As a rider, and the parent of a barrel racer, I would have to say you are correct.
You are right.
Like dogs, I think they have an intelligence level of about a 3 year old.
Very sad story,
I love the Caldwell area.
As a 12 year old, I was thrown from my horse in the middle of a parade, right to the asphalt.
Spooky, but the worse for me was being stiff for 2 weeks, nothing broken.
I got lucky.
I few years later, I was riding with some inexperienced riders, who decided to run have the horses run through a plowed field.
Bad idea.
I barely got the "N" out of the word "Noooooo!!" when, sure enough, one horse stumbled and threw my Uncle's girl friend head first.
She seemed fine, but later in life had neck issues and had to have surgery, due to the incident.