Horse Sense and Sensibility

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The Dashwoods are surprised by the many invitations they receive in Devonshire, including several private balls at Barton Park. Marianne spends almost all of her time with Sir John Willoughby, who seems to have eyes for her alone. Elinor, however, is concerned by how open her sister is in her affections. She, unlike her sister, has no one whose company she truly enjoys, with the exception of Colonel Brandon. He, disappointed by Marianne's ardor for Willoughby, asks Elinor if her sister believes in "second attachments." Elinor must confess that Marianne's romantic sensibility seems bent on the ideal of love at first sight. Panksepp, J. and Panksepp, J.B. (2012). Toward a cross-species understanding of empathy. Trends in Neuroscience 36(8), 489-496 . With an income quite sufficient to their wants thus secured to them, they had nothing to wait for after Edward was in possession of the living, but the readiness of the house, to which Colonel Brandon, with an eager desire for the accommodation of Elinor, was making considerable improvements; and after waiting some time for their completion, after experiencing, as usual, a thousand disappointments and delays from the unaccountable dilatoriness of the workmen, Elinor, as usual, broke through the first positive resolution of not marrying till every thing was ready, and the ceremony took place in Barton church early in the autumn. It is commonly speculated that humans, when scared or stressed, secrete odorous compounds associated with fear, which can affect the horse ( 5). Several studies have shown an increase in heart rate of horses when either handled or ridden by a nervous person ( 104, 105) and similar increases have been seen in horses when stroked by a negatively thinking person, which in this study were male subjects with a negative attitude toward companion animals in general ( 106). Contrary to these findings, and perhaps surprising to many, Merkies et al. ( 107) found that horses react more calmly (measured as both relaxed behavior and lowered heart rate) when accompanied by a stationary nervous or physically stressed person than a calm person. Although these are preliminary results, the authors question the common saying that horses will be scared if the person is scared. Even when a person is stationary, subtle movements and body language of the human is likely to affect horse/human interactions, and this may have influenced the results. Horses express more relaxed behavior in the company of humans who express a positive attitude toward horses ( 108). Some of the conflicting experimental data may be explained by breed differences, for example Merkies et al. ( 107) used draft horses whereas other studies used warmblood, riding/sports horses. It is nevertheless interesting that none of the studies above considered the potential effect of human odors on horse behavior. In a recent study, Sabiniewicz et al. ( 109) presented horses ( n = 21) with samples of human body odor collected under either fearful or happy conditions. The horses showed different behavioral responses to the two types of human odors, and the authors suggest that domestication of horses may have favored the ability to recognize heterospecific emotions.

