Can horse's see in the dark??

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Kristine

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I'm very confused Im sure they can!
But


I was schooling spring yesturday. It was just sunset and we had the light from the yard and a car pointing into the school for light (it was lit up I could see the jumps!) But spring kind of went towards the first jump sort of cat let it then stopped (almost sending me flying!) and then jumped the second jump (almost leaving me behind!) He jumped a couple nicely but overall it wasn't a great sesion!
The problem is we were going to school when it was light but lisa's mum turned up and made us muck out before it was dark! When we have really good lights in our stables! It made more sence to us to school in the light (safely) and muck out later!

Can someone tell me if they can see in the dark?
or if they need certain food to help them see better?
Also does anyone has any good iea's of how to light the school up a bit better?
 
Yes they can see in the dark, but for your safety I wouldn't recommend jumping or any fast work! Overhead lighting is best, low sunlight and car lights cast very long shadows that can be very misleading and give the impression of big holes in the ground
 
they can see well enough in the dark, but jumping with artificial light creates unusual shadows and throws their perception out completely. might be better just to do flatwork in this situation.
 
I think horses can see very well in the dark but they don't cope well with changes in light i.e. going from light to shadow, I seem to remember being told that their eyes take a lot longer to adjust than a humans eyes so if you were going between the light from the yard and the headlights (which may be dazzling the horse) and then into the dark areas he may have stuggled a bit. I school in poor light (my arena is only partially lit) but I won't jump as I worry about the risk of the horse being brought down by a pole he hasn't seen.
 
i personally dont jump under floodlites, so i definately wouldnt jump under the light from a car..........imo not very safe!! The light can cast funny shadows and make the jumps look odd for horses. I tried jumping bloss last year under floodlites and had the same problem, i stopped after a couple of jumps as she was obiviously struggling. However i school both mine under floodlites every evening and have never had a problem.
 
As others have said yes they can see in the dark but the artificial lighting causes shadows etc so it can prove dangerous to jump in the dark and this is most probably why you had difficulty.

We have overhead lighting which is safe to jump under however I would still be carefull where I place the jumps in relations to shadows cast etc.
 
Horses can see in the dark very well but what they can't do is go from light to dark and vice versa very well-hence the cat leaping the jumps with the car lights on!

Agree with the others about the need for overhead lights or not to school if its dark.
 
They way my girl nearly knocked me over last night when she was having a hissy fit makes me think she can't see as well as I thought! Also, I have noticed she is a lot more jumpy in the dark.
 
Thank's guys!
Didn't realise that horses took along time to change from shadow to light!
Won't be jumping in the dark any more!
thanks again guys
 
[ QUOTE ]
I'm very confused Im sure they can!
But


I was schooling spring yesturday. It was just sunset and we had the light from the yard and a car pointing into the school for light (it was lit up I could see the jumps!) But spring kind of went towards the first jump sort of cat let it then stopped (almost sending me flying!) and then jumped the second jump (almost leaving me behind!) He jumped a couple nicely but overall it wasn't a great sesion!
The problem is we were going to school when it was light but lisa's mum turned up and made us muck out before it was dark! When we have really good lights in our stables! It made more sence to us to school in the light (safely) and muck out later!

Can someone tell me if they can see in the dark?
or if they need certain food to help them see better?
Also does anyone has any good iea's of how to light the school up a bit better?

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe carrots help you see better at night
wink.gif
 
As already mentioned; yes horses have absolutely excellent night-vision, however it does take them a little while to adjust to it. Once they have, they are perfectly capable of doing most things in the dark. Dusk is never a good time to ride them though as the light and dark confuses them somewhat. Either ride when it is really light or really dark.
 
You know, I was thinking the same thing this morning. Little man's stable has no electric so i was mucking out in the half light and thinking to myself "I wonder if he ever bumps into the walls in the dark cos he can't see them?".

One thing's for certain, although he only ever poos in one place, he can't see that place cos he always rolls in it.
mad.gif
 
They must be able to see in the dark or they would walk into things in the night!
When you school under arena lights it makes odd shadows causing them to be a little spooky.

I used to ride mine in the dark before I had a school- just make sure you mark out an arena and stick to it.
 
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