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I'm not going to get into rods and cones and other specifics of the eye
(too many years have passed since my dissecting days and I'd probably get
it wrong), but the easiest way to describe horses vision is to say they
are like deer. Their eyes are designed to collect what light is
available (starlight, the moon etc) to enable them to see at night. They
are not truly nocturnal. They spend both day and night eating. They are
more like cats in that they take short naps all the time, both day and
night. They don't really "sleep" for more than a couple hours at a time
(I heard 4 hours max). They are color blind and it is difficult to
describe what they see since we base our abilities to discern separate
objects by color (one of the reasons why we don't see well in the dark...
everything is the same color). Everything for them is varying shades of
gray. A beam of white light cutting through all that may very well look
like a big fence rail (maybe the reason my last horse always tried to
jump over flashlight beams). Instead of using a flashlight at night try
using a glow stick - puts out green light instead of white. It gives the
horse more light to draw from to see and gives the rider enough of a glow
to discern close objects. Now I've gone through all this and some vet
will come on and tell me I'm full of hooey - but that's the way I
remember it.
Now for my trail gnome story. I was out for a midnight ride a couple
summers ago having a grand old time. It was about 1 AM and we had been
out for about 4 hours and were on our way home. There was a full moon
(no stars in LA....the kind in the sky at any rate) and I could see
pretty well. The trail was wide and I could see some kind of animal up
ahead. Dizzy's head came up so I know she saw it too. I thought it was
just a black cat and would probably move off the trail when we got
closer. Instead of moving off the trail the cat started moving down the
trail in the same direction we were going. Dizzy didn't pay it any
attention so I didn't either. When we came alongside the cat I looked
down to say, "Hi, cat", when I saw a big white stripe down its back!
Nothing like having a skunk walking next to you. The trail wasn't that
wide, so getting away wasn't an option. I didn't want to ask Dizzy to
change gaits for fear of startling the skunk, so the three of us just
sauntered down the trail for a few minutes until "Ol Stinky" decided to
turn off. I haven't been down that trail at night since.
Everybody have a good day.
Tori
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