Kalyx Bowler

Daily Assignments

April 9, 2026
For each assignment, create a Google Doc with your responses and email it to mom and dad. If you need to ask a question about an assignment, include it in the email.
1
Read — Horse Cognition

Read a short piece on horse cognition specifically — there’s good recent research on horses reading human facial expressions and remembering human emotional states. Search for “horse cognition facial expression research” for recent studies.

2
Respond — The Observation Exercise

Spend 20–30 minutes watching an animal without interacting with it. This can be a pet, a horse, birds outside, anything. Then write about what you saw. Separate what you actually observed (behavior, movement, reactions) from what you interpreted (emotions, intentions, thoughts). Be honest about where the line is.

3
Explore — Real Understanding or Clever Hans?

If you’ve ever felt like a horse understood your mood, this week’s reading gives you a framework for thinking about whether that’s real or a Clever Hans situation. Which do you think it is? This is a great one to talk through rather than just write about.