YOUR PONY'S SENSES

Text | Shelley Wolhuter, Libratum Equus

PART 1: HEARING AND SIGHT

Have you ever thought about your pony’s senses and how they experience the world? They have the same five senses that we do (hearing, sight, touch, smell and taste) and yet their sensory organs, the body parts responsible for their senses, are built a little differently to ours. This means their senses don’t work in quite the same way and that their experience of the world is a little different. Understanding this can help us to understand our ponies a little better.

Hearing

Horses’ ears are quite remarkable! With their ears being so large, it is no surprise that horses have much better hearing than we do!

While the internal parts of their ears are similar to ours in many ways, their ears can rotate 180 degrees allowing them to collect sounds from lots of different places! This also allows them to pinpoint the exact location the sound is coming from in order to figure out what the sound is. Amazingly, they can turn their ears independently (one at a time) so they can zoom into two completely different sounds at one time.

Horses can hear sounds above and below our range, which explains why they sometimes seem to hear something that we are unaware of. This keen sense of hearing allows horses to detect danger from far away, giving them enough time to flee to safety.

A windy day

Imagine riding your pony on a windy day… I’m sure you’re picturing your pony being a little on edge? This is because the wind can carry sounds from far away, alerting your pony to many potential threats. Very harsh winds can also impair your pony’s hearing, making them feel vulnerable and therefore a little less safe than usual. This effect is kind of like riding so fast that the wind blocks your ears a bit! So on a windy day have a bit more sympathy for your pony and his anxiety – he is probably picking up on lots of things you don’t even notice.

Sight

Horses’ eyes are also very different to ours! If you’ve ever stared into your pony’s eyes, you’ll have noticed that they do not have a round pupil like us. Instead, the pupil is long and narrow, stretching horizontally across the eye. This is so that they can get a full panoramic view of their surroundings and means that they can see a long way around without moving their heads. This is important for them to be able to see danger from all sides and angles. The placement of their large eyes on the sides of their faces means that they can see 350 degrees around them. They do have a small blind spot right in front of them and one right behind them due to the wide set of their eyes, but luckily if they simply tilt their heads, they can see these areas easily.

Horses also do not see the same colours that we see. Scientists are still trying to understand exactly what colours they see, but it is believed that they see primarily in blues and greens. Other colours, particularly reds, seem to appear blue and green when a horse looks at them.

Did you know?

Horses’ eyes sit quite high up on their heads in comparison to other animals. This is so that they can graze in the tall grass without losing their view of the surroundings.

Take home message

Now that we know that our magical ponies hear and see the world differently from us, we can begin to understand them a little bit better. This also means that we can be a little more patient and helpful when our ponies are struggling with certain things. In the next issue, we will be discussing the other three senses: smell, taste and touch!