You can lead a horse to water and, as it turns out, get him to drink if the reward you’re about to give him is good enough for him, according to new research.

In particular, new research, according to the BBC, claims that horses are much smarter than we think, as it was observed that they can quickly adapt to educational games with treats and alternating rules.

Researchers from Nottingham Trent University (NTU) said they were surprised by how quickly the horses ‘picked up’ the meaning of the game, overturning previous studies which suggested that the horse’s brain responds to immediate stimuli and is not so complex that it develops strategy.

The new findings may lead to more human-like training systems and, by extension, improve horse welfare.

How the horses were betrayed and it turned out that they are not dumb

The research involved 20 horses, which were initially rewarded with a treat if they touched a piece of paper with their nose.

In the second stage, a stop light was introduced into the game, and the rules were changed. This time they got a treat if they touched the paper when the light went out.

This did not change the behavior of the horses, as they were observed to touch the paper regardless of the light condition. Things, however, changed when the rules were changed for the third time.

Specifically, in the final stage, the researchers introduced a 10-second time-out penalty if the horses touched the paper while the stop light was on.

The research team observed a rapid adaptation in the horses’ behavior. Now there was a cost in case of error. All of them, therefore, quickly learned to play by the rules to avoid the timeout, the researchers said.

The researchers expected the horses to adapt but not so quickly. They suggested that the fact that the horses responded so quickly meant that they were aware of the stop light rule, but found no reason to follow it unless there was some consequence. Thus, their intelligence was betrayed.