Is your horse more spooky to one side then the other?

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auntienutnut

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I had noticed that my horse seems to spook more to things on the right hand side than the left!

Is your horse one sided?

Maybe worth me getting the vet to check the right eye next time he is down?
 
i have a book which explains why horses spook at things when they see them with a particular eye, something to do with seeing things independently and one side of brain being the instinctive flight side and the other side being the thinking reasoning side, fascinating stuff and totally explains why a horse can walk past an object in one direction and not spook but walk past it and see it with the other eye and act like it's going to eat them. will did the book out later and explain it better if you like.
 
My horse spooks at things to his left. Ive always assumed its because he's closer to the wall/trees/houses on the left. He rarely spooks sideways (as in things still make him jump or looky in the distance) if we are in open spaces, Its mainly built up areas.
 
Ibblebibble said:
i have a book which explains why horses spook at things when they see them with a particular eye, something to do with seeing things independently and one side of brain being the instinctive flight side and the other side being the thinking reasoning side, fascinating stuff and totally explains why a horse can walk past an object in one direction and not spook but walk past it and see it with the other eye and act like it's going to eat them. will did the book out later and explain it better if you like.
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Yes please, if you don't mind. Iv noticed for a while he was funny to the right :)
 
this is from Kate Farmer's book 'The Harmony Project'. have copied as it's easier than me trying to put it into my own words ;)
'there are many theories as to why we do everything on the left of the horse, and there i probably some truth in most of them, but one reason is definitely that is where the horses prefer to have us. If a horse startles it usually jumps to the right. If a herd is startled or attacked from behind, they all usually run,at least initially, to the right.' goes on to say how foals run on the inside to give maximum protection and all automatically running together in the same direction saves chaos and increases chances of survival. 'As far as a horse is concerned, right is the natural escape route and may feel uneasy if that route is blocked.'
'Emotionally, as a general rule, the left side of the horse is the more confrontational and confident, while the right is more anxious and fearful.When looking at a strange object it is quite common for a horse to fixate the new object in the left eye trying to work out whether it is dangerous or not, while the right eye looks around for an escape route.'

it also previously explains how horses have bilateral vision where each eye see's a separate picture and only a very small area of binocular vision ( like our vision) where the 2 eyes work together. just thinking about their vision makes you appreciate why they spook at things the way they do.
 
This is something I have been aware of for some time and seems to be very prevalent in semi-feral or traumatised foals, ponies and horses. Certainly some ponies seem to allow things to happen on one side more readily than the other and are more worried on one side than the other but contrary to the above, there seems to be a fifty fifty split in which side they prefer/ are worried about. Later on I have met horses that seem to be able cope with things better on one side than the other and also those that just don't seem to be able to cope with seeing something out of both eyes at the same time - for example things coming up behind them or even a rider. On the IH courses we are always encouraged to work from both sides of the horse so that the horse learns to generalise information from one eye to the other.
 
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