Do racehorses recognise each other?

[nffctilidie]

e.g. In the paddock before a race does Beef or Salmon look at Best Mate and think 'oh no! not him again, he always beats me'

[FredPuli]

You ascribe a lot to them; they don't think of 'winning' like that. They certainly recognise other horses.. The great problem is that all horses are herd animals. Their herds in the wild have leaders and the rest follow. the problem is that your animal might think leader or think follower ( and so be happiest in mid herd). Some are natural front runners. Most are not and the trick is a) to 'uncover' them, bring them out of the 'herd' running at the last moment so they pass the post first b) with leading types pace them for the distance; this may mean slowing the pace Both kinds may seem to enjoy winning big races; but the likelihood is that they simply learn to associate the crowds with reward and lots of fond attention from their connections ; they don't associate it with leading at the post.

[dannyshaw]

this is realy hard to answer because u cant read a mind of a horse but as a mother gives birth they seem to allways watch them and care about them more than any other horse so therfore they can reconise