Why do carriage horses have their eyes covered?

Question

And how do they even go around so fast.
Do they have complete trust in the driver?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

samurai is right
It is NOT usually to prevent the horse from being spooked, especially at the carriage! WHen you ride a horse with loose rein, you'll notice that most horses like to look around at their surroundings. They like to know what is around them and what is going on for their own safety, its instinct. The blinders or blinkers re to keep the horses looking int the direction they are being asked to go, straight ahead, instead of around at their surroundings. Horses are just like us, they tend to travel wheichever direction they are looking. If the driver constanty has to saw back and forth to keep the horse traveling straight, its a hassle!

Source(s):

horse trainer 12+ years, over 36 horses, pro-rodeo competitor 11 years, vet student, equine animal science degree- Auburn University

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

thanks for giving a great answer out of your experience

Answer 2

they arent completely covered, it is so that the horses dont see all of the people, and other animals that may disturb them, and cause them to go crazy!

Source(s):

my 'rents

Answer 3

they have to. the horses eyes are covered so that they dont get spooked by cars that drive by.

Answer 4

They're called blinders & they dont coger the eye completely only the sides. They are to keep the horses from seeing movemest & oterh things that may spook them. they can still see where they ate going just not all the other things going on around them....it helps to keep them focused & calmer.

Answer 5

the eye is not covered completely it is from the back . It is so the horse does not see the carriage "chasing" him and spook from it. Not all horses wear them. THey are called blinkers. Horses have to be trained to do their jobs no matter what that job might be. Racing, driving, pleasure horse etc.

Answer 6

They aren't totally covered it is just to keep them focussed and to prevent them from getting startled / side tracked. It keeps them from looking around and only ahead.

Answer 7

What you're probably seeing on the horse's eyes are called "blinkers." From your perspective, it may look as if the animal's whole eyes are covered up, but in reality they can still see.

Blinkers are designed to only allow (in most cases--race horses are sometimes an exception) a horse to see what is right in front of him. This suposedly keeps a horse focused on driving, and keeps his attention away from other distractful things. It is also supposed to serve as an aid to reduce the likelihood that a horse will spook at something, though personally I doubt this fact.

Answer 8

Carriage horses don't have their eyes covered. Many do, traditionally, wear what are called "blinkers", which artificially block off their peripheral (side) vision, making them less prone to visual distractions which could surprise or un-nerve them. In this way, their gait and their direction are strictly controlled by the driver of the carriage by use of the reins.

Answer 9

they cover the back view or the horses eyes, so as they dont get spooked of what theyre hitched to. it is also to help horses so they dont become distracted by other things in their surroundings. it's not a matter of trust with the driver, it just keeps their eyes focused on the route.

Answer 10

Carriage horses have their eyes covered on each side so they cannot see things on either side of them, so they will not get distracted from what they are doing.

Answer 11

They're called "blinders" and they're there to keep them looking straight instead of at interesting things to their sides I believe.

***Carriages in cities (on the roads, I'm not talking about in the parks) are dangerous to horses and people...did you hear about the horse Spotty recently? A horse being around exhaust fumes causes health problems as well.
I have nothing against driving horses--as long as you're not in the middle of a big city, cars everywhere--it can be disaster.
My horse is supposed to drive, but I want someone experienced to teach me.

Sorry but I had to put it out there guys :(

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Answer 12

As what I have observed about horses having covered is that horses tends to have bad contacts on people since people might ride on their backs some of them tends to attack people... it's a protection to both the horse and the people... They go fast since they one of the fastest animal alive and they have the "horse power" faster than real cars... yes they have complete trust to their "kutsero" since its their boss and the one taking care of them...

Answer 13

They are called Blinders or something of that sort, and they only cover the side of the horses eyes, so they aren't able to see the people and cars, and they can also see infront of eachother, and they are also trained to be not very spooky.

Answer 14

All my animals I show in mule shows compete in driving, its my favorite event.

You can drive with or without blinders, its to prevent the animal from seeing what is behind them. Some animals however do better being able to see behind them. With carriage horses, you always want forward movement. A horse that refuses and backs is a trainwreck. This helps promote the forwardness and straightness needed also. All mine drive in blinders.

