Here is what I put together about horses based on various comments to
me from my first post. I do not know anything about horses; this is
all new to me.
The psychology of being a herd animal got me going. However, I also
get carried away thinking about vision. Incidentally, I never did
figure out what my friend meant when she said that horses eyes
magnify. I thought she meant they were near sighted; but maybe not.
Maybe she meant that a part of a horse's field of view has a higher
resolution than other parts and that horses are more conscious of this
than humans are of theirs. Or maybe something else. Anyhow, I have
not said anything about that.
Ronn!Blankenship talked about bird's vision. They see more colors
than humans! I'll pull all that together soon.
I have put this up, more or less as you see it here, on my Web site.
Unlike cats and dogs, which are predators, horses are prey animals. This makes
horses different from cats and dogs. Humans are both predators and prey.
A friend who is not on this list got me interested in this. She said
that since horses are prey animals, their horses' reason for grouping
together is different from wolves.
For horses, the bigger the herd, the safer each is.
The limit is determined by the available grazing and the ability of a stallion
to keep mares from other males.
Herds in a desert or other harsh environments are quite size-limited, and may
be as small as one stud, one mare and their young offspring. (The sire will
have driven off the older colts, and another stallion may have enticed away
older fillies.)
Deborah Harrell says that
... one stallion can only 'claim' so many mares in the wild
state, and I have not heard of a single male holding more than ~
15 mares (although there are rare cases of an alpha stud
permitting a beta male to be part of the herd, which can then be a
little larger; the beta may or may not be permitted to breed any
of the mares, however. The presumed advantage to a younger male
who holds beta status but is not allowed to breed: if the alpha is
injured or dies, he can take over without a dangerous fight, and
having been part of the herd he is already known and acceptable to
the mares.)
For wolves, on the other hand, an overly large pack provides little food for
each member. An appropriately sized pack can bring down an elk and feed
comfortably. Too few wolves, the elk escapes and the wolves do not eat. Too
many wolves, and the dead elk does not provide enough for all.
My friend also said that both dogs and horses are hierarchical, but
horses are less hierarchical than dogs.
In a herd, stallions protect the others and breed, but the individual horse who
finds good grass is often the lead mare. She also decides when to move to
various parts of the herd's range. The lead mare will discipline rowdy
youngsters and keep the other mares `in line' as well. There have been
documented cases in which the lead mare actively helped maintain an injured or
ill herd stallion's status until he recovered.
Deborah Harrell says that
Unlike elk or deer, long-term emotional (or for the purists,
preferential) bonds can be formed between a stallion and the mares
of his herd; I recall reading somewhere of one pair being together
for ~15 years (with other mares varying), and of another mare
escaping, after a year, from the winning stallion and successfully
finding her previous mate. (This from studies of American mustangs
- I think these were in Montana.)
Unlike dogs in packs, in a herd, every mare in a herd breeds, but not
every stallion.
Horses have the equivalent of left and right handedness. That is to say, they
have different acuities on the left side and the right. Some horses prefer to
be approached and mounted on the right rather than the left. Some prefer the
rider to sit during a trot with either the right or left hind foot, start a
cantor with either the left or right hoof first.
Horses have color vision that is different from humans': they see blue and
yellow.
In a `just so story' mode, I can remind you that yellow is the color of the
direct sun and blue predominates in shade. The contrast usefully helps you
determine whether you are in shade or not.
Moreover, I would think that blue in association with yellow enables a horse to
distingish among different shades of green, and therefore among different
qualities of grass. Both sensor capabilities would cause those horses, or
proto-horses, that possessed yellow/blue vision to reproduce better than those
which lacked them.
Is there any evidence that this `just so story' is true?
Moreover, while horses enjoy overlapping sight, or binocular vision, they also
have a 3 foot blind spot right in front. If you approach a horse in its blind
spot, you may startle it.
The angles covered by horses' binocular vision are small compared to humans',
since the eyes are set more on the sides of the head than in front, as in
humans. On the other hand, horses enjoy a more extensive field-of-vision than
humans.
Incidentally, Deborah Harrell says that
There is also a blind spot right behind - ditto the startle. I
never approach a horse from the rear without talking to it -- and
if an ear doesn't focus on me, I move to the side until it sees
me.
To jump, a horse and its rider need to team together: the horse needs to look
for ahead to see the jump; when it actually jumps, the horse is showing faith
in the rider.
Deborah Harrell said dramatically that in going for a jump, a horse
... is exposing it's vulnerable belly to whatever monster might be
hiding behind the obstacle -- a leap of faith indeed!
Nick Arnett said
And when it heads for a low branch, it is showing disdain for the
rider. We had a pony who generally trotted straight toward such a
branch as soon as anybody got on her. But ponies are small, grumpy
versions of horses.
My friend said, "Where horses' ears are, their eyes are." Horses move
their ears in a manner that indicates where they are focusing their
attention. A horse's ear may come back so a horse can see his or her
rider.
Deborah Harrell developed the thesis:
Body language is crucial in communicating both your intentions
toward and your expectations of the horse; they are incredibly
keen observers of your tiniest move -- where are your eyes
focused, as you walk up, is your body balanced to jump sideways or
run, or is it relaxed "nooope, no monsters anywheers here-
aboots..." If you hold your breath while riding, the horse will
assume that you've seen something dangerous, and react
accordingly.
--
Robert J. Chassell
[EMAIL PROTECTED] GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
http://www.rattlesnake.com http://www.teak.cc
_______________________________________________
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
