All language subtitles for Equus Story of the Horse Series 1 1of2 Origins PBS Nature 1080p EN SUB

♪♪

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

♪♪

THOMPSON: Horses.

[ Snorts ]

No other animal
has done more for us.

They're bigger,

stronger,

and faster than we are.

[ Poignant tune plays ]

And, not so long ago,

all horses were wild.

[ Neighing ]

So how did this huge animal
end up as our companion?

[ Grumbling ]

My name is Niobe Thompson.

I'm an anthropologist

[chuckling]
and I just love horses.

[ Whinnying ]

I've discovered
that's something I share

with people all over the world.

[ Triumphant music climbs ]

So I wonder:
What makes horses and humans

so perfect for each other?

Come with me on a journey
around the world

and back in time

to the origins of this
magnificent creature.

♪♪

[ Theme plays ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ Portentous chorale plays ]

THOMPSON:
A horse in motion

[ Neighing ]
is poetry.

We call them
the aristocrat of animals

for a reason.

Their beauty is hypnotizing.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

But there's more to a horse
than meets the eye.

Like their unparalleled speed.

A horse can gallop
twice the speed of humans,

with a rider on its back.

[ Suspenseful chord strikes ]

♪♪

No horse is bigger than this.

A Belgian draft horse
can pull 4 tons.

♪♪

But that isn't all.

[ Suspenseful music climbs ]

[ Performer vocalizing
tender tune ]

The body of a horse works
in some very strange ways.

♪♪

Horses have enormous eyes...

[ Neighs ]

...the biggest eyes
of any animal on land.

[ Huffs ]

In daylight, horses see
almost as well as humans.

But, at night, they see better.

♪♪

They have almost 360° vision.

They have only two blind spots:

just behind
and directly in front.

♪♪

But, even here,
[ Neighs ]

horses have a kind of
second sight.

Like a human hand, their lips
are loaded with nerve endings.

[ Grumbling ]

Their whiskers are so sensitive,

they can detect
what their eyes can't see.

[ Grumbling ]

♪♪

Like beavers, their teeth
never stop growing.

♪♪

[ Ominous chord strikes ]

And, at the end
of their long, thin legs,

horses have shock absorbers.

[chuckling] They're called

hooves.

♪♪

These natural gifts add up
to an incredible animal.

[ Triumphant music plays ]

But the most amazing
thing of all

is they give those gifts

to us.

♪♪

When I ride my horse, I forget
how much bigger he is than me.

♪♪

He's just so eager to please.

♪♪

So how did Nature create

such a perfect partner?

♪♪

What are the origins
of the horse?

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

It's a story that began
45 million years back in time.

The Eocene.

Dinosaurs had gone extinct.

[ Birds twittering ]

Tiny primates, our ancestors,
had emerged.

And so had the earliest horse.

[ Whimsical sting plays ]

Few traces remain
of that ancient world.

The best place to find them is
this abandoned mine in Germany,

called Grube Messel.

Evolutionary biologist
Martin Fischer

began his career digging
for fossils here.

It was a good choice.

This is the world's richest
source of Eocene fossils.

FISCHER: It's beautiful.
-THOMPSON: Is that a alligator

or a...?
-FISCHER: It's a fish.

THOMPSON: It's a fish?
-FISCHER: It's a fish.

THOMPSON:
Nearby is a museum,

built to hold
the discoveries from below.

♪♪

FISCHER: These are all
original fossils.

100% original.

THOMPSON:
This is the treasure room.

It holds some of the most
perfectly preserved fossils

ever discovered.

Crocodiles.

Birds.

Even bats,

with their wing tissues
still visible.

And the crown jewel:

a 40-million-year-old fossil

of Dawn Horse.

A creature like

this

Amazing!
I've never seen

such a well-preserved fossil
from this era.

FISCHER:
Yeah. It's just wonderful.

But, we have special
permission to take it up,

to see it some very close,
and I can explain the anatomy.

THOMPSON: Oh, it's heavy!
-FISCHER: It's heavy.

Okay.

THOMPSON:
The fossil is so complete,

we can even see its last meal:

grapes.

Dawn Horse was a fruit eater.

FISCHER: It's perfectly
preserved in here

and we have the four toes
in the front.

You see these huge canines here.

It looks like a dog.
-THOMPSON: It really does.

I mean, this looks like
a meat eater to me.

FISCHER: [laughs]
If you ask yourself

why today's stallions have
a canine, the answer is here.

THOMPSON: But, still, Martin,
I look at this animal.

I mean, it's tiny.

It has these big, padded feet.

I just don't see

anything
of the horse in this fossil.

