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Saturday, July 24 2021 / Published in Sidelines Feature

The Hues of Horses

What does my horse “see” and why does he react to something one day and a few days later he has no reaction at all?

An owl can see a mouse moving more than 150 feet away. A dragonfly has 30,000 lenses in its eyes. These lenses assist them with motion detection and, consequently, it’s very difficult for predators to kill them. Dogs can’t distinguish between green and red.

Presently, the belief is that horses, and other non-primate mammals, can only see two colors: blue and yellow. They only have two cones in their eyes, which allows them to see dichromatically (two colors).

Humans have three types of cone cells in their eyes and can see four basic colors: red, blue, green and yellow. Furthermore, we can also see many different hues in between these colors.       

Horses see things in very dull shades. For example, what we see as bright red would appear to be a dull shade of grey to our horses. This leads us to have to think a little differently when considering our equine partners. For example, the orange cones, which some people use to train horses, may not be utilized the best when working on grass: Horses perceive orange as the exact hue of a young fir branch. Consequently, when riding on grass, horses have a difficult time seeing an orange object. The contrast is nowhere near what we perceive it to be. Also important to know and remember is the fact that three factors impact how a color is perceived: brightness, saturation and hue. So one particular hue tends to look very different depending upon its brightness and saturation.

Moreover, we need to remember that horses’ senses are much better than ours. A horse’s night vision is better, they hear sounds at much higher frequencies than we do and their sense of smell is better. It’s interesting to think about why most mammals only have two types of cones and limited ability to see colors. If we think back, early mammals were active at night, when color vision wasn’t of much use. Have you ever taken a picture of your horse with a flash and have the picture result with your horse having white eyes? This is caused by how their eyes reflect light off of a membrane at the back of the eye.

One can think of horses as seeing the world like people who suffer from red-green color blindness. Color vision deficiencies vary a great deal in people, but those with severe abnormalities probably still see more color variations than horses do.

Colors definitely break up the world, separating the earth and things in the sky. The color blue is distinctly different and horses watching for predators can see them well against the backdrop of a blue sky. Think of a prey animal — how it would stand out against the backdrop of a blue sky? 

Most of our “assumptions” are based on scientific research. However, one thing is definite: the position and structure of a horse’s eyes are quite different than ours. This alone makes a difference in vividness, color and the visual field a horse experiences, and why something in particular might look different to them from one similar type of experience to another — and certainly different to us.

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Tagged under: horse eyesight, hues of horses

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Breeding season is underway at Iron Spring Farm! W Breeding season is underway at Iron Spring Farm! We're proud to offer exceptional modern Sporthorse stallions, with wonderful temperaments and quality gaits to North American breeders.
 
Among our stallions are Cum Laude and Kaiman. Cum Laude (Apache x Weltmeyer) is a winning FEI horse and sire of quality dressage horses, breed show champions, and offspring scoring 9.0s on gaits.
 
Kaiman (Dark Pleasure x Gribaldi) earned high scores at his stallion testing and in the young horse classes. He's also the sire of a Licensed Oldenburg stallion. Kaiman's first North American foal crop is arriving now and they are gorgeous!
 
If you're looking for top international bloodlines please check out our 2023 stallion collection, now available fresh, frozen, and by the dose.

Among our stallions are Cum Laude and Kaiman. Cum Laude (Apache x Weltmeyer) is a winning FEI horse and sire of quality dressage horses, breed show champions, and offspring scoring 9.0s on gaits.

