Chapter 22

Horse Sense

To See or Not to See

Have you ever seen a horse with glasses? Some horses may lose their ability to see very well as they grow older, so it is important to pay attention to how your horse acts from day to day. A horse's eyes should be clear and bright. If their eyes appear foggy they may have a condition called cataracts that needs the attention of a veterinarian.

Like a cat, a horse has whiskers around its face that help the horse find its way in the dark; they also keep him from bumping into anything that is close to his head. A good way to find out how important it is to be able to see well is to have one of your friends put a blindfold on you. Now sit down on the ground with a circle of your friends around you. Gently feel their heads and see if you can tell who it is from the shape of their head, nose, ears, and hair. Then try to identify them from their voices. You can take turns testing your horse senses!

Fun Fact

Eye Spy

Your horse has a third eyelid! Many animals do, but you will never see this on your horse unless she has an infection in her eye or it has been injured. Make sure when you are shampooing the horse's mane that you don't get shampoo or water in her eyes.

Giddy Up

Give Me A Sign

Show someone behind you what you plan to do when riding: When turning right, place your left arm straight out from your side, bent upward at the elbow, fingers pointing up. For a left turn, place your left arm straight out from your side. If stopping, let your left arm drop straight down, with your fingers pointing downward.

Nearsighted and Farsighted

How can you tell if your horse is going in a straight line while you are riding it? Look between her ears; if you can see both of her eyes, she is. Horses can see almost all the way around themselves and it can distract them from doing their job. Imagine what it would be like if you could see your shoulders while you are looking straight ahead! It might make it hard for you to concentrate on what is in front of you.

Even though a horse can see objects that are close to it, not too far away, and things that are a long distance away, his head must be raised or lowered to see them. Horses can't see things that are about three or four feet in front of them without turning their heads to look out of one eye, and they can't see about ten feet behind them. This is why horses sometimes bump their hooves on the bars as they go over jumps; the horse can see the jump until it is in front of him, but then it disappears from his view! For this reason, sometimes a horse wants to stop right before it is about to go over a jump, and it has to trust its rider very much to try jumping over something it can't see.

Riders on packhorses say that horses definitely see better at night than people do, but they cannot see in complete darkness. Nobody seems to know if horses see in color. Some trainers feel that horses are able to choose colors when they are running through obstacles.

Words to Know

Trainer

A trainer is someone who trains a horse how to race, do tricks, or basic skills. It is a trainer's job to get the horse ready for all activities by teaching it what it needs to know.

With Your Blinders On

Has anyone ever snuck up behind you, covered your eyes and said “Guess who?” You laughed, but it probably startled you, for just a minute. Horses don't like this either. They don't see directly behind or under their heads and can see one image with both eyes only for a short distance in front of their foreheads. When the images seen by two eyes appear as one, this is binocular vision and humans have it all the time. Cover one of your eyes and then cover the other one. Don't things look different when you are only using one eye?

Try putting your hands up, palms facing each other and your thumbs touching your cheekbones, on both sides of your head. This is what a horse sees when riders put blinders on their bridles. Have you ever seen a horse in a horse show with blinders on? Do you think some horses might try to take them off? Wouldn't you?

Horses can't see anything behind their back legs, so if they feel anything around their feet, the first thing they will do is kick! Horses that don't like other horses following them too closely on trails will also kick out at them. These horses' riders tie a red bow around their horses' tails, so other riders will beware!

What am I?

I could be the horse of choice for an artist because of my special markings. It is easy to see that no one has used a brush on me, just splashes of color. What am I?

Paint

How Many Hands?

Optical illusions are puzzles designed to fool your eyes. See if you can pick out which one of these horses is the tallest!

Optical Illusions

Some horse trainers believe that they can look into a horse's eyes and tell whether it will be a good candidate for schooling. Others look at the physical characteristics of their horse's eyes: When you look into an Appaloosa's eyes, it's like looking into a human's eye. They are the only horse with a white sclera, which is the area around the colored part of your eye. Some horses like the Walleye have no coloring in their eye at all!

Try This

Make Your Own Binoculars

Make a pair of binoculars out of two toilet paper rolls taped together. What happens if you take off the tape and hold the two rolls apart from each other while you look out to the sides? This is what it is like for a horse without blinders on.

