Racehorses have no idea what’s going on
赛马并不知道周遭发生了什么
The Derby and the two subsequent races that make up the U.S. Triple Crown are normally the year’s highlights for American enthusiasts, but this season will be even more packed with equestrian sports.
对于美国马术爱好者而言，德比大赛以及紧接着的两场美国三冠赛无疑是他们一年中最期待的盛事，然而，本赛季的马术比赛将更为精彩纷呈。
The Paris Olympics this summer will feature international riders in dressage, show jumping, and the hybridized “eventing” discipline, and these competitions may generate more interest than usual because France is, as the Fédération Equestre Internationale puts it, “heaven for horse lovers.”
今年夏天，巴黎奥运会将汇聚国际顶尖骑手，他们将在在盛装舞步、障碍赛以及混合的“赛事”项目中一展风采，这些比赛预计将吸引比以往更多的关注，因为正如国际马术联合会所评价的那样，法国是“爱马人士的天堂”。
Equestrian activities such as racing, show jumping, dressage, and eventing are the only elite sports that feature pairs of athletes that are fundamentally unknowable to each other.
赛马、场地障碍赛、盛装舞步和混合马术三项赛等马术运动，作为精英体育项目，其独特之处在于运动员与搭档之间从根本上无法相互了解对方的思想。
No one can doubt that the horses are trained specialists. But it’s difficult not to wonder if they have any idea what’s going on.
虽然没有人会对马匹作为训练有素的“专家”身份产生质疑，但人们总是难免好奇，这些马匹真的明白到底发生了什么吗？
Deciphering the precise extent of any animal’s cognitive abilities is a tall order.
精确解读任何动物的认知能力确实是一项极具挑战性的任务。
What we know about horse cognition in particular is limited, in part because “horses are big and expensive research animals,” says Sue McDonnell, an animal behaviorist and the founding head of the Equine Behavior Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.
而我们对马认知能力的了解尤为有限，这在一定程度上是因为“马作为研究对象体型庞大且成本高昂”，宾夕法尼亚大学兽医学院的动物行为学家，同时也是马行为项目创始负责人的苏·麦克唐纳尔指出。
Most of the questions researchers have asked about what it’s like to be a domestic horse are about how they understand humans, not how they understand their surroundings.
研究人员对于家马的研究，大多聚焦于它们如何理解人类，而非它们如何理解周围的环境。
But attempts to understand their internal experiences have been mostly inconclusive, and the data that do exist come nowhere near confirming that horses are able to conceptualize competitive sports.
然而，当我们试图深入了解马匹的内在经验时，却往往得不到明确的结论，而现有的数据也远远不足以证明马能够概念化竞技运动。
The question of what horses are thinking and feeling during a race, if not a desire for bragging rights or a flowery cape, is hotly debated among the people who study, train, and compete with them. ***
若不是为了炫耀或披上华丽的花斗篷，那马匹在比赛中究竟抱有何种想法和感受呢？这一问题在研究、训练以及与马匹一同竞技的群体中都引起了激烈的讨论。
“I can only judge by their expression, but I can say for certain that for most of them, it’s terror,” McDonnell told me.
麦克唐纳尔告诉我：“虽然我只能从马匹的表情来推测，但我确信，对于大多数马来说，那是深深的恐惧。”
People who spend lots of time with horses can reasonably expect to be attuned to their emotional state.
那些长时间与马匹相处的人，自然能够敏锐地感知到马匹的情绪状态。
No assessment of a competition horse’s experience is complete without considering the horse-rider relationship, says Rachel Hogg, a psychology lecturer at Charles Sturt University, in Australia, whose Ph.D. work focused on that bond.
澳大利亚查尔斯·斯图尔特大学心理学讲师蕾切尔·霍格强调，若忽略了骑手与马匹之间的关系，对赛马经历的评估将是不完整的。她的博士论文正是聚焦于这一关系。
Many equestrian professionals do not believe that their animal colleagues are plagued by fear and anxiety.