FISCHER:
I totally agree.

And, actually, this horse never
thought of becoming a horse.

Like always in my life,
I wanted to see things moving

and I would love
to see this horse moving.

THOMPSON:
Martin made his name

by showing us
how animals

really

from the inside out.

Dogs.

Cats.

♪♪

Even lizards.

♪♪

But with Dawn Horse,
he's tackling something

much more difficult.

Using what he's learned
about

living

Martin is going to rebuild
Dawn Horse,

bone by bone,

and, then, bring her to life.

It's the very definition
of an educated guess.

FISCHER: We can show you
a first attempt.

THOMPSON: You've got some
of the bones in movement now?

FISCHER: Yeah.

THOMPSON:
Yeah, I'd love to see that.

Wow. Okay, so, there's
a sense of life there.

Those legs seem to be
moving realistically to me.

FISCHER: That's the point.
-THOMPSON: Even though there's

nothing attached to those legs,
-FISCHER: [Laughing]

THOMPSON:
there's no animal above them,
the legs are moving.

How long is it going to take you

to get to the full,
moving animal?

FISCHER:
I would guess that --

What you would say,
another three months?

MAN: [Laughing]

FISCHER:
Two to four months?

Simply difficult.

THOMPSON: Okay, Martin,
well, I'm gonna come back

in three months and we'll see
how far you've gotten.

How 'bout that?
-FISCHER: Okay.

Sirs, no more weekend,

[ Laughter ]
no holidays, no nothing.

Doing all this work, it

is

That's science.

It's sailing
to an unknown island

and our island, in the moment,
is Dawn Horse.

This is what an explorer
or a scientist does

and it's great fun.

♪♪

THOMPSON: All Martin's hard work
finally pays off.

[ Whimsical tune plays ]

He can now reveal how
Dawn Horse's bones fit together.

[ Clacking ]

♪♪

And how this creature moved.

♪♪

Unlike a horse,
sh

e

♪♪

She could turn and corner.

♪♪

Dawn Horse didn't gallop.

She scampered.

♪♪

[ Snort ]

Compared to horses today,
she was tiny,

a vulnerable animal.

♪♪

Desperate for cover.

♪♪

[ Insects chirping ]

It's true this creature was
nothing like the horse we know.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

But she was a perfect reflection
of her own tropical world.

There were dangerous predators.

[ Neighs ]

But also places to hide.

♪♪

Dawn Horse was built to survive
in dense forests.

[ Ethereal vocals play ]
But I wonder:

How did this

evolve into

this?

[ Ominous music climbs ]

What on Earth happened
to horses?

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

Well, the answer is:

Earth happened.

[ Portentous chorale plays ]

Early horses were perfectly
suited to their world,

full of dense, lush forests,
full of cover from predators.

I'm only a few feet away
from you,

but look how easy
it is for me to hide.

And look at all
the succulent leaves:

a herbivore's feast!

This was a greenhouse world.

It stayed hot for millions
of years and, in all that time,

Dawn Horse hardly
changed at all.

And then,
about 18 million years ago,

the Earth began to cool.

♪♪

With the cooling climate,

tropical forests began
to disappear.

[ Birds chirping ]

A cooler world
was also a drier world

and, now, early horses
were challenged to adapt.

As new kinds of horse emerged,

to survive the cooling climate,
new plants also appeared

and the result was that
large parts of the planet

were covered
by an entirely new habitat:

grasslands!

[ Triumphant chorale climbs ]

♪♪

Grasses were Nature's answer
to this cooler, drier world.

♪♪

Pound for pound,

grass isn't

nearly

as the fruits and nuts
of the Eocene forest,

but this was now
the habitat horses chose

and it's amazing,

just how much

this

[ Snuffling ]

Blades of grass are like
sandpaper on teeth.

♪♪

So horses' heads became longer,
to make room

for rows of molars
that never stop growing.

[ Snorting ]

Their enormous eyes moved
up their long heads,

perfect for spotting danger
while eating.

♪♪

Horses even developed
a special kind of stomach,

able to quickly digest grasses
and immediately run.

♪♪

No cow can do that.

♪♪

Horses now lived
in a world without cover.

Keeping a distance
from predators was critical,

so horses had to get faster.

♪♪

As horses grew, their legs
became longer and thinner,

the legs of a runner.

[ Neighing ]

♪♪

But the most amazing
change of all

was in their toes.

♪♪

They lost them all.

Except one.

[ Crackling ]

Martin Fisher
helps me understand.

FISCHER:
Remember the Dawn Horse?

Four in the front

THOMPSON: Yeah.
-FISCHER: and three in the back.

