Being prey animals, the horse’s eye is positioned on the side of their head. This gives them very good lateral or peripheral vision to enable them to see things sneaking up on them, like predators and other dangers. Because of this, a horse has almost 360 vision. There is a spot immediately behind them that they cannot see. If you stand directly behind your horse, you will find that he will tip his head slightly to one side or the other in order to be able to see you. Additionally, there is an area straight in front of your horse where he also cannot see. Try this experiment; put your hand with your palm flat on the front of your face covering your nose, fingers pointing skyward. This will give you some idea of the blind spot directly in front of your horse.
Having an eye on each side of their heads also means that they see two different images, one from the right eye and one from the left. This type of vision is called monocular vision. Try putting your hand in front of your face again, this time with your thumb on your nose, little finger pointing away from your face. Close one eye and notice what you see. Now change eyes and you will find that you see a different image altogether.
Although this type of vision affords horses very good peripheral vision, it also means that they lack good depth perception. They really cannot see how deep that puddle of water is or what is inside the horse float. This type of vision is called bi-lateral vision.
Human beings, being predators, have two eyes on the front of their heads. This gives us very good depth perception, enabling us to focus clearly when hunting for prey animals. It also is a dead giveaway to any prey animal, of what type of creature we are.
Within the eye, horses have three separate lenses for close, medium and long-range vision. Have you ever seen your horse raise his head and look through the bottom of his eye at something a long way distant? For closer range objects he’ll lower his head and look through the centre of his eye and for close up, like something on the ground by his feet, he’ll tip his head to one side and look though the top of his eye.
Next time your horse jumps a creek instead of walking through it, refuses a jump or won’t go into the horse float, try seeing it from his perspective. Better still, prepare him well so that he will follow your suggestion confidently, even when he is unsure of what he sees.
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- By Meredith Ransley, Quantum Savvy.