When a horse is about six or seven feet away from the jump they can no longer see the obstacle in front of them. This is because of the placement of their eyes. According to Evelyn B. Hanggi, horses have lateral eye placement, meaning their eyes are located on the sides of their heads.
“This gives them a much larger field of view compared to humans; in fact, when holding their heads level, they possess a nearly spherical field of vision. With vision that extends almost a full horizontal circle, horses have no problem seeing what goes on around them. Blind areas to the horse exist only within a narrow region to the rear as well as a small area perpendicular to the forehead and directly below the nose” (Hanggi). This article on MyHorse.com gives an even more detailed explanation of horse vision
As they get closer to the jump, the fence slowly loses length on each side until the jump disappears altogether. At this point, communication between horse and rider becomes vital because it is up to the rider to signal the horse when to jump. If the rider signals the horse incorrectly, the horse could either take off too early or take off too late, both of which could result in the horse crashing through the jump. This can lead to injury to both horse and rider. This video is an example.
No comments:
Post a Comment