A leap in the color! How understanding horses’ color perception improves their performance and welfare in show jumping
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23738/CCSJ.160105Keywords:
horse vision, horse-rider synergy, contrast measureAbstract
In horse showjumping, the probability of falls at jumps can depend on the horse capacity to see obstacles. Experimental works have confirmed the correlation between obstacle colors and jumping performance. Horses are dichromats: they can see blue and yellow, but they are not able to clearly distinguish red, orange, and green. The available results in this field, however, can be hardly compared, because the different authors have not characterized colors in terms of any standard system. Furthermore, even when the obstacle colors considered in the different research works look similar, the corresponding computer-simulated colors (i.e., how colors would be seen by the horse's eye) appear significantly different. Color design can contribute to fill some of these gaps. To this end, this paper first summarizes the horse visual system. A state-of-the-art survey on color impact on the jumping performance is reported, highlighting inconsistencies and problems that can be ascribed to a lack of familiarity with color science. A color analysis of a real jumping competition is finally presented, showing some key aspects that could be advantageously considered when the obstacle sequence is designed. The results reported in this paper represent a starting point to define a systematic approach in the color design of jumping obstacles in horse competitions.
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