My horses are dumb.

I get asked this question a lot. Are horses smart?
Today, I came up with my answer.

Yes, some horses are very smart. I have witnessed a few horses using their lips to open their stall doors. I have even seen a horse drinking out of a water bottle using their lips to hold it in the air. My favorite kind of smart horse is one that poo's in a corner of their stall, makes for easy clean up; and they don't have to stand in filth.  When it comes to riding... I have seen many a horse dump a bad rider because they were just very annoying. I mean if a horse is so smart, why would it let a predator on it's back? A smart horse really wouldn't let you near it, but they are trusting, and so I will let that one go.

My friend Charlene giving a horse a drink of water. This one was a smarty pants. 

Yet, are my horses smart? No.

My two girls are not gifted. I have witnessed them standing in freezing rain instead of standing in their shelter. Today, I went to feed them, which I do twice a day. Each of them have their own designated buckets, which they eat out of... yet... today, Ellie decided that she forgot where her feed bucket was, and decided to eat out of Raven's... and Raven didn't quite know what to do so she walked out of the pen and stood on the other side of the gate waiting for me to give her orders.

On top of this they have fresh water (hand walked, thank you frozen hose) to them every morning which goes in a different bucket. I might as well have brought them a bucket full of poo. They still stand at their frozen solid water troughs waiting for water to miraculously appear. I just don't get it. I mean I even pour the fresh clean water into a fresh clean bucket right in front of their faces so they can hear, smell, and see that I am in fact giving them their water.

I like to go with the old saying. "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force them to drink"

I confess that I do own two idiot horses. But they sure do make for some pretty lawn ornaments.