Horses, cats, dogs, donkeys, birds and other animals, including snakes, have sensed disasters such as earthquakes and volcanoes before they struck. In 1835, around11:30 AM, a devastating earthquake hit Concepcion, Chile. It is estimated 28,000 people died and that the quake's magnitude was 8.3.
Horses wildly fled from their stables and donkeys brayed in fear and ran about and hour before the quake struck.
While it is true with other animals that they may feel vibrations that we cannot sense, there is no hard core scientific proof. This cannot be proven using the experimental scientific method.
Their homing ability is well known among horse people. The saying is words to the effect to give the horse his head and he will find his way home. All giving the horse his head means is not to guide him in any direction.
I can personally attest to hearing a horse neigh when a loved one was approaching without hearing or seeing the person. Horses do have a keen sense of smell and can smell things from greater distances than we can. When I taught horseback riding and trained horses, I did a lot of research. I wrote lesson plans. I taught at Patterson's Stables for Moravian College's Class which included lesson planning and a written final exam. Later, I taught for the R&R Program, NAS Oceana, VA. I believe that, when a person has any type of relationship with an animal, they should know about its psychology.
The first parapsychology book I read was The Unknown Guest by Maurice Maeterlinck. I was eleven and spent my summers around horses. He wrote about the amazing Elberfeld horses. Clever Hans is the most well known of these horses.
Wilhelm von Osten lived in Berlin and was obsessed with animal intelligence. In 1900, he acquired a horse he named Hans, then added a first name, Kluge, meaning "clever." The horse was a stallion from Russia and astounded the scientific world with his feats.
