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Horse Behavior and Training

Color blind

By:
Horse addict (From the good old USA)
Date:
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed

I was just wondering something, are horses color blind? Can they distinguish colors?

Kleinne - Utah, U.S.A.
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed

I think they only see in black and white, I seem to recall Monty saying that.

Gen (Queensland, Australia)
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed

Hi all
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In my Monty Roberts Introductory to Horsemanship Manual, it says that a horse's retina's (the same as ours) have two types of cells: rods which are sensitive to dim light and cones which are sensitive to colour. Unlike us, horses have more rods than cones which gives them better night vision than us and they can see better on dim days than bright sunny ones.
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More rods and less cones also indicate that horses probably can see colours, but not in the same way that we do.
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It's an interesting topic, and I have read all kinds of different things, but this one makes the most sense to me so far.
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See you later,
.
Gen

Kicki -- Sweden
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed 350 lessons completed 400 lessons completed 450 lessons completed 500 lessons completed 550 lessons completed 600 lessons completed

I'm absolutely certain we've had this discussion here before, because I distinctly remember giving a link to a page where they showed pics of how the world looks like through the horse's eyes. But I couldn't find it with the search engine using "color" as search word.
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Anyway, there is recent research that shows that horses sees colors, but nor quite like we do. They don't see red, for instance, and the other colors are more "pastel" or muted if you like. Also, because of the shape of its eyes, white and bright things, appears much larger than they are.
I'll see if I can find that research page again.

phantommustang1 Walsenburg, Colorado, USA
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This is interesting. Princess is a cremello with blue eyes, and I have been wondering about a lot of things. I never had a blue eyed horse before. She used to stand around with her eyes closed when the sun was bright, but I started putting black around her eyes and it seems to help. But as for colors, I have always wondered about that.

Horse addict (From the good old USA)
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed

Thanks guys, in my opinion, I think they can see some color.

Kicki -- Sweden
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed 350 lessons completed 400 lessons completed 450 lessons completed 500 lessons completed 550 lessons completed 600 lessons completed

I did some searching, and I can't find the site I was thinking of, but there's an informative article at this link:
http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/health/anatomy/colorvision_012706/
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That one is from 2003, and since then a Swedish scientist Lina Rooth, has done a great deal of research in the area. The only thing I have about her research in English is this:
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/210/16/i.1.full
From "The Journal of Experimental Biology" 2007.
Her doctorate paper ont he subject will be ready in 2013. :)

Horse addict (From the good old USA)
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed

Wow thanks Kicki those sites are very interesting.

Kicki -- Sweden
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed 350 lessons completed 400 lessons completed 450 lessons completed 500 lessons completed 550 lessons completed 600 lessons completed
Sonce I still can't find that other thread about horses' vision/colorblindness, I'm re-re-awakening this thread instead. 

You guys have to see this little vid that French(?) scientists and a designer have created.
It's a short film of how a horse experiences a ride through a landscape and into an arena.

The link goes to a Swedish horse magazine's site that holds a copy of the vid. (don't know the origin URL), but the sub-titles are in French and English, so you will all be able to follow it.

http://www.hippson.se/hippson-tv/genom-hastens-ogon.htm
vicci - UK (North Wales)
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed 350 lessons completed
Wow Kicki, that was brilliant! Really helped to literally see through our horses eyes :-)
Miriam (Holland&Germany)
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Thank you Kicki for sharing this great information!

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