The sight of a horse is totally different from a human. The differences concern:

• Positioning of eyes
• Perceiving details and movement
• Total view
• Three-dimensional and monoculair view
• Blind spot
• Focus
• Night view
• Adapting to light
• Colors

Positioning of eyes

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All predators have their eyes on the front of their heads, just look at owls, cats, dogs, lions. This way they can focus on their prey.

The horse has his eyes on the side of his head, because he is a prey animal and he needs to be able to see the danger coming from all around him.

The eyes of a human are placed in the head almost next to each other.

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Focus

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A horse can see both close up and long distance because of the way his eye focuses. Basically a horse can simultaneously see both close up and far away. If he is grazing, he is able to look at the ground and at the same time he can clearly see far away into the distance.

• As a prey animal it is vitally important to be able to see any sudden movement. Noticing the predator in time is crucial, so the horse’s eyes are naturally set to focus on objects far away.  The horse’s eye has more movement receptors than humans.
• Because a horse is not a predator, he is less able than we are to discern small details. The horse is able to discern movement better from a distance, and is unable to see precise details up close.

• The horse does have a limitation in his ability to focus quickly on close up items. The shape of the lens will need to become rounder in order to see something up close.
• The human eye can adapt better in terms of curvature than the horses eye. A horse must actively move his head up and down to see an item in detail.

Total view

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Horses have a larger visual field than humans. Horses can almost see 360 degrees around themselves, while our visual field covers about 190 degrees:

Three-dimensional view:

• The horses’ field of three dimensional vision is restricted to about 70º directly in front of him. This means his depth perception is limited. Therefore it is harder for horses to estimate distances than it is for humans.
• We humans have a three-dimensional field of vision of 120º .

Monocular view:

• The horse left eye has a field of vision of 142.5º. He is unable to see this exact same monocular field with his right eye: the world looks completely different to the horse from the right eye. Therefore it is possible that the horse can pass an object very calmly and easily on one side but when he passes the same object from the other side he can become suddenly very scared!
• Of the 355º that horses can see, the majority of that is monoculair vision.
• Of the 190º that we as humans can see, the majority of that is binocular vision (using both eyes).

Blind spot

• Horses have a blind spot behind them of about 5º, which includes the area where the rider sits!
• We have a blind spot of about 170º .
• The horse has another blind spot, right under his nose. You can imagine this blind spot as if we are climbing steps: we can not see our feet if we look up.

Night view & adapting to light

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A horse has far better night vision than we do, but on the other hand, his focus is far less clear.

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A horse also has more difficulty adjusting to differing light conditions than humans do. If a dark environment suddenly turns into a bright and light environment and vice versa the horse might be reluctant. Then don’t push him, but allow his eyes to adapt!!!

Colors

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• A horse sees fewer colors than humans do.
• Horses are to some extent colorblind with respect to the color green.
• Horses can easily distinguish yellow and white from other colors.

Important!!

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Learning how the horse – as a prey animal – has a completely different perception of the world around him to the perception that we as predators have,will mean that you can understand that:

• The world of the horse on the left side looks totally different than on the right side.

• When we mount, suddenly one leg crosses from the left field of vision into the right. A young horse can easily be frightened by this.

• When you come from a dark riding arena to a light environment, it is important to give the horse some time to get used to the light.

• When we start to ride a horse in the early stages, remember that we sit exactly where the horse is unable to see us and that it is the same place where a predator would attack.

• Because it is harder for a horse to focus his view, it can explain why a horse can suddenly become frightened of something that has been in his sight for some time. It is because it had hardly been noticed and suddenly comes into clear view, because the horse moved his head.

We must discipline ourselves to never punish the horse for his natural behavior and reactions!

Never work against Mother Nature! You only succeed when you work with her. The more you learn about your horses’ world, the better you will be able to connect with your horse!