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A.These are really good questions on a topic that may be tough to answer without getting down into deep discussion about human-animal relationships, animal welfare, and the ethics of animal use. Certainly philosophers and animal ethicists have devoted much more intellectual thought to these questions, so I’ll just comment best I can from my perspective in equine behavior, and will try not to get too philosophical.
First of all, with my current understanding of horse cognition, my opinion would be that it is really doubtful that a racehorse understands winning or losing a race on the track. It’s not that horses cannot understand winning or losing a chase in natural circumstances, just that so much about racing is not at all natural.
In natural social contexts, horses do seem to “race” one another. Running and jumping in what looks like playful racing is a conspicuous aspect of play among juveniles, especially colts. Among adults, running occurs in a couple of contexts. Both males and females run to escape threats. Adult males also run when chasing or being chased by another male. In those natural social contexts, the behavior seems to indicate that at some level that they have “won” or “lost.” For example, one common scenario is one or more bachelor stallions challenging a harem stallion for access to females. Typically, the harem stallion attempts to chase them off. If the bachelor is run down and overtaken, the pair may interact in a ritualized posturing sequence, after which the loser of the chase retreats in a somewhat submissive posture while the winner “struts” back to his harem. But outside of the natural social context, and especially within the context of all that goes with being trained and ridden, it is not so clear that a horse could tell the difference of whether it won or lost.
I don’t think anyone really knows what the motivational state of a racehorse is at the time they are running. This is likely to become an area of increasing importance as our global society becomes more interested in the ethics and welfare of use of animals in sport. You asked, “How would you know if the horse understands?” Well, thinking about it, one place to start would be to look at behavior of race winners and losers during and immediately after a winning or losing race, carefully evaluating their subtle postures. If you detect a pattern of some subtle postures reminiscent of winning or losing in a natural social context, such that without knowing the outcome you could reliably predict from the horse’s behavior whether it had won or lost, you might be able to argue for some appreciation by the contestants of winning or losing the race. Most people can do this by watching people. A good example is tennis. If you see a clip of the players after a point is scored without any audio, you can in many instances correctly judge from their posture and expression whether the player had just won or lost the point.
Of course, with racehorses, it would be challenging to control for the potential influence of the behavior of the winning or losing jockey on the horse. Also, a well-documented psychologically mediated effect of winning or losing of males is a rise or fall in male hormone levels. If the pre- to post-race change in levels of these hormones corresponded to winning or losing status that could be additional evidence that the horse has some appreciation of winning or losing.
And what difference does it make to American Pharoah that he goes out a winner? Even if he did understand, probably not much. And I have to agree with you that it is all for the people. Your question brings to mind the risks and benefits of these anthropomorphic mistakes that seem ever more common with changing attitudes toward animals. Relating to an animal as if it is a person in many circumstances tends to go along with trying to provide better care. Handlers may be less likely to knowingly mistreat an animal that they view as more cognitively aware. On the other hand, animals are not people, and what people think as a better-quality life is often not the case.
I don’t think a horse knows if he runs 3 or 5th but they know they won because when they win the go to the winners circle and get their picture taken
You people must be crazy if you think a horse knows if he wins a race. A horse dosent know where the finish line is or how long the race is and some tracks have 2 finish lines. A horse only knows if he has run good and has done what the jockey ask, and has passed horses or not. As evidenced by his next race. He will sometimes keep the same habit or form
I think the best way to see if horses want to race to win is to let them “race” without external factors influencing them by force like a jokey with a crop, and we will just see a bunch of panicked horses running around trying to get to their pasture buddies. for a horse winning can happen when SEEKING system is engaged or when play fighting and one “wins” the other. the horses just want it over with and want to be left alone with their other horse friends in a pasture with plenty of food.
Having spent 40 yrs in the racing business as a groom, trainer, exercise rider, and jockey. I have no doubt a lot of them know when they win! Thats why when a horse gets on a winning streak. Its a good idea to do everything you can to keep them on it! They believe they are unbeatable. Good trainers teach young horses how to win!
Dogs know if they win or lose at dog shows. I believe that horses also know.
Good morning Sue,
Of course, horses know when they have won a race. Even horses free racing in a field know they won. The horses free race because they want to win over the other horses. Watch young TBs in a field racing each other. The timid ones never win and often just quit racing and watch instead of participating in the racing for fun. The winner of races are often arrogant and egocentric. If that horses looses a race, they maybe inconsolable. You may need to spend more time observing herds of horses in open fields. We often have 30 to 40 horses in open fields and can watch their actions. These are rescued horses and often have OTTBs and Quarter horses off the track in the mix. Some horses will choose not to race and make up the gallery of observers.
We had an Arabian that at 43 lost his first horse race against two off the track Quarter horses and a OTTB. it was nose to nose and if it had been a longer race Navajo would have won. He never raced again and he did not want to lead the horses on trail rides. He live to be 46 years old.
Best wishes,
Joanie Benson
Horses do not know if they win or lose a race, or any other event for that matter, in the same context that we humans do. For them to realize they “won” while playing out in the pasture thet would have to agree upon a start/finish line, which is preposterous. Also, rarely will you ever see a horse running at 100% maximum speed for more than just a few strides – by no means a race of the needed distance to be able to determine a winner. In terms of knowing if they won or lost in an organized, official race, I do believe the great ones don’t like another horse to get in front, not because of the concept of winning vs losing, but more due to dominance of personality. I also believe that the great ones truly love their job – thats one of the factors that make them great. But horses don’t keep a tab on theit win-loss record.
I have to disagree somewhat with Byron that horses don’t naturally race one another or gallop at maximum speed for more than a few strides. I base this on observing more than once in a thoroughbred race when a horse has thrown the jockey, the riderless horse continues to race. Why, just last was there was a bad accident in one race not far from the starting gate, throwing two jockeys off their mounts and fatally injuring one horse. The other horse was uninjured and continued, riderless, around the entire course coming in first at the finish line!
I think it may come down to two basic qualities that no matter how great an athlete the horse is, no matter what the breeding, some horses like to lead and some horses like to follow. There’s the alpha horse and there are the beta horse.