THOMPSON: That's right.
The phalanges, the finger bones.

FISCHER: This is the upper arm
and this is the lower arm.

That's the wrist joint.

These are the bones here.
-THOMPSON: Mm-hmm.

FISCHER:
And this is the finger.

THOMPSON:
The finger. Amazing.

And they stand on the end
of that finger and run on it.

I mean, that's incredible.
-FISCHER: That's the point.

THOMPSON:
And you say running.

How does this structure

make running
more efficient or faster?

FISCHER:
The lesser surface you have,
the lesser friction you have.

The lesser friction you
have, the faster you can go.

THOMPSON:
Right. Stands to reason.

So it makes sense that you
would go up on one toe

and have a delicate
connection to the Earth.

FISCHER: This is really
an extreme adaptation.

THOMPSON:
The epitome of a runner.

♪♪

Standing on a single toe,
the horse sits far out

on the end of its
evolutionary branch:

an animal built to run,

specialized for speed.

♪♪

Millions of years
after it evolved,

that extraordinary ability
has us bewitched.

♪♪

In the modern world, machines
do the work horses once did,

but our fascination
with the running horse

hasn't ebbed at all.

♪♪

For good reason.

There's no other animal on Earth
that can carry a human

this fast.

♪♪

It just shouldn't be possible.

How does this huge mammal
practically fly?

[ Birds chirping ]

If you want to understand
just why horses are so fast,

Kentucky is
a good place to start.

David Lambert
has spent a lifetime

studying the thoroughbred,

breaking down the physics and
chemistry of a running horse.

I've pulled David away from
his work to help me understand,

with the help of a special,
slow-motion camera.

There we go. So we'll be able
to see the footage

on this monitor
as the horse runs by.

LAMBERT: Perfect.
Yeah. Let's do it.

[ Hooves thudding ]

THOMPSON: Hoh!
-LAMBERT: [Laughing]

THOMPSON:
Honestly, all I see is a blur

LAMBERT: Yes. Yes.
-THOMPSON: of moving parts
as he goes past.

If we take that run-past
and slow it down a little bit,

tell me what you're
seeing there in the body.

LAMBERT: So let's look
as he puts his foot

onto the ground, right there,

and, now, he's loading that
tendon and that ligament,

and it's bouncing
and throwing the leg forward.

That leg's being thrown
by elastic, stored energy,

not by muscle.

And it's like a catapult.

The size of the forces
just throw those bones

out there and back again
and onto the next stride.

THOMPSON:
So that's very efficient,

when those elastics give

the energy back to the horse.
-LAMBERT: Yes.

Yes, without
that elastic energy,

he'd have to have legs which
were 100 pounds in weight,

just in muscle,
to move his big body.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

We're dealing here
with a very heavy animal.

1,000 pounds,
1,100, 1,200 pounds.

[ Snorts ]
As that weight descends,

it loads up all the soft
tissues in that limb.

The load is suddenly released

and, then, the leg is simply
propelled out into space,

driven by stored,
elastic energy.

It's happening all
over the horse's body:

along his back,
on his hind legs.

When he gets going,
he's going so fast

and there is
so much stored energy,

it reaches a point
where it's beyond control.

♪♪

♪♪

When you compare him to all
the other mammalian species,

he kind of stands alone,

in terms of his size
and his speed.

He's out there on a little
pinnacle all on his own.

♪♪

THOMPSON: You know,
I've noticed one thing:

When we're listening to the
training horses as they go past,

you hear this enormous
breath, every stride.

It sounds like they're
struggling for breath.

LAMBERT: Their stride is linked,
one-to-one, to their breathing.

When the horse runs,
he must breathe out

when his front legs
hit the ground

and he can only breathe in
when he's up in the air.

[ Suspenseful chord strikes ]

♪♪

When

we

He's not doing that.

His ribs are locked closed

and when he puts his weight
on his front legs like that,

the weight and the momentum
of his viscera

is pushing against the diaphragm

and creating like a big
piston inside his body,

so it pushes the air out
-THOMPSON: I see.

LAMBERT: and then,
when he comes up in the air,

the viscera drop back
and it sucks the air in.

So he's a big piston,
doing this.

THOMPSON: Front legs down,
breathe out.

Up in the air, breathe in.

♪♪

LAMBERT: And that creates
certain limitations.

The faster he goes,

the less time he's got
to breathe.

THOMPSON:
It sounds to me like it's not --

It's not like breath holding,
but it is like suffocation.

LAMBERT: It would be
suffocation for you and I,

but, again,
the horse is different.

