On the road again: Horse health
Taking horses on the road is a normal practice for many horse owners. It’s a place to ride/drive for some, a mode of transportation, for others it is necessary to travel a road or two to get to trails or, it just makes a break from the ordinary. Knowing the rules of the road is important yet as with anything there are exceptions to consider.
For example, travelling up hill, facing potential traffic and therefore limited strictly to the shoulder of the road, is a problem. An approaching car cannot see you and your horse until they have crested the hill so crossing to the opposite shoulder to add space until drivers in both directions can see you helps keep everyone safe.
Rural traffic consists of tractors plus attachments, rocks, wildlife, vehicles, dirt bikes etc. What we ask our horses to contend with calmly, are a far cry from the natural elements horses evolved with prior to domestication.
For drivers there are always questions about how the horse will react as we pass, or how exactly to pass. The answers vary. What may help drivers is to understand a bit about horses and why they spook.
Hearing and vision correlate to one another closely. A horse can hear something first, alerting him to locate the source of the noise with his eyes. There is also the high possibility that horses can “hear” earth vibrations through their hooves.
With eyes on the sides of the head horses can see 350 degrees. A horse’s monocular vision is similar to human peripheral vision, meaning it can see, but cannot specifically focus on objects until their head is turned toward a particular object. When something suddenly comes into their sight, it does so in a foggy manner, sometimes causing a horse to spook when they cannot identify the source quickly enough. A moving vehicle means identification must happen within seconds.
With their hearing, horses’ ears move independently, rotating 180 degrees. Horses have a pitch range higher than humans, yet are unable to hear lower sounds. This means that although your vehicle may seem quiet, a high pitched squeal out of hearing range for humans may very well startle a horse.
Learning about traffic for horses is difficult but they can make associations with time and patience. Getting used to vehicles around the farm, helps horses accept them on the road. That said, if the tractor they know is well oiled and orange, associating it to a passing blue tractor with a chain clanging around a hitched seeder is questionable. Exposing the horse to variations on what they know is risky but needed training.
For drivers, watch the horse you are approaching for signs of fear. Is the horse’s nose up? Is it swerving or rearing or bucking? Is the rider/driver having obvious problems? Waiting for the horse to be controlled is appreciated. If the horse is moving along quietly, cruising at a moderate speed without accelerating while giving wide berth is fine. If the horse begins to act up as you are alongside, please keep going without accelerating as the more space the handler has, the safer the situation. When you resume accelerating, ensure you are a few car lengths ahead of the horse. Sudden noise changes or flying rocks can spoil a traffic calm horse in an instant and retraining is a difficult risky process.
When we all share the road with kindness and common sense, we all get home safe and happy.
