Miriam wrote:
Thanks, Donald!
Very interesting articles, also to have them lined up like this because they all add up. I just read all of them, and even though I knew already that horses only see two colours, I still learned new things about it.
Me too. I had some of the outdated information about horse vision stuck in my head...not knowing there was this new research until I found these. I think something someone said here inspired me to search.
In my past, over 30 years ago, this kind of information was difficult to find. Bless the Internet, eh? It brings us all together.
Miriam wrote:
What really set me thinking, was the 'second blind spot', that extends from the cheekbone to the knees and then up to the chest again. It's really logical that the horse can't see that (just as I can't see a finger that's placed under my chin and lower), but for some reason I sometimes forget those simple things.
I'm so often confounded by how much I 'forget' only to remember later in retrospective of my recent training work. Annoying.
It's never ending...the learning, the practice, tying it all together by integration of it over time, the DOING rather than having to remember.
Some of it comes back, but then I find out new things here and darn it, I have to learn all over again. Imagine. Why I thought I'd know it ALL by now.
Miriam wrote:
Sjors on the other hand really hates it when you put your hand under his jaws where he can't see it. He starts headshaking, is really annoyed and only relaxes when you place that hand against his jaw so that he can feel what he can't see. Perhaps that's also the reason why Sjors dislikes the cordeo, because it moves a lot when he's trotting or doing the Spanish walk, and he can only see part of it, dancing along the edge of his vision and disappearing under his head... Interesting thoughts indeed. Thanks!
You have very likely pinpointed something that it would do well for all of us to consider carefully.
When our horse is doing things we don't understand, like them or not, and we don't know the cause, here is one more thing to consider, as you say: how does his vision, and the blind spots in this case, effect the horse, his attitude, his compensations, his behaviors.
I have a habit of rubbing under a horse's jaw, well up into this throatlatch. I notice it takes time to get them to allow it. And this could be a clue.
When I think back I believe I remember that gentling by touching the green horse in places he can easily see proceeds more trouble free than touching him where he cannot see.
Stands to reason...and true for us as well.
Best, Donald