His body has adapted to tolerate
this unique situation

that allows him to keep going

far

longer than you or I
could keep going.

♪♪

We don't think of racing,
the first step of a race,

as being the first event
in asphyxiation.

If you or I were to run,
we can't drop our oxygen level.

It's too painful.

A horse, however, doesn't seem
to have those same restraints.

He'll take all the last,
little drop of oxygen

and drain it all out, right
to the very, very last drop.

♪♪

He's at a point,
at the end of a race,

which would render you
or I unconscious.

For some people,
it would almost kill them.

It's extraordinarily severe.

♪♪

THOMPSON: Severe for us,
but not for a horse.

♪♪

That ability,
to run on very little oxygen,

is a gift of evolution
and in the past,

it kept wild horses alive
as they outran their predators.

[ Whinnying ]

All horses can do it.

But some can do it better.

♪♪

Tapeta Farm, in Maryland.

A kind of exclusive, private
school for thoroughbreds

and the home of legendary
trainer Michael Dickinson.

Owners send Michael
their most promising horses

and he tells

them

[

Static crackles

THOMPSON:
He works closely with David,

who's spent a lifetime
building a system

to predict how fast
a horse will run.

[ Neighing in distance ]

[ Whinnying ]

SPEAKER: Easy, girl.

THOMPSON:
Today, David and Michael

are taking three horses
out for testing.

He needs these horses

to sustain 45 miles an hour

for a

full

That's twice as fast
as humans have

ever

DICKINSON: Perfect.

[

Crackle

My one-acre road.

So they all went all right,
didn't they?

[ Grumbling ]

Did nothing wrong, did he?

THOMPSON:
A hard gallop is punishing.

But it turns out, the cost is
even higher than I thought.

[ Neighing ]

LAMBERT: When a horse tries
to run flat out,

he's so big
and he's going so fast,

so there's a price
to pay for that.

The blood gets more and more
acidic all the time.

The carbon dioxide in his blood
builds up and up

and up and up
and gets really high.

THOMPSON: These are all things
that, when we're running

or we're swimming,
feel really painful,

and tell us to stop,
-LAMBERT: Yes,

yes, exactly.
-THOMPSON: like a brake

on our effort.
-LAMBERT: Yes, yes, exactly.

And horses switch
those brakes off.

[ Neighs, snorts ]

It's not altogether surprising

that horses
should be able to do this

because there are other animals.

Seals, when they dive.

He can go down into the water

and swim around for a long time
without having to breathe.

Essentially,
it's the same process.

[ Huffing ]

THOMPSON:
So when

we

something different
happens in a horse.

It begins to metabolize
energy without oxygen.

Human

can

LAMBERT: Some of the byproducts
of this process are euphoric.

He's feeling positive;
he's feeling energized.

Basically, he's high.

So the typical picture
that a person would have

of a thoroughbred racehorse

is that bouncing, lively,
snorting animal.

All of that is coming from this
euphoria they're feeling,

having gone
to a level of fatigue

that we couldn't even tolerate.

THOMPSON:
The physiology of the horse

is set up
to sacrifice everything

for a run.
-LAMBERT: Mm-hmm, absolutely.

THOMPSON:
Can you think of another animal

that would do that for us?
-LAMBERT: No, no, it's amazing.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

[ Ethereal vocals join ]

♪♪

All those things that we feel
when we're around a racehorse:

courage, admiration.

♪♪

There's something special
about these animals

because they've endured.

♪♪

[ Snuffling ]

♪♪

And there's something
unbelievably trusting

about the way they will respond
to the care of the humans

and come around and do it again.

♪♪

THOMPSON:
Horses take us to speeds

we could

never

[ Triumphant chorale plays ]

Yet, without a human in sight,
horses still love to run.

It's just their nature.

♪♪

[ Neighs ]

So I wonder,
in the horse's past,

was their amazing speed
how they survived?

♪♪

Only one animal can answer
th

at

[ Neighs ]

♪♪

Deep in Mongolia's Gobi Desert,

there's a cousin
of the modern horse,

very different
than the animal

we

We call them

Przewalski horses.

Incredible.

It's gorgeous!

Right down there
is a green valley

running right along the sands
of the Gobi Desert

and, somewhere in that valley

is the closest living
relative of the horse.

This species went extinct
in the wild,

but, now, it's back.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

♪♪

[ Birds tweeting ]

[ Tender tune plays ]

♪♪

[ Snorts, grumbles ]

♪♪

[ Snorts ]

A stallion group.

[ Whinnying ]

No mares in sight.

For now, this is play-fighting.

Rehearsal.