They do have trust in their drivers and are voice commanded. It gives me goosebumps watching a 8+ hitch and have them do the docking maneuver.

Driving is alot of fun, but way more dangerous than riding. I spend more time ground driving my animals than any riding training I do. My animals ground drive a solid 6mths before I ever hook them. Others do it sooner, I just like to know that they will be safe in any situation before I hook.

Answer 15

I have just broken in a small pony to pull a 'trap' or carriage.
The reason they have their eyes covered is because they can see what is going on behind them without blinkers on. They see the carriage as something that is chasing them, and so their instinct would tell them to run!

Whilst training a horse or pony to pull a carriage, the person starts by giving commands from the side, and slowly moves around so that they are behind their horse. They do this without the carriage on, so that the pony or horse is used to receiving commands from behind.

To get a horse or pony used to pulling weight whilst receiving commands, you rig a tyre up to where the carriage will eventually go. This helps them put their chest into pulling the carriage, and it also gets them used to 'funny' noises behind them!

Hope this helps!

Source(s):

Carriage and Pony Owner

Answer 16

so they don't get distrated from the envioment and people and oter moving objects.

Source(s):

have one

Answer 17

Hello; Carriage horse wear "BLINKERS" to keep them calm. Horses are a flight animal and spook at the strangest things.A leaf russeling will set them off. It takes a lot more to train a horse to cart than saddle. The horse is trained to SIDE PASS in order to make turning around seem easy. They put trust in the drive as their herd leader...

Source(s):

RFDTV: <TRAINING MULES AND DONKEYS>

Answer 18

The use of blinders for driving horses is more because of convention than for any real purpose. I've worked with driving horses and I have a friend who trained Standardbred harness race horses for 15 years, and most horses could be safely driven without any problems in an "open" bridle. Significantly, when you look at harness racing horses, most of them are driven with open bridles.

FWIW, if you're into driving horses, a driving bridle without blinders is a special order. The places that make harness equipment, including driving bridles, just make them with blinders because that's the way they've always been made. I didn't particularly like driving my horse with a blind bridle, because I had to drive on bridle paths that were rather narrow and fenced on both sides. I wanted my horse to be able to see the fence. So I just swapped out his driving bridle for the English bridle I rode him with, replaced the Eggbutt French snaffle I rode him with with the driving snaffle, clipped the driving reins onto it and away we went. No problems. It really is not more difficult to drive a horse with an open bridle than one with a blind bridle.

In showing driving horses, the "turnout" or visual impression of the horse and vehicle are judged, and in general because of the tradition of driving horses with blind bridles, a horse or team that is shown in open bridle is going to look strange compared to the other competitors. For this reason most competitors are going to be loath to show in open bridles.

With regards to the horses having complete trust in the driver, for any horse to compete successfully in any event, there has to be a relationship of trust. This involves hours and hours and hours and hours of training and work outside the showring or competition course, with horse and rider/driver learning about each other and learning how to communicate and "read" the various aids and cues. People who compete in driving events will tell you that while a well-trained horse or team and an expert driver can go in "cold," without knowing each other, and manage to complete the course, it really takes getting to know the horse or horses in the team and the team learning about the driver to make a winning competition.

I firmly believe, based on my experience and talking to others who have driven horses, that there is no valid functional reason that horses have to be driven in a blind bridle. You can drive a horse or a team in an open bridle without any problems if you just work with them a little. But because of the style/turnout issues, and also because of the difficulty of finding an open bridle harness set without special ordering it, most people who drive default to a blind bridle.

Answer 19

They are called blinkers.So that the horse can only see straight ahead of them and not be distracted by seeing whats going on around them.The horse is realieing on the driver to help steer them.So its important for a horse not to have a bad experience while driving.Race horses also use them for the same reason.Some trainers use them for training purposes.

Source(s):

Life

Answer 20

The equipment is called Blinders,they are used to cover just the horse's peripheral vison, this helps keep the horse calm and concentrate on what is in front of them and what the driver is telling them to do. You see horses have a range of vison of about 350 degrees, when the average cat or dog only has a range of 150 degrees and a nervous horse has a hard time paying attention when they can see all that is going on around them, even when a well trained horse is presented with something new they can still be unpredictable so the Blinders can be a precaution as well...