10/11/2024
Petit rappel ☺️
HOW HORSES PERCEIVE THE WORLD
There’s the old saying, ‘You don’t really know someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes’. I was sitting in the paddock with the horses the other day trying to imagine what the world is like from their perspective. As all horse people will testify, horses regularly perceive something in the environment and try as hard as we can, we can’t see, hear, smell or feel it, but the horses do. By trying to understand how horses perceive their surroundings we can deepen our understanding and enhance our interactions with them.
One of the most striking aspects of how horses perceive the world is their vision. Horses have large lateral eyes on the sides of the head, that provide them with a wide field of view, approximately 350 degrees. This allows them to detect predators and other threats from nearly all directions. They have 2 types of vision, binocular to the front and monocular to the sides, with blind spots immediately in front and behind. These blind spots are why horses sometimes startle if something suddenly appears in one of these areas. 80% is monocular vision, where a horse views both sides separately with either eye. This allows horses to keep an eye on approaching threats. The remaining 20% is binocular vision, which provides a rather narrow zone, roughly 65 degrees, of the view directly ahead of them while using both eyes. Binocular vision enables horses to accurately judge distance and aids with depth perception. Horses can switch between monocular vision and binocular vision, depending on the situation in which they find themselves. This ability is one of the many things that make equine eyesight so unique.
Horses eyes are more sensitive to movement than detail, making them adept at spotting potential dangers but not as skilled at focusing on finer details. Their eyes are dichromatic, meaning they see two primary colours, blue and yellow. They are less sensitive to red, which makes their world appear somewhat different from ours. For instance, a vibrant red shirt might not stand out as much to a horse as it would to a human. All of these components together shape how horses view the environment.
Horses have an acute sense of hearing, with ears that can rotate independently to pinpoint sounds from various directions. This ability allows them to detect even the slightest noises, making them alert to potential dangers. The conical shape of the outer ear, like an old-fashioned gramophone speaker, captures even the softest sounds. This shape shields the sound the horse is trying to focus on, fading out other noises around them. There are 10 muscles in a horse’s ear, compared to three in a human’s, which control movement. Horses’ ears can move 180 degrees. Their hearing range extends to frequencies outside what humans can perceive, enabling them to hear sounds that might go unnoticed by us. People can hear sounds from 20 hertz up to 20 kilohertz. A horse’s range is far wider, from 14 hertz up to 35 kilohertz, another two-thirds of an octave. With all this ability, horses can detect sounds up to 4km away!
Horses only breathe through their noses; they can’t breathe through their mouths and are called obligate nose breathers. They have an exceptional sense of smell, which plays a crucial role in their ability to navigate their environment and for survival. Smell helps them locate food, water, other horses, detect predators, and sense subtle environmental cues that humans cannot detect. Horses can differentiate between members of the herd by scent alone. They also navigate based on scent, picking up on subtle environmental cues that we can’t detect. Horses’ olfactory abilities are so great that they can detect certain smells from up to 16 km away! When a horse curls back the upper lip and exposes the teeth (The Flehmen Response), they can better analyse a scent, particularly those related to pheromones. This is due to a vomeronasal organ (VNO) positioned at the base of the nasal cavity, within the roof of the mouth, that detects scent. Genetically speaking, humans have 350 olfactory receptor genes, while horses have 1,066! Their large, flexible nostrils flare to pull in as much air as possible when faced with a potentially significant scent.
Horses are highly social animals, and their perception of the world is heavily influenced by their interactions with other horses. They are prey animals, which means they are naturally attuned to the movements and behaviours of their herd members. Horses communicate primarily through body language, using their posture, ear position, and facial expressions to convey emotions and intentions. Horses can read each other’s body language and respond appropriately, whether it’s in the context of play, grooming, establishing dominance or alering to danger. This keen perception extends to their relationships with humans as well, where horses pick up on subtle cues in our body language and emotional states.
Understanding how horses perceive the world provides invaluable insights into their behaviour and needs. Their unique visual, auditory, and olfactory capabilities, combined with their social structures, shape their interactions with both the environment, each other and with us. By recognizing these aspects of equine perception, we can deepen our understanding of them, fostering better relationships with our horses, and enhancing our shared experiences.
Suzy Maloney B.Eq.Sc.Dip.Couns.
Happy Horses Bitless
Considerate Horsemanship
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.happyhorsesbitless.com
FB: Happy Horses Bitless Bridles
Lismore, NSW, Australia
Ph: 0401 249 263