Did You Hear That?

Here are some tips for helping your horse to hear what you are trying to say to him:

1. Most trainers recommend using a soft voice when you're talking to your horse.

2. When you're giving commands (aids), use a louder voice.

3. Use a loud, not angry voice to let him know when he is doing something you don't like!

Cowboys always liked quiet horses because they didn't scare the cattle and make them stampede. Cowboys would also sing to the cattle to keep them calm. Do you know any of these old songs like “Goodbye Old Paint” or “Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie?” Horses have excellent hearing that you want to protect. It is always best to keep them away from loud noises and take good care of their ears.

What am I?

My name gives you a clue to where I came from. The land that I live on is a windmill-covered peninsula that extends out into the ocean in Northern waters. What am I?

Jutland

Amazing Ears

Have you ever watched a horse move its ears? They look like a pinwheel in a breeze. They seem to be able to swivel in every direction and oddly enough, one can point forward while the other is pointing backward. Horses also seem to be able to hear different things in each ear at the same time.

Have you ever known anyone that can wiggle his or her ears up and down? Can you? Horses move their ears when they itch or to keep the flies away. A horse's ears look sort of like the ear trumpets old timers used to use before they had hearing aids—you might have seen these in cartoons! Horses' ears are big on the outside then get smaller as they go into the horse's head. As an experiment, roll up a stiff sheet of construction paper until it is shaped like a trumpet and see if it helps you hear better.

Try This

Horse Ear Experiment

To show how a large container transmits sounds better than a smaller one, tap different metal measuring cups with the bottom of a tablespoon. Notice how the larger cups ring for longer? If you hold them, open side up, near your ear, the big ones really conduct sound into your ears. Try both ears. Can you hear the same with both?

How Horses Communicate

Have you ever been around a few horses or a whole herd of them? If you have ever heard a horse whinny, nicker, neigh, snort, or squeal, you know that they use their voices to communicate with each other just like people do. Each of those sounds is used only in a certain situation. The more you are around a horse, the more you will notice they also use pitch and volume to make their point; they use sound in a way that is similar to the way you do when you are scared, nervous or excited.

A horse shows that he cares for his rider by pushing his head against the rider's chest, whinnying to her when he catches sight of her, or nuzzling her with his nose. Over time, many riders feel that they understand what their horse is thinking just by seeing how they react to the things that happen to them.

Answer as many clues as you can and fill the letters into the grid. Work back and forth between the box and the clues to find the silly answer to the riddle.

Who is a horses' favorite storybook character?

Listening to Your Horse

Like cats that purr when they are happy and arch their backs when they are scared, or a dog that wags its tail when you pet it, horses have ways to tell you how they feel. Horses use their ears to tell you to “Back off,” when they pull them back tightly against their head. They show the whites of their eyes and stamp their feet a lot, for no apparent reason. A horse will also let you know when she is tired of being cooped up in her stable or just bored, by weaving around and biting the wood in her stall.

Words to Know

Communicate

To communicate is to share how you are feeling or what you are thinking. One way to communicate with someone is to talk. Horses communicate through different sounds such as whinnies or neighs. Another way a horse communicates is by using body language.

If your horse starts limping when you're out on a ride, check his hoof for a stone. If he continues to limp after a stone is removed, hop off the horse to walk him home. If your horse is curious, it will tip its ears forward. If it is very affectionate, it will lean toward you and rub its nose against you, especially if you're giving it a carrot, apple or a sugar cube.

Have you ever been told you eat like a horse? Get out some of those favorite horse foods like carrots and apples. Have a competition with your friends to see who can eat the most of them. Now try to eat like a horse, using only your lips and teeth while your friends hold the food on their palm of their hands. Not so easy, is it?

Try This

Sugar Cube Art

If you have sugar cubes, you could try building a sugar cube barn or stable out of frosting and sugar cubes. Or you could use peanut butter to stick them together as well. If you don't have sugar cubes, try building with graham crackers or chocolate bars. When you're through, you can also taste it.

A Sixth Sense

Have you ever heard of someone having a sixth sense? When a person has a sixth sense they are said to be able to gain information or know things, but not by using any of the usual five senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, or tasting. Many horse owners believe that their horse is able to read their mind. Others feel that if a horse and its rider have traveled for many miles together, the rider unconsciously starts to make a movement, like he has many times before, and the horse does the rest. A new horse purchased by this same rider probably takes awhile to learn how to read his owner's mind.

