04/28/2022
“My, what big ears you have!”…... "The better to hear you with, my dear,"
Because horses are prey animals, they prefer to stay in herds, and their communication is accomplished by body language rather than vocalization and sound. They rely on body position and subtle body and head cues, even the twitch of an ear or the widening of an eye, to communicate within the rest of the herd.
The positioning of a horse’s ears can indicate several things: comfort, fear, anger, and danger. Horses send multiple signals based on the positioning of their ears: ears pinned back, ears forward, and ears flopped down all send different messages.
Here are some interesting tidbits about a horse’s ears and their hearing:
1. The main purpose of the horse’s ability to hear is to detect noise, locate the sound, and determine its identity. Horses can detect sounds as far as 4km (2.5 miles!!) away. And they can detect the heartbeat of a human from 4 feet away!
2. Horses can detect low-frequency sounds while grazing, via vibrations transmitted through the ground that he picks up with his teeth. Those vibrations are sent to the middle ear through the jawbone. Hooves can also pick up on these vibrations.
3. They have a better hearing range than humans. This allows them to experience low to very high frequencies. Humans with good hearing perceive sound in the frequency range of 20 Hertz to as high as 20,000 Hertz, while the range of frequencies for horse hearing is reported as 55 to 33,500 Hertz with their best sensitivity between 1,000 and 16,000 Hertz.
4. The conical shape of the outer ear — similar to an old-fashioned gramophone speaker — captures even the softest sounds. The ears are shaped to locate, funnel, and amplify any sounds. This shape shields the sound the horse is trying to focus on and fades out other noises around him. Not only are their ears shaped to hear, but because of the musculature around the ears, they can rotate each ear independently as much as 180 degrees to pay attention to a sound without turning their head. This wide-range of rotation is because they are not good at locating the source of sounds, and that is probably why they raise their head and rotate their ears when they hear a brief sudden sound—they are trying to locate it.
5. The ear of a horse has 10 different muscles that allows it to turn 180 degrees. A human ear has only 3 muscles.
6. Sounds have the ability to either frighten or soothe a horse. A new, unfamiliar noise can quickly get a horse concerned, while a gentle, confident handler can easily soothe a fear-stricken horse.
7. Hearing serves the same role in all mammals. It allows them to detect other animals - since it is animals that make most of the sounds that other animals hear. Once an animal is heard, the ears will let a horse know where it came from so they can scrutinize it visually and decide whether it is a danger or not. After the ear tells a horse which direction to look, his almost 360-degree field of vision determines the exact location of the sound. Horses don’t seem to need much accuracy from their ears regarding location, just enough to give their eyes an approximate location to direct their gaze to examine what made the sound.
Horses’ ears are primarily for hearing, but they are also utilized to express and communicate:
**When a horse pins its ears back this usually means they are angry, and they may be threatening or warning another horse, or they find it necessary to exhibit aggression and dominance. He could be getting ready for a fight or attack. Pinned ears refer to a horse flattening his ears back against his head, making them almost invisible. From the side, they are not seen. Pinned or flattened ears are the most aggressive signal a horse makes with his ears. It is also an ancient “ear protection” posture used to protect the ears during a fight or attack. By pinning their ears back, the ear was less likely to get bitten or torn off. This posture has continued up to the modern-day and isn’t only used when fighting but is used as a threat signal to other horses that he is ready to fight. A horse on the receiving end of this message could back off or pin his ears back as to say “ok, I am prepared to fight too.”
**Horses’ ears work as a scanner system for the world around them in the wild. They pick up on the smallest clues of impending danger. Once they pick up a sound of endangerment, the movement of their ears provide a warning to the others in the herd. When a horse is startled, he will prick his ears, raise his head high, and tense his body. This is a sign to others to be on alert, and they may have to escape danger.
If you see a horse with its ears pricked, approach them carefully because the horse could be getting ready to bolt. If, while riding your horse, he pricks his ears forward, this means he is not paying attention to you but rather is focusing on something else. He is temporarily deaf to anything you ask of him. Something else has his undivided attention now, and it doesn’t include you. If the ears are tipped forward and stiff and the nostrils flare, it means the horse is scared or really interested in something. Horses are prey in the wild and have to be able to evade predators quickly. To survive, they have to hear the sound of danger approaching, communicate this to the others, and have enough time to escape an attack.
Always notice the direction of your horse’s ears and whether his attention is directed at something specific. Make sure to speak to him calmly, but confidently, and never forget that he is a prey animal with survival instincts. As anyone who works with horses knows, that means they can often be aware of something outside our range of hearing and react to it. So always be mindful, because when a horse bolts out of fear, they don’t take time to think about what is in front of them – they are only trying to flee – and if you are in the way you WILL get run over.
Here is Alpha, and the 'mare stare'.
~~Sidna
