Some Beings Have a Native Understanding of Newtonian Mechanics, Others Don’t

I’ve been thrown off a horse twice, both after my asking him to canter.  The more recent of the two happened when the animal took a few steps, but then halted abruptly and lowered his head, causing me to to fall forward.

Clearly, the horse knew (at some level) Newton’s first law of motion, which states that there must be a net external force for there to be any change in velocity, either a change in magnitude or direction. In other words, if I weren’t able to grab the pommel or the horse’s neck, my body would continue to travel in the direction I was before the horse stopped.

My point here is that the common horse has a native, instinctual understanding of at least some of the laws of physics.  That’s more than I can say for the fellow pictured above.