[ Snorts ]

♪♪

The Przewalski horse is so rare,

I've only ever seen them
in pictures.

At one point, there were
only 12 animals left,

all of

them

[ Whinnies ]

Few people believed these horses
would ever return to the wild.

[ Whinnying ]

They're here today
because of

this

conservation biologist
Claudia Feh.

For decades, Claudia fought

to bring a handful
out of captivity

and, eventually, back
to their native habitat.

Now, there are 67
in her reserve.

Most of

them

[ Whinnying, snorting ]

Claudia's project
is a fragile success.

♪♪

Because the Przewalski lives
in the closest thing there is

to the original home of horses,
I think they can tell me

how horses survived
be

fore

♪♪

At dawn, Claudia takes me out
to find the biggest herd.

To survive, wild horses
need a big territory,

but that means they can be very
hard to find, even for Claudia.

Yep. I don't see a thing.

FEH: I see many things,
but no horse.

[ Laughter ]

-[Speaking local language]

[ Clicking ]

-They're in the sandy part.
Very strange.

Usually, when they are
in unusual places,

something happened in the night.

Either there were stallion
problems, stallion fights,

or wolf attacks.

[ Birds chirping ]

THOMPSON: Just a generation ago,
all Przewalskis lived in zoos.

But out here, nothing is
protecting them from predators.

The Mongolian wolf
is a constant threat.

[ Snorting ]

So is it speed that keeps
these horses alive?

Or is it something else?

FEH: I choose the animals
in such a way

that they would be compatible

because I really hoped that
they would form a herd again.

The big herds are much more
efficient against predators.

[ Whinnying ]

Horses' typical predators
are wolves.

They hunt in packs.

I've seen wolf attacks.

The whole herd gathered together
and the stallions attacked.

THOMPSON:
The stallions

attacked?

FEH: Attacked.
They attacked; tried to bite

and tried to kick them
with their forelegs.

So you have cooperative
predators and cooperative prey.

THOMPSON: So the fact
that they're being predated

by groups of wolves has forced
ho

rses

FEH: They do have a sort of
real cooperation.

They know what task sharing is

in the highly complex
social herds.

[ Snorting ]

[ Poignant tune plays ]

THOMPSON:
But not all herds are the same.

There are bachelor groups,

a collection of stallions
without mates;

and there are family groups,

mares and foals,
with a single stallion.

♪♪

The bonding behavior
is constant.

Mutual grooming.

Subtle hierarchy displays.

And, sometimes, not so subtle.

[ Whinnying ]

♪♪

The horses are
constantly negotiating

for a rung on the ladder.

Each horse has its place.

Hierarchy gives
the herd strength

and ensures only the fittest
stallions get to mate.

♪♪

But I'm surprised to learn

it isn't just the toughest
stallions who rise to the top.

FEH: The dominance hierarchy
in horses is not based on size.

It's not based
on physical strength.

It's mental strength.

It's personality.

THOMPSON:
It's recognizing character.

You recognize the character
of the leader.

FEH: Yeah.
And I think that translates

to the horse-human relationship
because, obviously,

if you ride a horse, I mean,
the horses are, what,

about ten times heavier
or five times heavier?

So how can we ride a horse,

being so much smaller,
and dominate the horse?

It's mental.

[ Snorts ]

♪♪

THOMPSON:
These wild horses
can fight and run.

But, according to Claudia,

that isn't

really
why they're still here.

♪♪

For them, survival is
about working together,

about social life.

Perhaps that's why they
accept Claudia

almost like one of the herd.

♪♪

Left to themselves,
horses build a community.

And, just like for us, it's the
community that protects them.

FEH: I try to help them
have a more natural life.

Horses do not need to be
ridden, you know? [laughs]

They don't need us.

They are independent,
happy to be independent.

♪♪

THOMPSON:
This amazing spectacle,

truly wild horses living
without humans,

it's like a vision
from the past

with a message
about horses today.

It turns out, speed and power
aren't so important

as the quality
they share with

us:

a social mind.

[ Grumbling ]

And, everywhere
we see horses today,

we see that social mind at work.

What the Przewalski horses
do in the wild,

our own horses do in our fields,

if we only let them be
themselves.

It's amazing how eager
horses are to please.

Without a language in common,
that's like mind-reading,

an incredible ability

that English animal
psychologist Karen McComb

is trying to understand.

At a riding stable,
Karen's researchers

are preparing for a day
of horse testing.

For Karen, this is science.

But, for the horses,
[chuckling] it's play.

McCOMB: I mean, anyone
who's worked with horses,

they sense this
enormous personality

that differs from individual
to individual.

No one has looked
at that it an animal.

