The hard part for us with our want to take care of them is to honor their choice and trust their inherent intelligence.

You can also watch their body language closely as you approach with a blanket. Or present more than one blanket and watch their facial expressions.

I've learned to present hand signals as a clarifying body language. They can easily define their choice by targeting either hand.

This gives horses agency and choice. AND builds the partnerships that we strive for in the horse world.

When applied to horse care, individual horses often express blanket preferences. Asking for their input has made my day to day care easier. I no longer worry that my general assumptions are lacking. If I follow through on their request & it's still incorrect, they can quickly learn to adjust.

For example, the birds waited until the temperature went up to come to the feeders this morning.
Therefore, animals have temperature awareness.
As obvious as this sounds, the implications as to the details and complexity of their mental dexterity are far-reaching.