By: Matthew M. Brendal
We humans are predators. That means we are meat eaters by nature. Humans have eyes that are set close together. This so we can determine the distance and speed of our prey. Our eyes being closer together allow us to judge the speed of our prey animals during an attack. That means horses don’t have the ability to judge speed of moving objects as good as predators. Humans see in three dimensions and can judge space better. Horses on the other hand see in two dimensions. But horses have an advantage with the degree of peripheral viewing. Humans see about 180 degrees range of view, while the horse’s eyesight allow 215 degrees.
A horse moving his head can see just about everywhere on his body, with the exception of right in front of their face. Animals that consume plant materials are prey to the predators. That makes the horse a prey animal. Prey animals have a certain physiology that is programmed by nature. Horses for the most part have only one exit strategy, out run the predator as quickly as possible.
A horse's eyesight plays a very large role the horse’s nature. First it is very important to point out several key compositions in the horse’s eyesight physiology. A remarkable fact is that the horse has the third largest eye of any animal in the world. Only whales and ostriches have larger eyes. That tells me that the horse relies a lot on his eyesight.
Biologists and scientists have determined that a horse can perceive color. It is not as crisp and clear as human eyesight. They speculate that a horse probably sees about as clear as watching an old color television with poor reception. Their eyesight will allow them see shades of the color red and blue better than yellow.
Those same equine eyesight experts have also concluded that the horse's eyesight physiology is unique in another way. Because horses have eyes on the side of their head, they have a poor ability to gage distance. They must tilt their head to the side at times to get a good view of close objects. Horses view the monocular in the area that is somewhat blind spot of their mouth. Their vision is binocular everywhere else. Horses are reported to have poor night vision.
Now that we have the physiology of the horse’s eyesight understood, let’s see what impact that could have on their behavior. The eye is very important to the horse‘s survival plan. Horses rely very much on using their eyesight in coordination with their number one self defense weapon, flight. A horse knows that the sooner it can identify a threat, the sooner he can put some distance between him and the predator. This is why a horse may commonly be more anxious on windy days. He is overwhelmed by all the movement around him. That includes quick unexpended movements close to the horse. A horse has the instinct to move away quickly when frightened by “scary” things. Horses would rather run first and questions later. That is one reason for doing desensitizing exercises properly so as to teach the horse to relax for the rider or handler. That same technique can be used by teaching your horse to face “scary” things and stop all four feet.
Horses are claustrophobic and have poor night vision. They do not like things that are enclosed and dark, such as horse trailers or similar situations. Have ever noticed this about trailer loading a horse? They seem to load better into a trailer better when the first training they encounter is a large stock trailer.
Let’s talk about an important aspect that a horse’s eyesight plays in the relationship such as training. Horse’s use predominately more body language than verbal language in communicating between each other. Whether you know it or not your horse is always watching you. They size you up to see how you move, walk, and other gestures you display. Cues or instructions in a round pen or on a lead/lunge line are usually given by your body language. I believe horses are capable of having a large vocabulary of body language “words”. Knowing a little bit more about the physiology of a horse’s eyesight should give you a better understanding of how to have a better relationship with your horse.
Fundamental Horsemanship is TLC = Trust, Leadership & Communication.
