It’s been windy here now for nearly a week, and the effect on the horses is noticeable. But why do horses change when the wind blows? It’s simple really, horses are hugely reliant on their senses and one of their major senses is hearing, they are one of few animals that can rotate their ears so they have full 360 surround sound and have an ability to hear of great distances. This keeps them safe as they can then hear predators or any other sort of danger and prepare to act. When it’s windy this sense is no where near as effective, wind makes close sounds sometimes impossible to hear and carries sounds that are from miles away so the whole orientation of where noises stem from is mixed up. Horses recognise this and therefore highten all other senses, sight becomes much more important and so they hold their head carriage higher, swing round to look at things and generally are much more alert, we call this spooky and on edge. It makes our horses more unpredictable and harder to judge as they feel more vulnerable and open to attack. If you tune into your own senses and feelings when it’s windy you may also find your a little more on edge, a feeling of vulnerability and this is all due to the wild instincts that not only are in our horses but in ourselves too.