We're used to the way
humans express emotion,

but, actually, horses

are making these
very subtle facial movements

and have an incredibly
mobile face

and they are expressing
emotions as well.

What we really want to do

is work out what the emotional
life of horses really is,

what their emotional world
is really like.

THOMPSON: To build her library
of horse emotions,

Karen has designed a set
of experiments to trigger them.

[ Whimsical tune plays ]

She plays recorded horse talk
and observes the response.

[ Rumbling nearby ]

Startled and afraid.
[ Cheeping ]

Or curious.

♪♪

She shows them
photographs of horses

and of humans.

[ Neighing nearby ]

♪♪

Toffee likes this one.

[ Neighing nearby ]

[ Snorting ]

This one isn't so popular.

♪♪

Karen's team has made
the surprising discovery

that horses have 17 different
facial expressions.

That's three more
than chimpanzees

and

one

[ Neighing nearby ]

They're subtle.

But, by playing the images back,
Karen can show me

what the untrained eye
might miss.

McCOMB: He's sniffing
the ground, ostensibly,

and you'd think, "Ooh,
he's just sniffing the ground.

Another horse was in here."

But stop. Actually,
that sniffing the ground

again occurs consistently
in response

to something that's a

bit
more negative,

so that he's unsure about this.

Humans do that as well,
you know.

When we're a bit uncomfortable,
we might scratch ourselves

or we glance
away from something.

Just gives us a little bit
of time to adjust.

[ Birds chirping ]
[ Hooves thudding ]

[ Snorting ]
So, now, this'll be interesting.

Look at what part of the face
he's gonna go to.

Look, he's going towards the --
-THOMPSON: Right to the mouth.

McCOMB: The mouth, yeah.

And sometimes they go
right up to the eyes. Yeah.

It's interesting, that sweep
between the mouth and the eyes.

It's almost
as if they understand

that the mouth and the eyes

are the most significant
bit of the human face.

They have enough
understanding to interpret,

not only emotion in the faces
of their own species,

but emotion in

our

[ Birds chirping ]
[ Hooves thudding ]

THOMPSON: It makes sense
that horses use emotions

[ Neighing nearby ]
to communicate with each other.

But what fascinates me is they
can read

our

[ Huffing ]

McCOMB: They're capable
of putting together

the sort of representation
of the person with the emotion.

To me, that shows a very acute
emotional awareness.

I mean, that means, really,
horses are eavesdropping

on the human world
all the time.

[ Neighing nearby ]
[ Snorts ]

THOMPSON:
Horses are mind-readers.

But that's not all.

Karen is also interested
in another quality:

curiosity.

[ Neighing ]

So this is interesting.

Leanne is going to do

what she calls
a novel-object test,

which means walking
into a paddock full of horses

with a great, big beach ball

and leaving it there and
observing what the horses do.

Will they run away from it

or will they come
and investigate it?

-[Neighing]
-[Snorts]

McCOMB: Horses are naturally
very inquisitive.

[ Neighing nearby ]

We're also trying to see where

personality fits
into the whole thing.

For example, how bold
an individual is, versus shy.

It's these differences,
which we also see in humans,

that are going to be the stuff
of their emotional lives, too.

[ Grumbling ]

THOMPSON:
With these tests,

Karen is able to identify
outgoing horses and introverts,

just like we see in humans.

Popular horses like to spend
time with other horses.

But the horse standing
at the edge of the field

might prefer human company.

-[Neighing]
-[Snorts]

McCOMB: Children who don't fit
in will turn to their pets,

but it's quite interesting
[chuckling] that horses

that don't quite fit in
will also turn to humans.

[ Neighing nearby ]
[ Snorting ]

And our tests
are actually showing that.

[ Tender tune plays ]
[ Rumbling ]

THOMPSON: These experiments
paint a picture

of an intensely social, curious,
emotionally alive creature.

If we pay attention,
we can read a horse's mind

and they can read ours.

[ Neigh nearby ]

♪♪

And, wherever we bring
horses to work,

mind-reading is just part
of the job.

[ Lowing ]

On the eastern slopes
of the Rocky Mountains,

horsepower still means
just what it always has.

Working cattle is one
of the most demanding jobs

a human can ask a horse to do,
and that's why cowboys created

the quarter horse...

[ Snorts ]

...a remarkable breed,

combining endurance,
agility,

power...

ANDERSON: Whoa.
-THOMPSON: ...and smarts.

ANDERSON: [Whistles]

[ Birds chirping ]

[ Smooching ]

THOMPSON:
In horse country,

Jimmy Anderson
is a bit of a legend.

