Horses senses

Geoffrey Pannell · Well Schooled

Horses senses

Cheekyxoxo · Foal

Well :/ thats a tricky one because only the horses know the answer to that one ,
But, i would say when a horse spooks it would have seen something that has made it fell threatened or scared , thats why it reacts in such a way as it's protection for you and itself of course , because they are flight animals . . . and then i would say hearing would come next them seeing something and then feeling threatened by either the sound it's making or what there hearing , like for instance , my horse gets a bit scared of a gun shot > we live near a shooting center

Barbara F · Grand Prix

With my last horse, it was sight. He didn't seem to be bothered by strange sounds. Even snow falling off the roof of the arena didn't bother him.

Other horses I known get spooked by the sound of velcro being separated, so I would say it depends on the horse.

What do you think?

Interesting topic!

spirithorse · Advanced

My mare is through the eyes..................

Horse-hearted · Advanced

This is very interesting! I tend to feel that horses strongest sense is feel, in that they are so receptive of feeling, change in air, herd behavior, etc.

sedonasilver · Advanced

My boy is very much about sound. Which I dont know if its better or worse - at least I can anticipate if he's going to spook because I can hear the sound as well (as opposed to spooking at some invisible frog monster)

Then sight. I remember reading somewhere that horses dont have very good peripheral vision, (which is why you shouldnt approach them from behind unannounced.) so I think Lorenzo tends to spook more so at the unknown, something that he sees in the corner of his eye. We can be pretty much ride right past something before he spooks at it (he'll jump sideways and spin around to try to get a better look).

Damn flight-instinct ;)

Horse-hearted · Advanced

Yes, that flight thing gets in the way!

Jackie Cochran · Advanced

Usually sight, both out of the corner of the eye and from looking forward.
The worse shy though came from a noise that I did not hear.

dbliron · Advanced

I find that it's different from horse to horse. At the moment I have two which spook only in response to visual changes/stimuli, one which reacts only to aural stimuli, and one which reacts to both.

It helps that our horses are kept in large pastures in small herds. The pastures are edged with thick bush and large conifers, in which actually do lurk coyotes, bears, deer and moose. We are likely often visited by cougars as well, but we don't see them (usually!). We also have three large and noisy Airedales, who are always hunting something in the forest around the arena. The horses get reasonably bomb-proof just living here....

Horse-hearted · Advanced

I know what you mean. Our horses deal with a lot of machinery- there is quite a few dirt bikes and ATV's that use the trail behind their paddocks, and the tractors, etc, are always going. They learn fast that machinery goign at any time of day is boring stuff.

Geoffrey Pannell · Well Schooled

I think horses hear , then see, then smell. When they spook it's usually where line of sight is limited (narrow lanes , wooded areas) so it would seem that hearing is the domanant sense ( in that case). Out is the open sight becomes the first line of defence. Smell ,it would seem, might be the lesser ( but not least important) sense. So, I think all three are only a millisecond apart and back each other up. I.E. sometimes will react to a sound, put it's head down to focus, and then smell . Other times horses will see movement, lift their heads to focus on something in the distance. move the ears to find sound, and snort to smell danger.
Interesting. Cheers Geoffrey

justice · Grand Prix

Where the horse can see, hear and smell things that we can't, I will go with that sixth sense, suspicion. oops...meant intuition : )

The horse and most other living things will react to one question before all: is this situation a threat? If it is, run, if it can't be outrun, spin faster, duck harder, evade at all costs, fight when all else has failed. IF it is NOT a threat, personalities and training come into play.

In order to put any given incident/element into threat or non-threat categoury, the horse first must evaluate it with all senses. This is a rapid fire checklist that they use and when they cannot apply ALL senses, they look to us for clarification, to fill in the blanks so to speak, if there is trust or at least familiarity.

Or, they just run past the wind, yes.

Horse-hearted · Advanced

I agree! Intuition is a big part of a horse's psyche.

Barngoddess · Yearling

I think it really depends on the horse. I have also had horse's that will spook when under pressure. Teach them a new exercise and take them out of their "comfort zone" and a spook would happen due to the pressure they were feeling in their work. Once they learned to work past their comfort zone in the new exercise they were fine. My boy scooted the other day when he felt his back come up and his butt muscles really engage. It shocked him and he got nervous for a few seconds. He was like, "what was THAT?' I laughed and told him he had scared himself with his own bum!