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Exclusive: Racing could radically change the colour of fences - because horses can't see them properly

Horses struggle to see the colour orange - Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph
Horses struggle to see the colour orange - Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph

Racing is considering a radical change to one of its older traditions after a scientific study it is funding to improve safety has discovered horses are unable to see orange - the colour it has always used to paint crossbars and take-off boards for fences and hurdles.

The aim is to find the colour which stands out better to horses, and the research could see white, neon yellow or, possibly, light blue used at all major jump meetings, including the Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National in years to come.

Research by scientists at Exeter University suggests that though jockeys see orange vividly, to their mounts, who see the world in a pallet blues and yellows, it merely blends into the background of the fence as a muted green.

Their findings may also have implications for the other equestrian sports of show-jumping and three-day eventing.

The work, funded by the Racing Foundation and British Horseracing Authority, is part of racing’s continuing efforts to improve safety and welfare and, where possible, reduce the number of fallers, which has already decreased by 29 per cent since 2004.

Once a week all this winter in a Cotswold field, Dr Sarah Paul, 30, a member of the university’s ‘Sensory Ecology’ group based at Exeter’s Cornwall campus in Penryn, has been using digital cameras to film a dozen racehorses, trained locally by Richard Phillips, jumping the regulation orange as well as white, blue and neon yellow obstacles.

Sarah Paul is testing different colours on jumps - Credit: GEOFF PUGH
Sarah Paul is testing different colours on jumps Credit: GEOFF PUGH

Part of the project also involves visiting different racecourses, including Cheltenham and Aintree, and taking photographs of fences in different light conditions (for example, cloudy versus bright sunshine) to better understand how a horse sees an obstacle.

Her efforts to control the variables for the equine vision project have not been easy. Of the two jockeys she hoped to use exclusively, Danny Hiskett broke his collar the week her trials began – not in the trial, it should be added – while the other, Ian Popham, broke and dislocated his shoulder in a fall, also elsewhere, last week.

 “We’re looking for the colour with the best contrast,” explained Dr Paul, whose own PHD was on the ladybird vision. “We narrowed it down to three main colours which stand out best against a fence for horses; white, bright blue and neon yellow.

“To us, orange was chosen because it is more obvious and contrasting against a dark brown or green back-ground of the obstacle, but horses do not see ‘orange’ as a distinctive colour in the same way as we do. We’re absolutely not saying horses are jumping fences blind, we’re just asking the question; can the visibility of an obstacle to a horse be improved and, ultimately, does that improve its jumping performance?”

Orange take-off boards at Gowran Park Races - Credit: GETTY IMAGES
Orange take-off boards at Gowran Park Races Credit: GETTY IMAGES

She added: “But it is only one component of how well a horse clears an obstacle and hopefully our research will contribute to all the other different approaches taken to minimize the likelihood of falls. We are very excited about the potential impact of the results but are not claiming it is the holy grail to improving a horse’s jumping.”

Professor Martin Stevens, who leads the Sensory Ecology group, said it is too early to draw any conclusions or put money on one particular colour which might come up with the best results as the research is not yet complete, but they are looking forward to presenting the results later this year.

But jockey Popham, who was riding in the trials until injured last week, is in no doubt that horses had ‘more of a look at’ white.

“They are definitely more aware of it,” he said, “and having a better look at it. They tended to get their feet up in the air more jumping white but, of course, that does not necessarily mean less fallers. I didn’t ride over blue because I was injured but I watched the trial and I’d still say white is the one which they take most notice of.”

The take-off boards are covered white to see if it benefits the horse - Credit: GEOFF PUGH
The take-off boards are covered white to see if it benefits the horse Credit: GEOFF PUGH

The trainer, Phillips, said he was finding the whole exercise fascinating. “No one really knows why the woodwork on fences and hurdles are almost uniformly orange – it just seemed to evolve. To my eye they make a better, more natural shape jumping over white.”  

