I am seriously irritated by this article and wonder how it got past the desk of the Economist’s editors. The gist of it is that horses are complex, emotional animals. My six year old niece knows that. The writer comes to this conclusion after consulting with a number of charlatans about her daughter’s horse that exhibits puzzling behavior. Some of these types do not even do as much as touch said animal to draw their detailed conclusions. Why on green earth would someone (a) trust these people (b) write a story about that (c) publish a story like this (d) post it on HN?

Can someone explain to me what I am missing here?

Yes. The article purports to discuss equine language. The real title should be, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” with the tag line, “How a total disdain for logic brings physical danger and emotional agony to a family.”

Spoiler alert: After all the consultations and deep insights they just sell the horse. Pure failure.