5/17/2023 0 Comments Horse sounds![]() While you can’t always predict when your horse will be subjected to a loud noise, you can prepare him to deal with it when it happens. Mounted police, back-country hunters, and competitors in mounted shooting events have proven that sound desensitization really works. The good news is that you can do a lot to help desensitize your horse to loud noises. If you are sitting on the horse’s back, the horse may run away with you or unseat you if he takes off in a panic. If you are on the ground, a horse spooked by a loud noise might run you over. On the 4 th of July, your horse suffers a panic attack, even if the fireworks sound far away to you.īecause horses are much bigger than we are, their reactions to loud noises can be dangerous to humans in their vicinity. A passing car backfires and the horse you are riding does a 180-degree spin. Someone drops a metal bucket on a concrete surface and the horse you are leading leaps forward. If you’ve spent a lot of time around horses, you’ve seen this behavior for yourself. That murderous lion might be only a few feet away. From their perspective, the louder a noise, the closer the danger. When they hear a sudden noise-especially a loud one-they react with fear. Modern horses still have that same flight instinct as prehistoric horses. Their response is to spin, bolt and run as fast as they can. When the lion finally leaps at the horses, the sound of his legs hitting the ground-something we humans may not even be able to detect-sends a message to the horses that they are under attack. A lion is stalking them from behind some trees. Imagine a herd of prehistoric horses quietly grazing on a mountainside. Add to that an acute sense of hearing, and a noise that is barely audible to humans sounds much louder to a horse. ![]() Horses have a strong startle reflex, which was necessary for their ancestors to survive in the wild. As big as they are, horses still feel vulnerable.įor horses, feeling vulnerable shows itself in a number of ways, including a fear of sudden noises. But while horses’ bodies have become bigger-making them less susceptible to predators-their perceptions of danger remain the same. Scientists believe the first domesticated horse only weighed about half of what today’s horses weigh. Horses might be pretty big creatures, but in their minds, they only weigh a few hundred pounds.īefore humans started breeding horses to carry and pull heavy loads, equines were much smaller.
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