What Horses See on the Trail

The Back Country Horsemen of Washington state put together the following video about trail safety.  It does a really good job of introducing the topic of how bicyclists, hikers, and horse riders can share the trail safely.  The biggest key is that everybody should talk to each other--let the horse know that that object wheeling silently through the woods is really a human not a predator.

Icelandic Horses in The Hobbit--and Their Stand-ins Update 1/30/12

Photo used with permission of Eric Vespe

12/20/14 (correction)  It is confirmed by the Icelandic horse association in NZ that Martin Freeman who plays Bilbo Baggins in the movie was not riding  a chestnut Icelandic.  The actors playing dwarves will ride horses made up to look like Icelandics and the size standins for the dwarves will be riding Icelandics.

I was so excited to hear that Bilbo Baggins and the Dwarves stand-in are going to ride Icelandic horses in Peter Jackson’s movie version of The Hobbit.  Icelandics are being featured because of their shaggy, hobbitty look and their smooth gait the tolt.   You can refer to my post “Icelandic Horses in Movies--The Hobbit and HBO Game of Thrones—Update” for more detailed information.

Working for Ain’t It Cool News, Eric Vespe, otherwise known as Quint, was given the chance of lifetime when he was invited to spend two months with The Hobbit cast and crew as they were shooting in New Zealand.  I highly recommend reading his entire 5-part “Unexpected Journey” (link listed below) as he describes observing the set up of Hobbiton, speaking with Frodo (both actor and character), being assigned his hobbit name Fredegar Chubb and getting to de-gut fish for a scene in the movie, attending a Powhiri or greeting ceremony by the local Maori tribes, and much, much more.

One of the sites used for the New Zealand shoot was Ohakune Beech Paddock.  Per Eric, “This wooded area was to represent the outskirts of The Shire and featured Bilbo catching up to Gandalf and the dwarves. They’re riding on horseback so you can imagine the circus that day. Thirteen dwarves and a Wizard and horses for them all! The dwarves’ horses were wearing sort of shaggy jackets since they were supposed to be ponies, but the guys playing the dwarves would look silly in all their gear on tiny ponies. In order to sell the stature they had to make the regular horses look more pony-like.”

Eric Vespe has given me permission to show his photo of a dwarf riding one of the horses disguised as an Icelandic.  How ironic that the actors are riding horses made up to look like Icelandics and their size-stand-ins are riding the real Icelandic horses!

As Eric goes on to say, “The day was spent mostly getting wider shots of troop on horseback riding through the woods as Bilbo catches up to the party, but there was one shot in particular that you can actually glimpse in the trailer that had Fili and Kili picking up Mr. Baggins (from horseback) and putting him up onto his pony.”

Working with children and animals always has its challenges as Eric explains.  “It takes a lot of coordination to make the timing work when you have humans and animals in a scene together and I noticed some interesting things the trainers did to make the horses comfortable. For instance, I saw one of the trainers gently sniff the boom mic in front of a horse so the horse would follow suit and realize this fluffy thing hanging over his head wasn’t going to attack him.”

Source:  http://www.aintitcool.com/node/52353

If you are interested in more details about the Icelandic horses in The Hobbit movie, you may want to check out the future editions of the United States Icelandic Horse Congress Quarterly.  There will be interviews with the owners and handlers of the “real” Icelandic horses on the set of The Hobbit as soon as the non-disclosure contracts permit..

How Horses See

The February 2007 edition of "Perfect Horse" has a fascinating article "Eye Openers" by Tracey Emslie about recent research on how horses perceive the world. Did you know that horses have the largest eyes of any land mammal? I recommend that you check out this article in your local library or bookstore. I have summarized some of the key points below. Most of the results are from the studies of Dr. Evelyn Hanggi, president of the Equine Research Foundation. The research has some interesting implications for people who train or ride horses. It helps explain why that sign post/drain pipe/car was not a problem on the ride out when it was in shadow but was a problem when it was glinting in full sunlight on the ride back.

 

Horses can see almost 360 degrees around but have small blind spots in front of their noses, just behind their tails, and probably low on their backs. By shifting their heads slightly, they can see even those spots. Horses can see using monocular vision (view different things out of each eye) like a chameleon or binocular (both eyes work together to focus on the same view) like a human. Using monocular vision, the horse can focus on both on the horse behind him and the trail in front—all at the same time! Just think how many scary things the horse can see that way.

 

This monocular versus binocular vision has probably contributed to the myth that horses need to see things with both eyes before they really process it. However, experiments have shown that a horse can learn to select a symbol with one eye blindfolded and will immediately transfer that learning when the other eye is blindfolded. So information is processed between the two eyes.

 

Then there is the situation "The horse passes the mail box on the way down the trail but spooks at seeing the mail box when coming home. The horse must not be able to recognize the mail box from a different angle." Horses can recognize different objects when they are rotated through most, but not all, angles. Horses are sensitive to changes in "lighting, contrast, and shadows" so perhaps the horse does not recognize the mailbox due to these differences.

 

The horse's eyes are set slightly to the front of the head with a 55- to 65-degree overlap in eyesight. From a binocular point of view, the horse has fairly accurate depth perception but needs to raise or lower her head to adjust the depth perception. When riding, you need to give your horse enough rein to move her head when she needs the additional depth perception required to herd cattle or maneuver through tight situations.

 

This finding has a profound implication when riding "on the bit." After watching two dressage horses collide without seeming to see each other, Dr. Alison Harmon did some studies on the horse retina. "She found that the forward portion of a horse's sight runs approximately down his nose, with the blind spot being roughly the width of the horse's body in front of him as well as slightly above the level of his eyes. If a horse is ridden `on the bit' with hisforehead vertical to the ground, or overflexed and `behind the bit; with his nose pointed toward his chest, he only sees the dirt beneath his nose. The peripheral vision is still showing what is to the side, but he is working blind in regard to anything smack dab in front of him" (p. 35-36). In disciplines like dressage that encourage this type of headset, the horse has to really trust his rider since the horse effectively has blinders on.

 

Here are some other bits (no pun intended) of horse sight trivia:

• The horse is a little nearsighted with 20/30 vision.

• A horse can see fairly well at night 

• It can adjust to differences in brightness and darkness fairly quickly but is impacted more by "situational differences."
• Horses can see color but have trouble distinguishing between red and green.
• "Color vision deficiencies do not make objects invisible" (p. 37).

 

I hope that you enjoyed reading about some of these perceptual differences as much as I did. Researchers have a lot more to learn about how the horse sees the world. Does anyone have any stories illustrating these differences? Does everyone agree with the research? As a new rider, I am curious about this.

 

Source: Emslie, T. (2007, February). Eye openers. Perfect Horse, 12, 2, pp. 33-37.