They say he can read
a horse's mind.

But maybe it's the
other way around.

[ Snorting ]

Either way, he seems to have

a secret language
with his horse,

a gelding called Maverick.
-ANDERSON: Up. [cluck]

Up. [cluck]

He likes sittin'.

[ Laughing ]

Whoa.

[ Birds chirping ]

THOMPSON: People who are
not working with horses

the way you work with horses,

they're just seeing
the tip of the iceberg.

There's a whole animal
they haven't discovered.

ANDERSON: The person
really doesn't see

and look at that horse.

They just kind a treat it
like a motorbike.

THOMPSON: And a motorbike
is not a smart animal.

[ Laughter ]
Not compared to a horse.

ANDERSON:
Not compared to a horse.

That is so true.

[ Lowing ]

THOMPSON: Cutting calves
is standard ranch work.

But, it

fascinates

In nature, wild horses
were chased by predators.

So how does Jimmy
get Maverick to do

this?

It's the behavior
of a sheepdog, not a horse.

When you're cutting, are you
giving Maverick directions

to go right and left?

ANDERSON:
It's happenin' too fast.

If you're trying
to give them directions

to go right and left,
most times, you're late.

When I drop my hand,
that's signaling to him,

"Okay, now it's your turn,
your responsibility.

Take over."
-THOMPSON: Takes over.

ANDERSON: Yeah.
-THOMPSON: Knows what to do.

ANDERSON: Knows what to do.
They just look

after that. Yeah.
-THOMPSON: That's incredible.

ANDERSON: That's kind of
the exciting part,

is how smart these horses are.

You can really train
a horse to do anything.

We could train it to fetch,
if we wanted.

THOMPSON: Horses are so smart,
they can learn to do things

that go

completely
against their nature.

But it takes training.

We used to call it
breaking a horse.

But that isn't it at all.

♪♪

ANDERSON: In the past,
when we've talked

about colt starting and colt
breaking, that's what it was.

They wanted to get a job done,

kinda just force everything
onto this horse.

They expected the horse to jump;
they expected the horse to rear,

they expected 'im to buck,

because there was
no relationship.

Talk about breaking the spirit.

And, now,
it's almost the opposite

of what we're wanting now.

We want that spirit; we want
that heart; we want that desire.

THOMPSON:
I'm here to see Jimmy start

a two-year-old colt
called Shiver.

Until now, Shiver's only seen
humans from a distance.

He's never been ridden.

[ Neighing ]

[ Huffs ]

[ Neighing ]

ANDERSON:
Now, what I'm gonna do is

start workin' myself
a

little

THOMPSON:
I've come for the week,

but Jimmy figures he'll get
a saddle on sooner than that.

[ Neighing ]

That seems a little
optimistic to me.

[ Neighing ]

ANDERSON: And so...

he's tryin'...

[ Snorts, huffing ]

There.

The-e-re we go.

You'll hear me talk
about two eyes.

THOMPSON: Mm-hmm.
-ANDERSON: When that horse

can start to give me
them two eyes,

he also gives me his focus.

[ Huffs ]

[ Snorts ]
Ni-i-i-ce.

He

really

THOMPSON: If he can't take that
touch, he won't take a saddle.

ANDERSON: [chuckling] No.
We're getting him used

to an external pressure.

Tap this hind end

and have him yield
that hind end.

Nice.

Tap this hind end...

[ Huffing ]

The-e-re.

Nice.

I'm gonna come up here,

see if I can't get
some pettin' in there.

[ Huffing ]

[ Grumbles ]

THOMPSON: Jimmy knows horses
are prey animals.

Dogs are always looking
for supper,

but horses are looking
for

safety.

And that need
is Jimmy's magic key.

[ Grumbling ]

ANDERSON: When I look
at horses that are spooky,

if he's away from the herd,
he doesn't have a leader.

When you get that trust
and that confidence

and that relationship
with a horse,

I mean, really, sky is the
limit of what you can do.

[ Huffing ]

When I start a colt,
it's never a competition.

It's more of a partnership
and a relationship

that we can start
to get workin' together.

I'm gonna come up here and,
now, with the rope,

I'm gonna move
them hindquarters.

Move those hindquarters.

Move those
hindquarters.

Nice.

[ Snorts ]

[ Grumbling ]

THOMPSON: How do you know how
far to take it and when to stop?

ANDERSON:
You know, we're lookin'

at the expression in his face,

lookin' at that tightness
through his neck.

He's tellin' me,
"Jim, you can do more,"

or "Jim,
I'm gettin' too worried.

I can't take this."

