of the original horse evolved to be hooves, the jaw elongated to adapt to a grazing diet, the lung and general body size evolved for speed to run from predators and the eyes moved to more of the side of the horse’s head to be able to see predators that may be on their sides (Garner, 2005).
Horses are capable of learning new behaviors on their own or taught by humans. For instance, an experiment shows horses could learn to communicate preferences by using codes; 23 horses successfully learned to differentiate between 3 specific symbols and what action was triggered when they were touched. (Mejdella, et al. 2016).
Horses are intelligent enough and could potentially learn behaviors that are not related to their natural environment. There has been several experiments through history to test the intellectual capabilities of the species. Based on some research, horses have a perception of what a human being represents, and their response variates towards social cues. (Sankey C 2011). Even though it could not be compared with some dog’s cognition level (Leblanc 2013), and a horse capability is limited, for instance, they have difficulty to unlearn tasks (Brubaker and Udell 2015), they still represent good samples to test cognitions and domestication on animals.
There is research of humans teaching horses to test their capabilities, however, their cognition levels are not often tested from our approach. Common research done in horses test about time length, for example the relationships between dedication and time spent on a behavior and influence on the turnout (Layne Chaya 2005) or sensory cues, for example visual perceptions of an object (Leblanc 2013).
While horses are not as highly dependent on people as dogs or cats, there is a possibility of a strong effect of domestication on horses. Previous research suggests that the length of time a species has been domesticated may not have the foremost impact on that species’ dependence on humans. A study conducted by Miklósi et al. depicts that dogs have a heavier reliance on human involvement, for example in the form of social cueing, even though cats have been domesticated longer than dogs (2005). Research by Krueger and Heinze shows that relationships, as well as the social statuses of horses in groups and pairs can have an impact on the social cognition and learning processes of horses (2008).
With domestication having been established for many years, an interesting question to answer is whether domestication, more specifically horse-human synergy, has a profound impact on horses’ learning processes. Can horses learn problem-solving skills from humans? It is hypothesized that human involvement has a definite impact on the learning processes and cognition of domesticated horses. Given this, it is predicted that if horses learn a puzzle from humans, then it will be solved faster than a puzzle of relatively equal difficulty solved alone. Moreover, it is predicted that the horses will only be able solve the puzzle learned from watching humans, and be unable to solve the second puzzle alone at all.