Can you guess what your friend is thinking? To try outguessing them, place a few items on a table such as a bowl of chips, a cup of soda, and a candy bar. Can you guess which item they will reach for first? What will they want second? Or last? Were you right? Now, you can have them try the same experiment on you.

What am I?

I was named for the first person who raised my breed. To some, I am the All- American horse. You may know me by my small size. What am I?

Morgan

Sixth Sense

Find the 16 times the number 6 or the word six is hidden in this picture.

Words to Know

Instincts

Instincts are natural-born senses given to all kinds of animals. A horse's instincts may tell it to be afraid of certain noises or to seek cover in a storm.

Instincts and Hunches

Some people think that horses have homing instincts. Stories of horses returning to their homes after losing their masters are attributed to years of training rather than instincts; most people believe they were just following the same road. We know that fish, geese, butterfies, and numerous other animals travel many miles to return to their homes, so maybe horses do the same.

Horses seem to know about coming disasters like fires, storms, tidal waves, and earthquakes. Maybe their senses are so much more in tune with their surroundings than ours that they can feel the changes in the atmosphere and the movements of the earth!

Horses also seem to have instincts passed down from horse to horse for millions of years that affect their behavior. Is it instinct or sixth sense that warns a mare when her foal is in danger? Even foals that are born in the safety of their own stable are usually born at night. Do you think that it is a mother's instinct that tells her this is still the safest time to have a foal, just as it was millions of years ago?

Fun Fact

First Steps

When a horse is born it sometimes appears to be knock-kneed or pigeon-toed. Horses weren't the only ones that had problems with their legs. Many cowboys became bow-legged after riding a horse for so many years.

What Are Horses Afraid Of?

Have you ever been afraid and yet it seemed like you didn't really have a good reason to be? Do you dislike garter snakes, bats, and earthworms? Does the thought of picking them up make a chill run down your spine? All of these creatures move quickly, and without warning they're under your feet or in your hair. We're trained to fear them because they're usually seen as the bad guys in movies, television, and books.

Horses get scared of things for many of the same reasons people do. Horses may be afraid of dogs barking at their feet because they see them as wolves that nipped at their ancestor's hooves. Horses might shy or jump when they hear the crackle of paper because they think that same wolf is creeping through underbrush. All kinds of noises can alert horses to the danger of another animal that might be trying to hurt them.

Horses sometimes seem to be scared for no reason that you can see. They have a much better sense of smell than humans do, so they may know there is an actual wolf lurking nearby before you do! You can help calm a horse that doesn't know you by slowly holding out your hand and letting him sniff it. Don't make any quick moves that will startle a horse—even flapping chaps can make a horse jump!

Would you like to make your own set of chaps? You can make a pair out of paper, cloth, or chamois (something people use for washing cars). All you need is enough material to cover the front of your legs and a way to attach it to a belt that goes around your waist. If you are using paper you can probably make your belt out of paper also and tape the chaps on to it. If your chaps are made out of cloth or chamois, you may want to use a real belt and have someone help you sew several loops for the belt to go in. When your chaps are ready, you can cut part of the way into the material to make it have some fringe around the edges.

Fun Fact

Going For Gold

Did you know there is a special kind of Olympics especially for horses? They are called gymkhanas and are a type of competition held all over the world. Some of the events are barrel racing and pole bending.

Words to Know

Fault

Have you ever said, “It's not my fault?” Something can be your fault if you make a mistake. In horse competitions, a fault means almost the same thing. It is a penalty you are given when you make a mistake in competition.

Is It Magic?

Have you ever heard the fairy tale about the horse called Clever Hans? Its owner had taught him to paw the ground when people asked him simple questions. He always had the right answer, even though his owner was hidden out of sight. After many tests, people decided that it must be that the people asking the horse the questions were accidentally giving him hidden clues. As he neared the correct answer, they would act excited, only to relax when he gave the right number.

All horses seem to be able to do this type of thing where they can “read their rider's mind,” or sense what is going on around them. Many horses can even tell if you are afraid of them or if you are just not used to riding a horse.