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Horses |
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Description/Behavior • Poetry/Stories • Pictures
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At dusk, horses start to perk up, as if spurred by the night air. There is also good reason for them to be more active at night and in the early evening. Three factors that contribute to horse's nocturnal behavior are their night vision, grazing habits, and sleep patterns. Night Vision Horses' eyes work like a pair of colorblind bifocals. When the horse lowers its head and looks through the upper eye, it can look far away, like glasses for someone is nearsighted. (However, if there is something close, the horse can see it with the lower part of its eye.) At dusk, things on the horizon become starker against the lighted background and may contribute to the horse's increased energy. Things appear more crisp and distinct to the animal. Additionally, any movement from afar will spook the horse. Under a full moon or against the setting sun, such movement is also more distinct and causes more of a reaction from a horse. Additionally, their eyes contain a tapetum lucidum. This part reflects dim light and enhances the horses vision. It is not perfect since it also, due to light ray ray scatter, contributes to the horse not being able to discern what it is looking at much of the time. The tapetum lucidum helps horses see better than people, but is not as good a nighttime eye as an owl's eye. Grazing habits Horses will graze at night during the summer when let out on the fields. At Cal Poly this grazing behavior has already started. Not only is it cooler in the evenings, this is also the time when some of the horses may be released from their pens to roam the fields. Depending on the horse and the people caring for them, horses will be turned loose at different times during the day, but in general, horses prefer to graze at night during the hot months. (It should be noted that, although horses graze, they are non ruminants. This means that they don't regurgitate their food. However, they do have something called a cecum that helps them digest plants.) Sleep Patterns According to Dallaire and Ruckebusch, (1974), electroencephalograms, necessary to study dreaming or REM, (Rapid-Eye-Movement), sleep, are hard to get from an animal with a large jaw and facial muscles. Therefore, not much study has been done on the horse's sleep. However, there is some good speculation of when a horse is sleeping that can be observed throughout the day or in the evening. In order to enter a deep sleep, horses must lie down or be able to lean heavily on something like a large post or tree so their immense body muscles can relax fully. Horses also sleep lightly in what is termed slow wave sleep. The web site we sourced for information on sleep states, “horses stand with a hind limb flexed, their head lowered and their eyes half closed for two to four hours per day.” Their ability to nap during the day may allow them more energy to be grazers at night.
Text References http://www2.vet.upenn.edu/labs/equinebehavior/hvnwkshp/hv02/houpt.htm http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/e/n/enw107/ http://www.horses-and-horse-information.com/articles/horse-eyes.shtml http://horses.about.com/magazines/Equus/nightvision_091003/
Horses running for their lives...Okay, not really. How it started was just as gradual as the increase of activity in the canyon as dusk arrives. One horse nipped at another one and ran off. All the horses were grazing and nothing happened. A few minutes later the same horse repeats the bite. After a few more tries, the second horse runs and they both stop. Eventually, all the horses are running in a ring. In this shot, we had to move out of the way so as not to get run over! Good thing digital cameras don't have that much of a delay!!
Procrastination At Its Best! Written By Mollie Small During dead week, eager to escape some Quantum homework (there was a high probability of me not understanding it on my own), I went to record some more night noises and sit by the pond behind the horse corral just after eight in the evening. The crickets filled the background with a steady, rhythmic song and a few frogs croaked back and forth to each other. Sitting cross-legged beside Indonesian reservoir alone, I was startled by some splashing. A duck had landed and glided across the lake. I could see the v rippling out across the smooth surface. There was an unfamiliar low drone that I think was a duck call. Off to my right, I could also see some horses and as I sat there one mare came over to drink some water. After she was finished drinking, she trotted up the bank and back to the others. Then, when it got just a little darker, the horses began to look at me and started a slow process of coming toward me. They would stare, then walk cautiously forward, then run way, tails held high nearly 45 degrees up from the horizon. Then, they'd make their way back, walking towards me again. I had seen them before. They were the mares that were normally penned, each with tag around the neck. There were three of them with their three foals. The youngsters would follow the shy behavior of the adults. Eventually, as I was sitting on the side of the wide trail near the lake; they decided to graze just across the trail from me. A fantastic image, complimented by my surroundings, is the picture of their silhouettes against the pink sky, ears cocked, the young one's delicate bodies awkward and wonderful, while the mom's bellies were just a little stout. The full moon shone from behind me and helped them to see me. I am not sure why they chose to graze near me. Perhaps they wanted company, were curious, or there just happened to be a good crop of grass I was luckily sitting near. The moment when they looked over at me to decide how close they could get, while the sun set in a magnificent backdrop, is something I will always carry with me.
Picture References Including photography by Mollie Small and Bryan Nay Home • Wildlife • Domesticated Animals • Plants • Poetry and Stories • About Us • Site Map |
