One of the most important senses of a horse is vision. A horse absorbs its environment through its nose, mouth and eyes, among other things. For people who deal with horses, it is important to know that people and horses see the world very differently. To gain a better understanding of the horse, it is nice to know how a horse sees the world around him. This knowledge allows the rider to handle his horse better.
The field of vision of a horse
A horse is a flight animal, we humans are predators. That means not only that we have a different diet, but also that we have a different field of vision. Eyes of predators (cat, dog, human, lion) are in the front of the head, we look forward. The eyes of flight animals (rabbits, horses, goats) are on the side of the head. As a result, they look aside. However, they can also look forward and back, but there they have a blind spot. to sit. In this way, horses can keep an eye on the entire environment at a glance and therefore in case of emergency: flee.
It is also important to know that a horse is farsighted. A horse can see well in the distance, but can hardly see close.
Monocular vision
A horse looks with two eyes at the same time, but the eyes each send signals separately to the brain. The left eye image goes to the right hemisphere, the right eye image goes to the left hemisphere. The left and right hemispheres of a horse only communicate with each other for 20%. This means that what the left eye has perceived is only communicated to the left hemisphere for 20%. An exciting object will thus be relatively new to the horse on the right hand, although he may have already walked past it without fear on the left hand. It is therefore important to have an exciting ?? object on both hands in front of the horse.
See depth
If the horse looks with two eyes at the same time, the horse can see with depth, in 3-D. A horse can only look right in front of it with both eyes at the same time. The area where a horse can see with depth is very narrow with a horse, only about 70 degrees. It is therefore difficult for a horse to estimate distances correctly.
To focus
The eye itself is also constructed differently. The horse really only sees a horizontal stripe in the center of the field of view sharply. The rest of the field of view is blurred. So if a horse wants to focus on something, the horse will have to move its head to get the object in the center of its field of vision. To see the object in 3-D, the horse must turn its head so that the object can also be seen in the narrow strip in front of it, where both eyes can see.
So, when a horse sees something exciting, he wants to move his head to get the exciting object into his narrow face strip. When the horse is being ridden, the horse cannot move its head in the direction it wants.
A horse will therefore see its surroundings monocularly when resting, such as grazing. If danger is imminent, the horse will lift its head and check with both eyes to see if the object is fleeting.
Rods and cones
A horse does not see the same colors as humans. A horse sees everything more in gray, green and yellow tones. This is because a horse has more rods than cones in its eyes. The cones ensure that colors are seen, while the rods are important for seeing in the dark. Because the horses have more rods than we do, horses can see better in the dark than we can.
This also means that horses have a better view on cloudy days than in the bright light. A horse is also less able to make the transition from dark to light and from light to dark. The horse’s eye has to adapt longer than, say, our eyes. As a result, a horse will not see anything in a stable or, for example, in a trailer for a while when it comes out of daylight.