Crossbars and take-off boards in France have traditionally tended to be painted white and imported French racehorses generally have a reputation for being good jumpers.

However, they also have a very different schooling regime for practising jumping in the mornings and, as someone pointed out, because the French only keep records about whether it was a good or bad year for their wine, its racing authority produces no statistics of fallers to runners.

Those figures are recorded in Britain, though, and, on the latest five-year average, it currently stands at 2.65 per cent fallers to runners in hurdles and steeplechases.

Sarah Paul makes the take-off boards white - Credit: GEOFF PUGH
Sarah Paul makes the take-off boards white Credit: GEOFF PUGH

David Sykes, the BHA’s director of equine health and welfare, said he was following the Exeter team’s research with interest and was looking forward to their findings. “From the research the BHA will look at it, make a considered decision and see how we might implement any findings.

“If they come up with something we’d be keen to get moving and I’d be disappointed if we hadn’t set up a racecourse trial within a year to 18 months. There’s no point in doing research and then sitting on your hands.

“It is a bit like padded hurdles. In 2013 we had the discussion, rolled it out across four courses and started collecting the data. They looked like they were safer and gave rise to fewer fallers so we rolled it out to eight courses and so on. But you need to keep verifying the data as you go.”

 

How do scientists know what a horse sees?

Scientific research on the subject dates back several decades - from behavioural work assessing how horses distinguish different shades and colours to looking at the anatomy and physiology of the horse’s eye. This information coupled with new techniques using digital cameras and computer software developed by Professor Martin Stevens, head of the Sensory Ecology group at Exeter University, means scientists are now able to understand what a horse’s environment looks like to a horse and produce images that illustrate how differently they see colours compared to humans.

How does a horse’s vision differ from a humans?

Humans, unless they are colour blind, have trichromat vision – that is to say three cones in our eyes. Horses are dichromat – they have two cones in their eyes so they see the world in a pallet of blues and yellows. Dogs have similar dichromat vision but with a slightly different sensitivity. Then there is another group, monochromats like whales and dolphins, which live in a world without colour and see in shades of light and dark.

What do horses see well apart from yellows and blues?

Though humans can see a greater number of colours, horses can see better in low light conditions, for example dusk. They are also good at detecting movement on the horizon.  Unlike humans, horses eyes are on the sides of their head meaning they see approximately 350 degrees around their body. The position of the eyes mean they have a greater field of view for spotting predators, which would have been important when they were in the wild. It also means they have a blind spot at the back of their body and just below their head so frequently move the position of their heads to view objects.

Why is the woodwork on fences traditionally painted orange, a colour which it appears to blend into the background on a fence or hurdle to horses?

No one really knows why orange was chosen but it is certainly visible to jockeys. Racecourses stared using orange paint from the 1960s onwards but Bernard Parkin, a racecourse photographer since 1953, has photos of Cheltenham’s obstacles still a rustic or natural wood colour as late as 1981. The majority of old racing photos are not only black and white but taken on the landing side of fences – there is barely a photograph of Arkle taken from the take-off side of a fence - so it is hard to tell from old racing books.

Who is funding the study and why?

The study is being funded mainly by the Racing Foundation, which was money given to racing on the sale of the Tote to ‘make a difference’ to the sport. Among the categories of grant it hands out are for ‘racehorse welfare’ and ‘equine science.’ There is also some funding from the BHA.

When will the results be known?

The project is due to end on March 5 and the results will be presented to the BHA shortly afterwards. The team are very close to results.

When will Aintree be going to Farrow & Ball for a job lot of Wimbourne White or St Giles Blue?

It is hard to say. The BHA will consider the conclusion of the scientists and if it seems a colour other orange helps horses see an obstacle better then they will roll it out gradually with a few racecourses at a time and monitor what effect, positive or negative, the changes have in practice. We will not wake up one day and find all the woodwork a different colour. The near future’s bright, the near-future’s orange at Aintree. But in five years’ time it could be a different story.