----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 7:39
AM
Subject: Re: [MSAR] Night Lights
Test
Although I have never seen a problem with properly
adjusted low hanging lights effecting
the sight of horses, after some
people showed a concern, last night I decided to do a
test.
Test Standards
I did the test in my indoor riding arena. Let me tell you
it was dark. I believe it was very
representative of a dark night with no moon light.
The horse that I chose for my test was
one that I had only ridden
once in the last six months. (I did not use my personal riding
horse.) This horse had never seen
these obstacles until the very time the test was started.
For test #1
with lights on I used a three cell maglite equipped with my
special holder
(http://www.airscentinghorse.com/parts.htm) mounted on each side of my horse lower
than
knee level pointed
slightly forward and downward as described in
my Night Lights Part ll. My
goal was to cross a obstacle
course, first with lights than without in order to determine if
correctly mounted lights effect the
night vision of the horse.. (In both test when ever I reached
the tire maze I did not rein the horse
at all. I only encouraged forward moment with leg
pressure.)
Test # 1 Using correctly adjusted lights mounted
low on each side of horse - Results
Ten inch
log step over - one
click
Six inch log walk over
- cleared perfect
Weave through tire maze - cleared
perfect.
Test # 2 No lights, after the horse
had about five minutes in total darkness inorder
to let his eyes adjust. - Results
Ten inch log step over
- one click
Six inch log walk
over - cleared perfect
Weave through tire maze - The horse stepped on a tire.
I than repeated Test # 2 ( no lights) - I had the
same results with the horse tripping over a tire.
Deduction -
If the proper lights are positioned low on the side
of the horse at a downward angle,
they do not hinder the horses near
by sight and in certain cases they may actually
help the horses sight when it comes to
difficult footing
areas. I believe it is the same
as with people, if we held a flash light the sides of our head it would
blind us but if we hold it
low and downward it helps us. I totaly agree with the others that
a high held light like a hand
held flash light or head lamp will negatively effect the
horses vision and could temporary blind him.
In many cases on a dark night the rider needs a
consistent light source on both sides of the horse for searching
and navigating.
TER
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