Know How to Ride Safe

Thank you for visiting Saddlelights
All the Best and Ride Safely,
Annie Kelly
Owner/Creator Saddlelights (Patent Pending)

Informative Articles for Riding Safe
Understanding Equine Vision

Monocular Vs Binocular

Because horses possess monocular vision they can see roughly 320 degrees around their body. Any use of flashlights, glow sticks, helmet lights, etc, should be avoided as your horse's vision will be immediately impaired. To utilize light on your horse it is necessary to place the light in the horses natural blind spot which is directly centered to the horses chest and then direct the light source towards the ground. This way no matter which direction the horse turns its head and eyes it will not be struck by the riders lights. Keep in mind that horses take considerably longer to adjust to changes in light / dark compared to humans. This means flashing lights on safety vests or in any location that is not a blind spot should be avoided. Please note that the belt clip light we sell is mounted in a blind spot to the horse.

What are the horses blind spots?

A horse has a couple of distinct blind spots. They include an area directly behind the horses tail, the back of the horses head, The width between the horses eyes extending about 4' directly in front of the horse, and the area underneath their chin down to about their knees. Horses cannot see their own chest. Keep in mind the diagrams above are for a horse that is forward facing. If a horse was to turn their head to one side they could easily see back over their backs. For these reasons lights should only be placed in the horses blind spots. Proper placement of front facing lights and rear facing lights will not impair your horses vision.

How well do horses actually see?

Contrary to what many people think horses do not possess good vision. Compared to a human a horses vision would be approximately 20/33. The vast majority of the time a horse uses monocular vision which is one dimensional (flat) and lacks the ability to judge depth of field. What monocular vision does do well is detect motion over a very large area. However that motion in one dimension appears to be jumping at the horse even though it may be a considerable distance away. To judge distance or see with any real degree of clarity a horse must change to binocular vision. They do this by raising their head and looking down their nose with both eyes. The overlapping vision is thus binocular and they see with greater clarity and are able to judge the depth of the field.

But horses see better in the dark right?

Horses have two types of photoreceptors in their eyes that allow them to see in various lighting conditions. Rods are sensitive to low light conditions and are better suited for night vision, however Rods contain no information on wavelength. Cones require more light but contain wavelength information which translates to the ability to see color. Horses have more Rods than Cones in their eyes which makes them better suited to see in the dark than humans. And yes this is where we debunk another myth. Horses are not color blind. Horses possess what is called Dichromatic color vision. Which means they do see a spectrum of colors but not nearly as many as a human which has Trichromatic color vision. Properly mounted and adjusted lights will not interfere with your horses night vision. The additional light will however allow the rider to see dangerous changes in trail conditions such as nails, wire, holes, etc. that could seriously injure your horse.

If your interested in learning more about equine vision and lights drop by our booth and we will show you how helmet lights and flashlights can destroy your horses vision. We can show you safely using our fiberglass mascot horse "Saddlelight Sam". Or you can email us at info@saddlelights.com

All pictures and text are copyrighted by www.saddlelights.com

info@saddlelights.com
All Rights Reserved.
Patent Pending.