04/06/2026
ππ 8 Things you may not know about your Horses Eyes ππ
Your horseβs eyes are big, and they can do some pretty incredible things. Below is a study that has been carried out, which is interesting, so I thought I would share it with you ... take a look at some of the impressive things your horseβs eyes can do β some points may come as a surprise!
1οΈβ£ Horses have some of the biggest eyes on the planet:
Horses Have Extremely Big Eyes! In fact, horses have some of the biggest eyes of all land mammals! With a diameter of around 2 inches, your horseβs eyes simply canβt be ignored. And they can do some pretty incredible things, too.
2οΈβ£ Your Horses eyes allow for a wide range of Vision:
The size of your horseβs eyes, and the fact they are positioned on the side of your horseβs head, mean that he can see nearly 360 degrees. The only blind spot your horse suffers from is directly in front and directly behind his body.
3οΈβ£ Your Horse can use his eyes separately:
Most horses have a thing called monocular vision. What does that mean, I hear you ask? Well, it basically means that your horse can use both his eyes separately. So, your horse can see and process two different things happening on different sides of his body at the same time. Pretty incredible.
4οΈβ£ Horses can use their eyes like Binoculars:
When looking ahead, a horse can use his eyes like binoculars, getting a better focus on things in the distance. This helps a horse focus both his eyes on a single object in front of him. In the wild, binocular vision would have been used by horses, most commonly, to give them a greater field of view when on the lookout for predators.
5οΈβ£ Everything is Magnified:
For your horse, thanks to his extravagantly large eyeball, everything is magnified fifty percent larger than we perceive it. This is ideal, as mentioned above, in situations when your horse has to use his binocular vision to spot potential predators.
6οΈβ£ Your Horse can see in the dark:
One of the many incredible things about your horseβs eyes is that they allow him to see in the dark. In fact, your horse can see in the dark better than a cat can! So, the next time you walk past his stall on a dark winter evening, donβt be surprised when he whinnies a βhelloβ to you. After all, he can see you!
7οΈβ£ Your Horse has an effective blink reflex:
Around your horseβs eyes are a collection of sensory hairs which, if touched or come too close into contact with, will trigger the blink reflex. This helps your horse protect his eye from damage, scratches, or debris being blown in and causing discomfort. If your horse starts blinking excessively while youβre grooming him, itβs likely youβve groomed too closely to his eye and he is automatically blinking to ensure no damage is done.
8οΈβ£ Horses are not colour blind:
Against popular perception, horses are not colour blind. In fact, horses have whatβs called a two-colour or dichromatic vision. Put simply, this means that they can distinguish colours in two wavelength regions; blue and green (and various shades and variations based around these two colours). They cannot see red or yellows.
As a result, when creating obstacle courses for horses with jump rails, it is important that organisers paint the rails a different colour from the footing so that the horse can decipher where he needs to jump. Research suggests that horses are far less likely to knock a rail down when the jumping rails are painted in two or more contrasting colours β presumably because they can see the jump clearly.
When your horse is not seeing well, they will exhibit the following signs:-
β οΈMore regular spooking and a more exaggerated reaction
β οΈFrequent delayed reactions
β οΈSide-to-side head movements
β οΈAn inability to see his footing well, which may result in βtrippingβ on uneven ground.
