- Breeding
- Horse Breeding, Part 1: The Estrous Cycle
- The History of Horse Breeding
- Targeted Nutrient Therapy for Insulin Resistance
- Buying a Horse
- What do do when the Panic is On to keep our Horses Safe!
- The Top 4 Places to Find Horses for Sale
- When Good Gaits Deteriorate
- General Horse Articles
- Fueling the Motor – Energy Sources for Horses
- How to Buy a Horse
- Choosing The Horseback Riding Vacation That’s Right For You
- Horse Feeding
- Ingredients in Feed that Affect Behavior
- What do do when the Panic is On to keep our Horses Safe!
- Calcium - More than Just Bone
- Horse Grooming
- What do do when the Panic is On to keep our Horses Safe!
- An Overview of Horse Grooming
- OmegaTri & the Equine - Reducing Inflammation, Restoring Balance
- Horse Health Issues
- Feeding and Management of Horses During the Transition from Warm to Cool Weather
- An Equine Electrolyte for All Seasons - Electro-Ryte™
- Targeted Nutrient Therapy for Insulin Resistance
- Horse Training
- Training Mythunderstandings: Heeding Groundwork: Class Review
- Training Mythunderstandings: Little Things Do Mean a Lot
- Let's Talk About Equine Probiotics - Equitivia
- Horses & History
- The Feral Horse and Its Impact
- Horsing around the Sierra Madre - 1974 Style.
- Battle-Ready: A History of the War Horse
- Horses & Sports
- When Dealing With Horses Get It in Writing - Sign Up for May 16 FREE Webinar
- Submit Your Grant Proposal To USA Equestrian Trust
- Relive Southern Eighths/Nikon Three-Day on YouTube
A Look at Horse Vision
05/26/2008
There is no other land mammal with eyes as large as the horse’s. When training your horse, it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses that go along with equine vision.
There is no other land mammal with eyes as large as the horse’s. When training your horse, it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses that go along with equine vision. This way, you can understand the horse’s behavior in certain situations.
Visual range and sensitivity to motion
The horse’s eyes are located on the side of its head, which allows nearly 350 degrees of monocular vision (using each eye separately). This has a great advantage when spotting predators, but it comes at a price: its blind spots are located directly in front of its face and directly behind its tail. When using both eyes at the same time (or binocular vision), that range shrinks to approximately 65 degrees in front of the horse’s face. Thus, a horse has a more limited depth perception than that of a human. To look at an object ahead of it, a horse must raise its head to focus both eyes on the subject. To look at something on the ground below, a horse must obviously lower its head as well. When “on the bit,” a horse’s visual field is restricted further, only able to focus on the ground a few feet in front of it.
Horses are very sensitive to motion detection; however, they cannot decipher the cause of the motion initially. If sudden movement is detected by a horse, oftentimes they will be scared and begin to run away.
Color perception and sensitivity to light
Horses have dichromatic vision – they are not color blind. They can see blues and greens, but they cannot identify reds. Certain colors appear greener to them, especially reds. This is taken into consideration many times when designing obstacle courses for horses. If the jump is similar in color to the ground, the horse will not be able to detect it. So, many people paint their jumps a different color from the ground to ensure that the horse will see it.
Horses have better night vision than humans do, as well as better vision on cloudy days. However, a horse cannot adjust to light changes as readily as humans do, which should be taken into consideration while training. A horse may be scared by a sudden change from light to dark because it cannot see. While riding, sudden brightness can temporarily blind the horse while it adjusts.
