The Five Senses in Horses

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Based on what I have observed I would conclude that vision and touch are the two sensory systems most important for the animal to function successfully in its environment. I believe this based on the surrounding nature of the stables, pasture, number of horses and farm life. There are 19 other horses and 5 staff aside of the stable owner. A horse in that respect needs to have vision of what is going on in its surroundings and personal space. Likewise horses rely on touch and the ability to feel to keep their selves from harm and to gain more awareness of their surroundings. I have been working with horses since the age of 8, riding and doing rodeos. I have worked on many different ranches, based on that experience and from what I saw observing Buffy I would place a firm belief that to a horse vision and touch are fundamentally the most important special senses in their day-to-day lives. Horses reply on vision to see what is around them and to be well acquainted to their environment and changes around their environment. Also, Touch is very important for many reasons. In example when it comes to interaction with other horses certain behavior displays show their feeling to other animals or show their emotion to a situation. Touch also gives certain sensitivity to how they approach an environment and due to the nerve endings in their hoofs they can easily navigate the ground they roam on. Horses use touch to convey to other animals that they like them or dislike them. Meaning that if a horse is pleased and likes something they may nudge their head on it, rub the side of their face on the object and be very gentle. If they are displeased they may swing their head at it, buck it, bite or stomp. These behavior displays of touch show th... ... middle of paper ... ...use our environment and surroundings. Horses however generally have the sense of hearing so elements I use vision and touch for they do not need to. Works Cited Horse Senses. (2009, September 24). Horse Senses - eXtension. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://www.extension.org/pages/10313/horse-senses#.U2a4PF6ppuZ Murphy, J., Hall, C., & Arkins, S. (2009). What horses and humans see: A comparative review. International Journal of Zoology, 2009, 1-14. doi:10.1155/2009/721798 Proops, L., McComb, K., & Reby, D. (2009). Cross-modal individual recognition in domestic horses (equus caballus). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(3), 947-951. doi:10.1073/pnas.0809127105 Saslow, C. A. (2002). Understanding the perceptual world of horses. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 78(2), 209-224. doi:10.1016/S0168-1591(02)00092-8

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