许多马术领域的专业人士并不认为他们的动物伙伴会饱受恐惧和焦虑的折磨。
“Horses enjoy sports when it’s within their capabilities, when they’re treated with respect, and when training practices bring their personality and athleticism out,” says David O’Connor, the chief of sport for the United States Equestrian Federation, and a three-time Olympic medalist in eventing.
美国马术联合会运动部主管、三届奥运会马术项目奖牌得主大卫·奥康纳指出：“只要运动在马匹的能力范围之内，它们得到应有的尊重，并且训练方式能够充分展现它们的个性和运动能力，马匹就会乐在其中。”
Cultivating relationships with horses in which those signals are never missed is the foundation of O’Connor’s riding and teaching, he told me.
奥康纳向我透露，他骑马和教学的基础在于培养与马匹之间那种能够准确捕捉对方信号的亲密关系。
But not everyone follows that ethos. Sometimes, genuine cruelty is involved: “There’s this tradition in the horse world that you have to dominate them,” McDonnell said.
然而，并非所有人都秉持这一理念。有时，其中甚至不乏真正的残忍：“在马术界，有一种传统的观念，那就是你必须让马匹对你俯首称臣。”麦克唐纳如是说道。
But more often, the barrier to a trusting relationship between horse and rider is logistical.
但更为常见的是，在马匹与骑手之间建立信任关系的道路上，后勤保障成了绊脚石。
Even at the highest levels of the sports, athletes can rarely afford their own horses, let alone the costs associated with getting them competition-ready.
即便是在马术运动的顶级赛事中，运动员们也很难拥有自己的马匹，更不用说承担为马匹参赛所需的各项高昂费用了。
The Olympic disciplines, in particular, are not conducive to deep relationships between horse and rider.
特别是奥运项目，它们并不利于马匹与骑手之间建立深厚的情感联系。
They’re dominated by a “speed dating” system where business-driven owners seek to optimize matches for specific competitions, rather than lifetimes, Hogg said.
霍格指出，这些项目主要是由一种“速配”系统所主导，其中，以商业利益为导向的马主们追求的是针对特定比赛的优化配对，而非终身匹配。
“Catch riding,” where a horse-rider pair will interact just one or two times before competing together, is more common than ever, she added; athletes can train with nearly two dozen horses in a single day.
现在，“临时搭档”的现象越来越普遍，这意味着马匹与骑手在比赛前可能只会有一次或两次的互动；运动员们甚至可以在一天之内用近二十匹马训练。
Research has found that horses prefer and can even be calmed by the presence of familiar humans, and evidence suggests that as a horse and rider get more familiar with each other, their patterns of brain activity begin to sync up during rides. ***
研究揭示，马匹更偏爱与熟悉的人相处，甚至能因这些熟悉的人的存在而平静下来。更有证据显示，随着马匹与骑手之间熟悉程度的加深，它们在骑行过程中的大脑活动模式开始趋于同步。
“If a horse is motivated to be involved” in equestrian sports, Hogg said, “it’s because of their social connection with us.”
霍格表示：“如果一匹马有动力参与马术运动，那必定是因为它们与我们之间建立了深厚的社交联系。”
Redesigning equestrian sports entirely around horses’ psychological welfare would be like redesigning the NFL to completely eliminate injuries: The product would be unrecognizable, and a lot of powerful people would stand to lose a lot of money.
若完全基于马匹的心理福祉来重新设计马术运动，那就相当于要重塑美国国家橄榄球联盟，以达到完全消除球员受伤的目的：这样的设想会使得赛事面目全非，同时让众多权势人物蒙受巨大经济损失。
It’s also unlikely to be a top priority in a sport where horses are still regularly injured or killed.
在这样一个马匹受伤甚至死亡事件频发的运动中，这样的改革显然不是当前的首要议题。
But maybe just once, instead of holding the Kentucky Derby, a crowd could gather to watch 20 horses simply hang out together at Churchill Downs on live television.
但或许，有那么一次，人们可以不再举办肯塔基德比大赛，而是齐聚丘吉尔唐斯马场，通过电视直播，观赏20匹马悠然自得地相处。
They could even bet on which one becomes self-aware first.
他们甚至还可以以此为乐，打赌哪匹马会最先产生自我意识。