Ears Pricked: Horse or Human?
Horses and humans have coexisted in partnership for thousands of years and yet we continue to be extremely different mammals with very different communication techniques and widely different use of our senses. How is it that prey and predator continue to have this unspeakable bond and undeniable partnership despite how different we are? In this series we will explore the different ways our horse communicates with us and how we can become better listeners, leading to us becoming better partners for our equine friends.
The first step in understanding how to best communicate with your horse, is to understand how humans and horses each tend to communicate, listen and observe.

How do humans communicate?
Humans are definitely unique in that we have a wide variety and extreme richness in how we communicate. While the majority of us seek out verbal communication as our main form of communication, we also frequently implore a variety of non-verbal communications as well. From smiling at a someone on the street, to eye rolling at a terrible joke, humans are much more than words.
Humans as a whole also rely heavily on our sense of sight more so than any other of our senses. We like to investigate by “looking things over,” “seeing with our own eyes” and ultimately, “seeing is believing.” When we interact with other animals, it is important to realize how heavily we as humans rely on our visual understanding of the world.


How do horses communicate?
While humans are mainly verbal creatures, horses prefer to rely on their sense of hearing and sense of smell. Counter to humans, horses have relatively poor sense of vision. Instead, horses sensitive and active ears can give us an idea of where their attention may be focused. Like most prey animals, horses are not easily able to pinpoint the specific location of a sound, but rather have a large hearing range.
When thinking about a horse’s sense of vision, take a look at where its eyes are positioned relative to the rest of their head. Eyes on the side of their head generally indicate that the animal is a prey animal. This also means that the horse is relatively “near sighted” but has significant gaps in vision. For example, it cannot see anything directly in front of itself or underneath its nose.
Similarly, horses have an extremely developed sense of smell. It is estimated that horses have close to 300 million olfactory receptors! Humans only have around 5 million. This means that your horse is constantly smelling for signals and cues from the environment around them.

Learning to speak the same language…
So what does this mean for horse owners and riders? In order to be the best partner for our horse it is important to realize our tendency towards verbal and visual cues, whereas our horse is desperately seeking out sounds and smells.
How can we use this when interacting with our horse?
This is something we are going to explore throughout this series! Stay tuned for fun, interesting and exciting tips!
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