Are racehorses aware that they are expected to come first or are they just responding to the frantic urges of the jockey?
Laureen Roberts
Alderley Edge, Cheshire, UK
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In my experience, many ridden horses like to race each other, whatever the breed.
On good turf, my friends and I had to ride in single file, otherwise we could be out of control. Horses in that group included two ponies. If we allowed them to race, the 鈥渨inner鈥� was often one of the ponies.
Do they know they are supposed to 鈥渨in鈥�? The urge to race each other can be manipulated, of course, but 鈥渨inning鈥� is a human concept.
David Marlin
Equine exercise physiologist, Cambridge, UK
Horses are herd animals. Generally, in the wild, they want to keep together for safety.
Some individuals are clearly more dominant, aggressive or gregarious than others, so you would assume these would be the ones that would want to be in front.
In training, it can be observed that some horses get level with the lead individual, but then are reluctant to pass it.
Bryn Glover
Kirkby Malzeard, North Yorkshire, UK
Wild horses are herd animals whose main defence against attack by predators is to run. When one horse runs, the others automatically follow.
The herd keeps together as far as they are able, but, inevitably, it is the slowest animal that is most likely to be caught, for example, by packs of hunting dogs.
When a horse finds itself surrounded by other horses all intent on running in one direction, its simple instinct is to respond to the 鈥渄anger鈥� pursuing them and to strive not to be that final doomed straggler. This explains why riderless horses still make the effort to keep up with the pack, without any urging from a jockey.
The actual effect from the human is doubtful, but it may well be that the rider鈥檚 efforts increase fear and anxiety levels in the horse and therefore induce faster running.
It is for this reason that some people, such as myself, oppose horse racing on the grounds that it exploits the survival instinct and inevitably creates terror responses in the horses.
James Cawse
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, US
A recent essay, by neuroscientist and horse trainer Janet Jones, gives an astonishing explanation of how horse and rider, through training, can almost mesh their nervous systems into something approaching a centaur.
She writes that, in races, dressage events and everyday trail rides, the mind of horse and rider is 鈥渋n a very real sense鈥xtended beyond its own skin into the mind of another, with physical interaction becoming a kind of neural dance鈥�.
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