Breeding season is underway at Iron Spring Farm! We're proud to offer exceptional modern Sporthorse stallions, with wonderful temperaments and quality gaits to North American breeders.

https://www.ironspringfarm.com/biolink/

@iron_spring_farm 

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❗️George Williams column❗️ The FEI World ❗️George Williams column❗️
The FEI World Cup Final in Omaha is coming up quickly. That means that it’s starting to heat 
up as the end of the qualifying period for both the Western European League (WEL) and the 
North American League (NAL) nears. I started to write this column before the Amsterdam CDI- W, and I was using the FEI Ranking List from January 15 as a reference. As I sit down to finish 
my column, I’m now looking at the results from Amsterdam. While the list of the top contenders 
for the WEL hasn’t changed, they’re definitely moving around on the ranking list. The WEL has 
three more legs, as they’re referred to: Neumünster February 16–19, Goteborg February 23–26, 
and ’s-Hertogenbosch March 9–12, and they could change things dramatically.
Looking at the top 12 athletes from the WEL as they were ranked on January 15, there are five 
from Germany, three from the Netherlands and one each from Great Britain, Denmark

➡️Read Georges's full column by clicking the link in our bio, and never miss an article by subscribing to Sidelines Magazine 🦄 

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Lisa Goldman-Smolen and Ivaro N strike gold in Gre Lisa Goldman-Smolen and Ivaro N strike gold in Great American $300,000 Grand Prix at HITS Ocala!! 🏆🥇

Crowds filled the stands at the HITS Ocala Grand Prix Ring on Sunday afternoon to watch the world’s top athletes compete in the Great American $300,000 Grand Prix. The day concluded with a thrilling five-horse jump-off featuring athletes 
representing four countries. In the end, it was Lisa Goldman-Smolen (USA) and Ivaro N who produced the only double clear effort of the day, claiming one of the biggest wins of her career. Scott Keach (AUS) and Noble De La Chapelle earned the second-place prize with the fastest 4-fault jump-off, while Aaron Vale (USA) and Obi Wan placed third as the day’s pathfinders.

“I'm still on cloud nine, I still can't believe it – I’ve used up all my luck for the year,” smiled Goldman-Smolen after her win. “I've been knocking on the door a long time in these bigger classes. I am so proud of my horse – he gave every ounce of effort.”

Sunday’s Great American $300,000 Grand Prix marked the conclusion of the 2023 HITS Ocala circuit. HITS CCO Joe Norick concluded, “We are so excited about the new HITS, with 2023 as the launch. New footing, many new arenas here, and a lot of our facilities across America are getting a lot of love and new footing. Our partnerships with Worldly Martin and others across America including our footing leader Bart Poles overseeing our operations – it really makes a big difference for us. Today is about Ocala and these three riders sitting next to me who supported us this entire winter. We want to be a proud destination for our exhibitors and our friends. We know we have to provide them a beautiful showplace to work from that's horseman friendly, and that's our go goal. 

Congratulations to all of the riders, horses, owners, and groom who participated in this prestigious class!!! 🎉
📸 @esi_photography 
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It's #STUDSunday and today's featured stallion is. It's #STUDSunday and today's featured stallion is...

 ✨PF'S DIAMO BLUE✨
Diarado-Diamant de Semilly- Chacco Blue
17.0hh, Oldenburg International Hunter Derby/ Jumper Stallion
An outstanding Pedigree- Chacco Blue and Diamant de Semilly
WBFSH/ Rolex top ranking Jumping Sires 2017 thru 2022
Standing at Ryan Pedigo Sport Horses, in California

For more information, you can contact 
🖥Ryanpedigosporthorses.com
🖥Ryan.p.f@hotmail.com
☎️(714) 357-2714

You can find ALL of the stallions featured towards the back of the magazine in the equestrian gallery. Keep a look out EVERY Sunday for a new handsome STUD muffin🧁 and don't forget to subscribe to get your very own edition of Sidelines Magazine, the magazine for horse people, about horse people 🦄

@ryanpedigosporthorsespf_

#stallion #horse #horses #horsesofinstagram #equestrian #equine #dressage #pferd #equestrianlife #mare #hengst #horseriding #instahorse #cheval #pferde #equinephotography #horselove #dressagehorse #pony #horselover #caballo #foal #quarterhorse #aqha #arabianhorse #sidelinesmagazine
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