Why do horses ears go backwards and forwards when they drink?

It's because they are picking up alien radio transmissions from outer space. Put a tin hat on your horse and it will stop. :D

(The serious answer is that it's just a reflex ;)).
 
Total guess from me - but perhaps it is because as prey animals horses are more vulnerable to attack by predators when they lower their heads to drink, so they are listening out extra hard for any signs of being approached by something that wants to eat them?
 
Never noticed this, will look out for it now though! If it's just a sort of twitch then it is probably down to something physiological i.e. the sucking up of the water moving connected muscles, if it is the ears swivelling, then it could be an instinct thing, i.e. my heads down I can't see predators so I need to listen for them.

It's a theory anyway! ;)
 
What Spudlet says, IMHO it's good sense, while your head is down, your viewing impaired and you are stationary - keep an ear open for predators... :)
 
I have always wondered this as well i just assumed it was a reflex thing, one of my old mares ears used to really move and some of the others hardly do.
Oh well i suppose it is just one of them things
 
Because the muscles involved in swallowing pull on tissues connected to other tissues around the ears? I'd need to look at an anatomy text to see if that is even feasible, but I reckon that is more likely than some kind of nerve cross-talk.
 
I think it's when they swallow, the bumpy jaw bone latch thing (technical language there for ya!) above their eyes moves up and down, and pushes the ears back so they flop forwards again when they stop swallowing. But that is just coming from someone who has a horse with donkey ears and has spent many happy hours watching him drink :D
 
Nocturnal said:
It's because they are picking up alien radio transmissions from outer space. Put a tin hat on your horse and it will stop. :D

(The serious answer is that it's just a reflex ;)).
Click to expand...

Just tried this, they didn't look too impressed as they slipped off them! Will have to engineer some sort of elastic strap to keep on! Or could even use ribbons, so they've got bonnets just in time for Easter!
 
bumblelion said:
Just tried this, they didn't look too impressed as they slipped off them! Will have to engineer some sort of elastic strap to keep on! Or could even use ribbons, so they've got bonnets just in time for Easter!
Click to expand...

What you need is a metal cutter and a colander - cut some ear sized holes out so that the colander stays put! You may need a couple of ariels attached so that the radio signals are attracted to the ariels instead of the ears.
 
You know I have always wondered this!
My last mares ears used to be like bloody radars and when she drank they moved so much they must have given her whiplash :D
Current ones ears don't move too much..
 
Never mind forwards and backwards, my mare's go right round in a circle when she drinks! And they flop forwards and backwards if she is walking in a dozy state. I've always assumed there is a washer missing or someone didn't read the fitting instructions properly :)
 
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