Horse's sense of smell is very developed, and it is an organ with very strong information perception ability. It is easy to accept all kinds of information from outside without being detected by hearing or other sensory organs, and it can react quickly. The perfect combination of developed sense of smell, sensitive hearing and agile movements is the success of horses' evolution for thousands of years and the main physiological characteristics of horses' contribution to mankind.

1. Horses recognize external things mainly by smell.

The horse's information about things, especially the recognition or discrimination of strange objects or animals at close range, is first manifested in the behavior of using the sense of smell. Sometimes they will take the initiative to approach things, flap their noses, take short breaths, try to inhale more fresh smell information, and strengthen the recognition or exploration of new things. Then take corresponding actions such as rest or avoidance. Horses can identify their owners, sexes, females, estrus, companions, roads, stables and feed types according to their olfactory information. For example, it has been proved that the smell of estrus mares can attract stallions from far away. Of course, the stallion can determine the estrus mare within a certain distance by smell. When a stallion meets a mare in heat, he often turns his lips to smell the sky (sexual olfactory reflex).

2. Horses adapt to the environment through their sense of smell.

Horse herders or wild horses rely on their sense of smell to identify trace amounts of water vapor in the atmosphere, thus finding water sources and grasslands miles away. So wild horses can survive in the arid desert. According to the smell of feces, horses can find companions and avoid wild animals and natural enemies. Horses have different conditioned responses to different olfactory information. When a horse smells unfamiliar or dangerous information, it will also make a short snorting (sniffing) to show its vigilance and inform its companions of this information. Horses react strongly to the odor emitted by their companions. It is observed that the stallion is willing to urinate where the estrus mare urinates. If the foal smells fresh excrement, it will be awakened by a high excretion reaction, causing urination. Therefore, horses can change their life and directional activities in the group according to the olfactory information.

3. Horses can distinguish sewage or harmful forage by smell.

The horse's nasal cavity is very large, and the sieve plate under the nasal cavity is connected with the soft palate to form a partition. Therefore, the olfactory information can still be inhaled through the nasal cavity when eating, which can not only choose food, but also be alert to the enemy's harm, and the two do not interfere with each other. Horses can use their sense of smell to eat nutrients that are in short supply in their bodies, and they can identify poisonous plants or grasses on the grassland. Horses seldom eat poisonous weeds by mistake. Horses can recognize polluted water, eat by smell and refuse to drink. In the daily management of horses, attention should be paid to the sanitation of water sources, feed ponds, sinks and feed troughs, which is very important for the health of horses.

4. Horses are easy to accept things with a familiar sense of smell.

Therefore, when approaching or training a horse, let it learn something new, and it is best to greet it with olfactory information first. For example, wearing harness and saddle, let the horse smell it first, and the operation will be smoother. Sometimes when it is necessary to find another mare to foster the pony, it will increase the mare's acceptance to paint the pony with the mare's. Horses are the easiest to feel the changes in feed and stable environment and need to adapt gradually. Attention should be paid to the hygiene of feeding trough and water source in management, which can reduce the adverse stimulation of the environment to horses.

5. After-effect behavior can also be established by using the horse's sense of smell.

Horses have a keen sense of smell, and the aftereffect behavior of horses can also be established by using their sense of smell. The habit of excreting feces and urine in a fixed position can be established by feeding horses in the house with a little training. The training method is as follows: first, clean the stable, pile feces only in the designated position, and put a small amount of urine in the buried trough. Putting the horse in the stable and letting it smell freely will make the horse defecate and urinate under the stimulation of ammonia. If the position is slightly inappropriate, you can use a small pole to drive it away. It can be done in a few days of training. Later, when the horse excretes, it will find its original position with feces and urine. For horse racing, it is necessary to train it to urinate and defecate 15 minutes before the game, which is also very important to ensure the horse racing to play a better level.

In a word, horses have a keen sense of smell. Horses use their sense of smell to identify their environment and what they touch, and can act accordingly. By carefully observing the horse's olfactory behavior, such as the reaction to forage, water source and surrounding environment, we can find out the conditions and factors that are not suitable for the horse and improve them in time to ensure the horse's health. It is also a priority for excellent breeding managers to use the sense of smell of horses to establish corresponding behaviors.

Horse's sense of taste

Horses collect food for a long time in a day, and the speed and amount of eating are mainly determined by their sense of smell. Therefore, taste is a very important sensory organ of horses. There is not much information about horse flavor, but it is very distinctive and easy to master and use.

1. Horses have an average sense of taste, so they feed widely.

Horses explore and chew by taste. Horses have taste receptors in their mouths and tongues, also called taste buds. Most of these taste buds are concentrated in outline mastoid, mushroom mastoid and phylloid mastoid.

