What ’s the difference between a dog and a Equus caballus ? Well , wait past the more obvious distinctions – the hoof ; the mane ; the lack of woofing – and you ’ll find the two metal money are actually a wad more similar than they seem .
Humans’ best friends
Of all the species humanity has domesticated over the millenary , dogs and horses undoubtedly stand out from the rest . We ’ve develop closer to these coinage than almost any other – onlythe kittycatcan compete , really , but they simplyrefuse to take orderslike their equine and canine buddy .
But while we ’re used to the estimate ofour dogs loving us , we do n’t often conceive of sawhorse as having the same sort of connector to our metal money . That ’s partly because dog but express their emotion in a way that ’s more readily explainable to homo : “ wienerwurst jump on us and invite us to spiel andseek protection with us , ” Elke Hartmann , a researcher in the Department of Animal Environment and Health at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala and first author ofa pilot studyinto horse - human bonding , toldThe Horsein 2021 . “ Is that how horses would show attachment ? I do n’t know . ”
confessedly , the small amount of inquiry thathasbeen done has n’t discover any conclusive evidence that our equid pals feel for us the same way we do them – but neither has it been dominate out . “ We just do n’t know enough about it yet , ” Hartmann say .
Perhaps the problem is that we ’re being too human - centrical , however . “ Horses show like physiological and behavioural reception to human as they do to horses,”pointed outhorse ethologist Renate Larssen . “ We fuck that human being - manoeuvre favorable behaviors are mediated through the endocrine oxytocin [ … ] which play a role in social bonding . ”
Studies have also feel that , like pawl , horsesconsider humansa “ safe oasis ” , and stress out when their owner is absent . “ However , there was no difference in how the gymnastic horse react with their owners or with an unfamiliar somebody , ” Larssen mention , “ which means that it may be more due to a generalized confirming association with homo than ‘ love ’ . ”
But some other clues show just how attuned horse are to our species . In yet another point for the “ horses are just three dogs in a trenchcoat ” column , they’reable to understandthe human pointing gesture – an ability so far unknown outside of our little tri - species club . Equally , they ’re able to directourattention to something of horsey involvement : they “ appeared to use both indicative ( pointing ) and non - indicative ( nod and shakes ) head gesture in the relevant test condition , ” foundone 2016 study , and “ elaborated their communication by switching from a visual to a tactual signal ” to get their point across .
Like dogs , horsescan distinguishbetween positive and negatively charged facial expressions in humans – they can evenbe surprisedby the juxtaposition of a felicitous voice with a sad face . And they ’re sore to even more subtle human cues , too : just considerClever Hans , after all – the gymnastic horse that had the world convert he could speak German and perform complex mathematical calculations , but in fact was just a master at reading the trunk language of the humans around him .
But to really cement the similarities between dogs and horses , deliberate this : humans may actually be the third wheel in the kinship . Just like our pups , horses like to run and play – and in very similar agency : both coinage signal their nakedness to friendship with open mouth and behavioral apery . In fact , the two animals are so in melodic phrase that they even play like thiswith each other : “ despite the difference in size of it , the phylogenetic space , and difference in the behavioural repertoire , dog and horses are able to o.k. - air their activity thus reducing the probability of misunderstanding and step up into aggression , ” concludedone 2020 study .
“ It shows how two animals who look and behave so differently can nevertheless manage to negotiate how to play in a way that ’s comfortable for both , ” Barbara Smuts , a behavioural ecologist at the University of Michigan , toldNational Geographicat the time .
“ It ’s even more remarkable reach the large size difference between horses and dogs , ” she bestow . “ The dog is vulnerable to combat injury by the cavalry , and the buck has a deep ingrained inclination to fear animals who resemble wolves . ”
Engineered for success
It ’s hard to think of any metal money whose history is quite asentwined with our ownas dogs and horses . But while we incline to think of the two species as filling pretty different niches , the truth is that there ’s some surprising overlap .
Consider the greyhound , for example : the quick of all dog breeds , they have been breed to have silken soundbox , powerful hind leg and back muscles , large warmheartedness and lungs , and great deal of other specialised physiologic characteristics that aid them reach top speeds of up to 72 km per hour ( 45 miles per hour ) .
Compare those trait with the thoroughbred buck – loosely known as the libertine of all horse breeds , and capable of passing alike speeds to the greyhound – and you may noticesome similarities . large hearts ; specialized coat ; jacked - up hind muscles – they ’re all there , assist the beast execute that same ecological recess ( enable human gaming ) as their canine buddy .
And that ’s barely the commencement . For almost every role one coinage has been bred for , so too has the other : if you ca n’t get your hands on a carthorse , for example , there are huskies and sled bounder ; for those who do n’t need a template dog , meanwhile , a see - eye Equus caballus makes a dandy fill-in .
“ They want to please you , ” guide horse trainer Katy Smith toldThe Guardianin 2018 . “ It ’s the way they watch you and want to be with you [ … ] Get some panniers and they can also carry your shopping . ”
Much like dogs , too , horses come in all dissimilar shapes and sizes – and much like wienerwurst , that ’s directly due to human meddling . “ tameness has made both mintage highly successful and widespread all over the world , ” wrote Juliane Bräuer , head of the DogStudies Lab at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology , in a 2023 clause forPsychology Today .
“ Dogs and sawhorse are used for many purposes and undergo blanket grooming in various human cultures , ” she added . “ Although horse were domesticatedmuch laterthan dogs – about 4,000 days ago – they have also evolved special science to communicate with human being . ”
The fuzzy of it all
Of course , as utilitarian and hard-nosed as our domesticated animal friends are , that ’s probably not why most of us keep them close to us . We do n’t just like pet dogs , we getmeasurable wellness benefitsfrom it ; evenly , we do n’t just love looking after horses , we advance asense of peacefulness and safetyfrom doing so , making both metal money worthful as therapy animals .
But apart from all that , gymnastic horse also share some unexpectedly precious characteristics with their cuspid sidekick . They get the zoomies , for example ; they ’re super - social and love hugs and philia ; they even wish toroll around in the snowand make coke Pegasuses .
So is it weird to think of knight as just big dogs ? Not really . As we ’ve check , they have quite a raft in common – and for some cultivation , that has always been obvious : “ in the Ioway language , a horse is called a ‘ big Canis familiaris ’ , ” Bräuer point out .
“ The link between knight and dog in Ioway and other Indigenous languages underline something important , ” she wrote . “ In some room , one can consider the Equus caballus as a heavy dog – at least one of the very few animate being that are willing to form a close relationship with us . ”
