The ability of the horse to remember the learned behavior. This distribution of equine intelligence suggests that it is possible to develop a field test to identify those horses with superior intelligence. While it is not practical to administer clinical testing in the field, the Guide Horse Foundation has developed a reliable field test for measuring equine intelligence. To be accurate, a field test of intelligence must measure the alertness of the horse and manner in which the horse interacts with the environment. Pressure Response - Measuring sensitivity and response to pressure can often reveal the hoses intelligence.
Intelligent horses respond quickly and decisively to applied pressure.
While each of these tests are somewhat subjective and difficult to quantify, they provide a fairly accurate measurement to equine intelligence. To show how each metric is gathered, let's examine the details of each field test. The first phase of the field intelligence test measures the relative ear motion of the horse. All horses have a range of motion of 170 degrees, and intelligent horses demonstrate frequent and independent ear motion. In the field, two trainers administer the ear motion test.