An astute horse owner knows the value of a pat on the horse's shoulder or a vigorous message over a tense muscle. Your touch tells your horse, "Hey, I'm your friend," and, in many cases, the horse will return the compliment with a touch or a look that speaks volumes. Eyes are essential for a wild horse’s survival. Therefore, having eyes on either side of their head helps a horse to see long distance and have amazing peripheral (all-around) vision, allowing them to instantly scan their surroundings for predators. Monocular vision Elinor thought it wisest to touch that point no more. She knew her sister's temper. Opposition on so tender a subject would only attach her the more to her own opinion. But by an appeal to her affection for her mother, by representing the inconveniences which that indulgent mother must draw on herself, if (as would probably be the case) she consented to this increase of establishment, Marianne was shortly subdued; and she promised not to tempt her mother to such imprudent kindness by mentioning the offer, and to tell Willoughby when she saw him next, that it must be declined. One day the colonel asked Elinor about Marianne's dislike for "second attachments." The colonel began to talk about a young lady who greatly resembled Marianne "in temper and mind." However, he broke off suddenly, leaving Elinor under the impression that he was referring to a tragic experience in his past.In the early studies of equine visual abilities, most authors argued that horses had poor acuity [e.g., ( 19, 20)] owing to the low density of cones in the retina. Later behavioral acuity studies, together with measurements of ganglion cell density and electrophysiological measures have confirmed these assumptions ( 13), indicating that horses have poorer acuity than most other terrestrial mammals. Hence at first glance, it seems somewhat surprising that horses are so capable in showjumping and eventing competitions where jumping obstacles indisputably requires substantial visual abilities to gauge both distance and height of obstacles. However, studies of depth perception in horses reveal that horses possess true stereopsis, i.e., the ability to perceive depth and 3-dimensional structure obtained on the basis of visual input from both eyes ( 21), thus only within the binocular vision field. In her discussions with her mother and her older sister, Marianne Dashwood expresses her disappointment that Edward is not a more striking, artistic, poetic man. She can tell that Elinor has feelings for Edward but becomes frustrated when Elinor concedes only that she "likes" and "esteems" him; Marianne longs to hear her sister profess her passionate devotion. However, Elinor remains timid because she is still unsure that Edward reciprocates her affection; such things are not usually openly expressed until after the engagement. Binocular’ refers to the way your horse uses both eyes to view the path directly in front of them. Horses use binocular vision when navigating uneven bridlepaths, for example, though they can also raise their head to use binocular vision to focus on distant objects, such as show jumps. Blind spot Their first blind spot is a small space in front of them, meaning your horse cannot see directly in front of their face or right under their nose. For this reason, it’s important you approach horses from their shoulder, since they’re easily startled when people approach facing their forehead. Colonel Brandon was now as happy, as all those who best loved him, believed he deserved to be;—in Marianne he was consoled for every past affliction;—her regard and her society restored his mind to animation, and his spirits to cheerfulness; and that Marianne found her own happiness in forming his, was equally the persuasion and delight of each observing friend. Marianne could never love by halves; and her whole heart became, in time, as much devoted to her husband, as it had once been to Willoughby.

A horse’s senses include smell (olfactory), taste (gustatory), sight (vision), hearing (auditory), and touch (tactile). Horses are prey animals, which means they must always be aware of their environment in case of predators. Your horse’s middle ear is a chamber filled with air that sits behind their ear drum. Also located in your horse’s middle ear are the small bones that amplify vibrations and send them to the inner ear. Between Barton and Delaford, there was that constant communication which strong family affection would naturally dictate;—and among the merits and the happiness of Elinor and Marianne, let it not be ranked as the least considerable, that though sisters, and living almost within sight of each other, they could live without disagreement between themselves, or producing coolness between their husbands.One morning, while Elinor and Marianne are out walking, the younger sister reveals that Willoughby offered her a horse, as a gift. The offer thrills Marianne, but Elinor gently reminds her sister how inconvenient and expensive the horse would be to maintain. She also tells Marianne that she doubts the propriety of receiving such a generous gift from a man she has known so briefly. Marianne insists that it does not necessarily take a long time for people to get to know each other well, though she ultimately concedes that owning a horse would be too much of a burden on their mother, who manages the household. auditory; equitation science; human-animal relationship; olfaction; tactile stimuli; visual stimuli; welfare.

Not only are the mouth and muzzle important to the horse's sense of touch, but the skin is also. Although horse skin is believed to be tough, it has many nerve endings and can sense the tiniest fly landing on the horse's rump. The horse’s range of smell is more acute than that of humans but less sensitive than that of dogs. Horses use their sense of smell to identify other horses, people, predators and feedstuffs, just to name a few examples. Horses can identify medicine in feed even when we attempt to mask it in tasty treats. Horses may have a seemingly irrational fear of some smells, such as strong odors associated with pigs. The capacity for empathy is a general psychological mechanism that plays a fundamental role in cooperative, prosocial behavior.³ The degree to which an individual feels empathy in response to another’s pain or pleasure depends on the situation. Empathy seems to be stronger when the other is socially close or similar and inhibited when the other is a competitor, a stranger, or different.The effectiveness of your horse’s senses makes them sensitive to the world around them, which is likely the reason they shy away from plastic bags and spook at birds flying from hedges! Smell