Horses are not sensitive to taste, so they collect a wide range of food. Horses are also one of the easiest animals to raise. A variety of feed horses can adapt, and some are even rough and have poor palatability. In the pastoral areas of northern China, horses mainly eat grass in winter, and sometimes even eat branches and fallen leaves, with limited supplementary feeding. Some grass horses in agricultural areas are also edible, so it is better to cut them properly. A wide range of feed is also a major feature of horse adaptability. Of course, even if the horse has a wide appetite, it is necessary to always give the horse high-quality and delicious forage.

2. Horses have a strong taste preference

Although horses collect a wide range, they still have a preference for the taste of food. Horses are not sensitive to bitterness, but have a strong sense of sweetness and sourness. Horses prefer sweetness to sourness. Sweet feeds, such as carrots, green corn, alfalfa and syrup, are horses' favorite foods. These feeds can be used as food bait or reward in training to strengthen some after-effects behaviors. Sour feed needs to go through an adaptation process to gradually adapt.

3. Poor taste is also easy to cause digestive disorders.

The horse's hearing

Horse's hearing is very developed, and it is an organ with strong information perception ability, which was formed in the long-term evolution process. Auditory development is a physiological compensation for poor eyesight of horses, which is very necessary for the survival of horses in the primitive state. Because the key problem for horses to survive in nature is to avoid predators' attacks, and the skills for horses to avoid predators' attacks are escape and limited counterattack.

1. Horse has a developed and keen organizational structure.

Horse ears are located at the highest point of the head, with large ear wings, well-developed ear muscles, sensitive movements and large rotation angles, indicating that hearing is developed. Horses don't need to change their posture and move their heads, but only need to judge the direction of the sound source through the movement of the auricle. Horses use flexible external auditory canal to capture the source and direction of sound and play the role of sound localization. The function of the middle ear is to amplify sound. The main function of the inner ear is to distinguish the frequency, timbre and sound intensity of sound. Horse ears are small and upright, such as "cutting bamboo", and flexible transshipment is the main feature of a good horse.

2. Horses have better ability to distinguish sound frequency and timbre than people.

The main feature of horse's developed hearing is that horse's ears have a very keen response to sound. Horses have a better sense of sound and tone than people. Horses can distinguish 1 0,000 vibration waves and 1 0,025 vibration waves, which is about 1/8 notes. Herdsman can find his own group and send messages according to the cries. When eating grass at night, horses can hear sounds that people can't hear from afar. They can judge the sounds. So looking for a lost horse at night, it is best to let your mount lead the way, and people should obey its guidance. Horses can also judge their situation according to the different voices they hear from their companions, such as seeking, anxiety, happiness, fear and so on. It can also accurately judge the sounds of other animals around it, and can take and prepare to take corresponding emergency actions.

3. It is easy to establish the horse's reflex behavior by password or whistle.

The developed hearing of horses is beneficial for human beings to use horses. It is the horse's hearing, which people use for training, training and service. For example, a horse can tell when its owner calls its name. Of course, it is not that it knows the meaning of the name, but that it establishes the sound reflection of the name. Therefore, in training or riding, you can use passwords or whistles to establish reflex behavior or learn to do other actions. It is very important for the newly trained pony to establish reflex behavior by using sound. This kind of performance is also extremely necessary for military horses, such as lying posture, standing posture, standing posture, standing at attention, advancing, retreating and attacking. Can be given by language password.

4. Horses are afraid of loud noises.

Excessive sound or audio is a kind of adversity stimulus for Malay, which makes it feel painful. In the process of training a horse, there is no need to "shout" at it, as long as there is a slight order, the horse will obey. This is not clear to many people. Our ethnic minorities have clear training passwords, or just whistle orders. Excessive sound or audio frequency will cause horses to panic, such as train flute, gunfire and drums. Therefore, military horses should be trained for a long time and reviewed frequently. Over-sensitive military horses or racehorses can also wear earmuffs to reduce sound stimulation.

The way to sleep

Horses don't have to sleep at night, let alone sleep till dawn. If no one disturbs it, it can sleep, stand, lie down and lie down anytime and anywhere. Malaysia can sleep eight or nine times a day, which adds up to almost six hours. Horses sleep best in two hours before dawn. The horse sleeps standing up and inherits the life habits of wild horses. Wild horses live in the endless desert grassland area. In ancient times, they were not only the hunting objects of human beings, but also the delicious home cooking of carnivores such as jackals. Unlike cattle and sheep, it can fight the enemy with its horns for a long time. The only way is to escape from the enemy. Jackals, wolves and other carnivores are nocturnal. They rest in bushes or caves hidden in soil and rocks during the day and come out to hunt at night. Wild horses dare not lie down and sleep at night in order to escape from the enemy quickly and in time. Even during the day, it has to stand and take a nap, keeping a high degree of vigilance to prevent accidents. Although domestic horses do not suffer from natural enemies and man-made injuries like wild horses, they are domesticated by wild horses, so the habit of sleeping standing up by wild horses has been preserved. Besides horses, donkeys also have the habit of sleeping standing up, because the living environment of their ancestors is very similar to that of wild horses.