10/21/2025
6 Facts about Horse Vision that you didn’t Know...
A horses vision determines the way in which they perceive and interact with the world around them. They have large eyes that are located laterally on their face which gives them an excellent range of vision. As a prey animal this range of vision is particularly useful when it comes to spotting predators.
1. The equine eye is one of the largest of any living land mammal
As you are probably aware horses have very large eyes. They have large horizontal pupils that are common in grazing animals.
2. Horses have 2 blind spots
In general horses have a very impressive range of vision. They can see almost 360 degrees around them thanks to their large lateral eyes. This vision gives them an excellent field of view for spotting predators in the wild. However they have two small blind spots. Like humans they have a blind spot directly behind them, but they also have a blind spot right in front of them. This blind spot means they cannot see objects at the end of their face extending out to approximately 6 foot in front of them. This also means they cannot see the grass they are grazing. Instead they use the whiskers at the end of their nose to help them feel.
3. They are not completely color blind
There is a common misconception that horses are color blind but this is not true. Most humans are trichromatic which means that we perceive the world through three primary colors (red, green, and blue). Horses in comparison are dichromatics and see naturally perceive the world through two primary colors (blue and green). Their vision is comparable to humans who have a red-green deficiency that is sometimes called color blindness.
4. They cannot see fine details very well
Acuity in vision terms is the the ability to discriminate fine detail while focusing on something in the center of the visual field. In comparison to humans horses have worse acuity than us. Normal human acuity is called 20/20 vision, while horses would have 20/30 vision as standard.
5. They have good night vision
This is one area where horses have a significant advantage over their human companions. In general horses have excellent night vision and only require partial light to help them navigate. Even with only moonlight their vision may be comparable to a humans vision during full daylight.
6. Horses use Monocular and Binocular Vision
Horses use both binocular and monocular vision and have the ability to switch between the two. The placement of their eyes on the side of their head gives them excellent monocular vision. Monocular vision allows the horse to see different objects at the same time. This is particularly usual for spotting predators or scanning the horizon.
However horses also have the ability to focus both of their eyes on things at the same time using binocular vision. Binocular vision is what humans use and it us to get a more complete picture of an object and its surroundings. Crucially it allows a horse to get a more complete picture of an object or space behind an obstacle. This is very useful when moving through terrain at speed or jumping over fences or obstacles.
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