Horse Senses

Susan McBane
Founder of the Equine Behaviour Forum and author of over 40 books on equine topics. She has an HNC in Equine Sciences and Management, is a Classical Riding Club Gold Award Holder and classical trainer, an equine shiatsu practitioner and an Associate Member of the International Society for Equitation Science.

Horses perceive the world differently from humans because their senses developed differently through evolution to cope with different ways of living and surviving. Horses are essentially prey/flight animals. The horse’s senses therefore determine how the world appears to him and how he reacts to it. As the horse’s perception and understanding are very different to ours sometimes their reaction to events and their surroundings seem strange to us. In this book the author compares the horses sensory organs with those of humans to avoid misunderstandings as lack of knowledge can lead to many problems when dealing with horses.

The five senses are covered in this book – hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch. Each section explains how the horses sense works and then this is related to care, behaviour and riding, explaining why some practices are appropriate and why some are not. The behavioural aspect of dealing with horses is emphasised throughout.

This book will be useful for all horse owners, horse breeders and trainers who wish to gain a better understanding of how the horse’s senses function, and for veterinary students and practitioners.

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part 1: General Anatomy and Physiology

1. The Nervous System
2. The Endocrine/Hormonal System

Part 2: Systems of Communication and Control,

3. The Sense of Smell
4. The Sense of Taste
5. The Sense of Hearing
6. The Sense of Sight
7. The Sense of Touch

Part 3: Management and Work

8. The Sense of Smell
9. The Sense of Taste
10. The Sense of Hearing
11. The Sense of Sight
12. The Sense of Touch

Further Reading

Index