So that's where I'm just

readin'

him

And so, when I can go
through this

with him not gettin' worried
and just no big deal,

that's when it's gonna tell me
he's ready to saddle.

[ Neighing ]

[ Grumbling ]

Now, he's gettin' good
with the tarp.

Ni-i-i-ce.

Good boy.

THOMPSON: So what are you
doin' now, Jim?

ANDERSON: I'm just
bringin' Maverick in.

Maverick's gonna give him
a little bit of confidence

as I put the saddle on.

THOMPSON:
And that's the first time?

ANDERSON: That's the first
time, right there, yeah.

[ Neighing ]

[ Grumbling ]

[ Whinnying ]

[ Grumbles ]

And that is totally
okay with me.

He kinda got worried.

He had to deal with it
that way a little bit.

That's totally okay.

Yeah.
There, he moved his feet,

kinda tightened up,
but come back.

And so, the next thing
that I'm workin' here --

see, every time he stops, I want
him to start to look for me.

The-e-e-re we go.

Ni-i-i-ce.

[ Birds squawking ]

That's what I wanna see.

That focus, that lookin'
to me for that answer.

THOMPSON: [chuckling] He's come
a long way since morning.

ANDERSON:
He's come a long ways, yeah.

[ Snuffling ]

[ Birds chirping ]

I need to get him used to me
jumpin' up and down here 'cause,

if I wanna get on him...

[ Grumbling ]

[ Grumbling ]

Really, really good
changes here.

[ Clucking ]

[ Grumbles ]

[ Poignant tune plays ]

♪♪

♪♪

THOMPSON: Just amazing.

Completely calm.

♪♪

ANDERSON: [Clucking]

♪♪

My partner's helpin' me.

THOMPSON: [Laughing]

ANDERSON:
[ Smooching ]

Yeah.

[ Smooching ]

♪♪

[ Clucking ]
-[Snorts]

[ Smooching ]

♪♪

[ Smooching ]
-[Whinnies]

[ Smooching ]

♪♪

Nice.

THOMPSON:
That was just superb.

That was incredible to watch.

ANDERSON:
Good boy. You know,

couldn't have asked
for a better first day.

Good boy.

And here he is.

For the first time.

THOMPSON: He's your best
friend now, isn't he?

ANDERSON: Yeah.

When I take the halter off,
what I want to see is

him not leavin' me.

[ Birds chirping ]

[ Whistles ]

His focus isn't there.

[ Grumbling ]
Ni-i-i-ce.

Perfect. See? And I wanna
be hooked up to these,

not through a rope
-THOMPSON: Yeah.

ANDERSON: or through
manhandlin' or forcin',

through their mind.

♪♪

THOMPSON:
In a single morning,

Jimmy and Shiver have found
a common language.

♪♪

It's truly incredible,
what we can do together

when a horse agrees
to trust in us.

♪♪

After all,
we sit on a horse's back

exactly where a wolf
would've leapt up to attack.

It shows us:
horses judge humans

and some of us pass the test.

ANDERSON:
Horses are really amazing,

[ Lowing ]
how much they will be a partner

and they try a crazy amount

and I wanna try that same
amount back for them.

[ Lowing ]

When they give me
that much trust,

I can never let anythin'
bad happen to 'em.

When I lay Maverick
down in the arena,

he has given me his trust.

Maverick knows I won't let
somethin' happen to him.

♪♪

THOMPSON: The more time
I spend with horses,

the more I understand
what a gift they are.

A body loaded with the most
amazing physical attributes,

yet, also, a mind
that connects with our own.

That's

what makes
our partnership unique.

But I wonder:
How did it all begin?

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

In the final episode,

travel back in time
and discover how horses

sparked the beginning

of art.

FLOSS: These guys had
a spiritual connection

with these animals.

Join me on a journey

into the incredible world
of horses today

and be amazed
at their diversity.

♪♪

[ Neighing ]
From the coldest place on Earth

to the hottest,

and even
to an uninhabited island

where horses rely
for survival

on seals.

[ Poignant tune plays ]
And learn why,

no matter what,

horses are here to stay.

RED CROW:
We are still on our horses,

just like our forefathers.

It's our way of life.

[ Music climbs ]

THOMPSON:
From their incredible
power and speed

to their intelligent
and social nature,

it's no surprise we built
our world with horsepower.

ANDERSON: When you get
that trust with a horse,

sky is the limit
of what you can do.

THOMPSON: But how did we shape
this remarkable creature

into the 350 breeds
that exist today?

Let's take a global tour
of the most fascinating members

of the modern horse club.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

To learn more about what you've
se

en on this "Nature" program,

visit pbs.org.

♪♪