Horses have the same five senses as humans, but our senses operate differently than that of our equine friends. Knowing a little about how a horse sees, hears, and smells, gives us a glimpse into the horse’s world, and might help us to understand what he or she might be communicating to us.
Sight
Have you ever heard footsteps behind you as you ambled down a darkened street and wished you could see who was following you without turning around? If you were a horse, you could do that; horses have a much greater lateral field of vision than we do. With eyes on the sides of their head—eyes that operate independently, they can see a total of 350 degrees. This is called monocular vision.
With this panoramic view, horses can look at just about everything in their environment without moving their head. By comparison, our field of vision is about 180 degrees. We have to turn our heads from side to side to see what’s around us. This is because our eyes face forward and work in unison. This is called binocular vision. And because our eyes work in unison, we can focus on only one observation at a time.
But, guess what. Horses can also use their two eyes like we do—binocularly. But they can’t easily see directly in front. They need to lift or lower their head to get a better look—or risk bumping into something directly in front of them. That's why he sometimes has trouble grasping the treats you hand him, looking for them or feeling for them with the long stiff whisker-like hairs growing around his mouth and chin.
The pupils in our eyes account for another reason we see differently than a horse. Our pupils are round, giving us a field of vision as high as it is wide. The horse’s pupils are horizontal, giving them a wider, yet flatter view. Horses also see the color spectrum differently. They are unable to appreciate the full impact of the holiday décor at Christmastime, as greens and reds are not very distinct to them.
When we understand how a horse sees, we might consider the best way to approach a mare—or gelding or stallion—in the pasture or the paddock. How might we best walk toward her? We need to keep in mind that she sees almost a complete circle around her body, but not directly in front or directly behind. If we watch a mare approach another horse that she does not know, she will likely make a path in the form of an arc, rather than walk straight toward the horse. The mare is communicating respect, and that she means no harm. Like the mare, if we walk toward the horse, we can approach in a similar way, rather than heading toward them in a straight line. This can feel threatening to that horse.
Hearing
Like humans, horses use their hearing for three primary functions: to detect sounds, to determine the location of the sound, and to provide sensory information that allows the horse to recognize the identity of these sources.
Not only do horses have the ability to move their eyes independently—unlike humans—their ears often move in different directions. Using ten different muscles, they can move each ear 180 degrees. They might be listening to you with one ear, while keeping their other ear tuned into sounds on the other side of the pasture, where a predator might be lurking.
Horses have good hearing…better than humans. Noise is louder to them. They can also hear high-pitched frequencies that we can’t hear. If we see a horse act afraid and we don’t know why, it could be they are hearing something out of our audible range. Just as we might lose some capacity to hear as we get older, some of our equine friends may go totally deaf or lose the ability to hear high and low pitch sounds as they age.
Believe it or not, horses also hear with their feet! A gelding usually knows something is up long before he can smell it or see it. This is possible due to pockets of air in the hollows of their hooves. These hollows accentuate vibrations traveling along the ground. These amplifiers in their feet make it hard for someone or something to sneak up on them.
When we talk to horses, what do they hear? Perhaps you’re walking by a pasture and see a mare and her baby grazing. You might tell Mom how cute her foal is. What does mama horse hear? She likely picks up a combination of sounds depending on your voice pitch and tone, but primarily she is picking up on the overall intonation and meaning conveyed through your body language rather than the specific words themselves. She will be more attuned to the emotional quality of your voice and the visual cues you’re giving her.
Smell
All animals and humans, plants & soils have a unique odor, and a horse will recognize this. A horse can also smell the wild animals, other horses, or humans that have been in the area. Giving a horse pasture time is important for many reasons, but one of those reasons is that it provides a rich environment of smells, which is important to the horse.
In any smell contest between man and equine, the latter will always win. In fact, compared to horses we are nearly smell-blind. A horse has fifty times as many olfactory receptors than we do. If a smell is exciting or frightening, it can greatly impact the horses’ behavior and feelings.
Not only do horses have two ways of seeing—monocular and binocular—they have two ways of smelling. A horse can take in a scent through their nose like we do, but they also smell via the inside of their upper lip. This second way of smelling—known as the flehming response—is used for odors that are more dense, like the scent of a female’s pheromones. A gelding or stallion can look really funny around a mare in heat, for example, as he inhales, rolls his upper lip back, and displays his front teeth. A mare often smells her newborn in this way during the first few hours after giving birth.
Horses spend a lot of time on alert for danger; they are prey animals. Their senses are on automatic and constant lookout for any external threat to their survival. In addition to helping them feel safe, a horse’s sense can be a source of delight. A mare may reach out her neck and inhale a kaleidoscope of perfumed odors as she rubs her nostrils, and sometimes even her tongue, seemingly enchanted by the world around her.
It's fun to watch a horse’s ears, eyes, and nose, and knowing some facts can help us to understand what they are experiencing, and perhaps even what they are communicating. When you are with a horse who has soft eyes, a relaxed set of ears, and a lowered head, just know that they might just be sending you their version of a heart emoji.
