They’re not always the smartest in a pinch, but I’ve personally dealt with horses clever enough to repeatedly open latched gates, figure out how to slide barn doors off of their track, and in one case, steal and attempt to hide the pool noodle another horse had been using to smack him all day.
That’s to say nothing for emotional intelligence.
Prey animals don’t have time to stop and think in a panic, but give them time and space to be bored and they figure stuff out.
The Noodler also had a favorite pointy stick that perfectly fit in his mouth. He would poke the others with it.
Probably a reference to his “time travelers party”, a tongue-in-cheek way he used to suggest backwards time travel is impossible