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Is your horse left handed? |
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It's likely that your horse is either right- or left-handed. In the wild it makes sense to have a hoof preference, because in emergencies, one side of the body will take the lead. Why left or right are dominant is open to debate, but in some species, it has some amazing consequences.
What do I need?
* Some concentrated food pellets
Step 1: Place some food pellets about 5m in front of your horse.
Step 2: Encourage it to come forward and eat the food.
Step 3: When it begins to eat the food, note whether the left or right hoof is placed furthest forward.
Step 4: Do this twice more.
Results:
A - Horse places left hoof forward most of the time
B - Horse places right hoof forward most of the time
C - Difficult to tell
If option A - Your horse appears to be left-handed. Left-handedness in humans is often associated with creativity and a natural musical ability. Maybe your horse has hidden talents as well!
If option B - Your horse appears to be right-handed. Right-handedness in humans is often associated with language ability and a logical mind. There is some evidence that right-handed animals can be better at remembering and using words, so maybe your horse understands more of your conversation than you had thought!
If option C - It could be that your horse has no preference; in other words, they could be ambidextrous. In some animals this has been shown to be unhelpful. It's often good to have a dominant hand to lead the way.
Return to index of tests.
Don't force your pet to do this test. If it is unwilling to take part, try again later
Don't worry if your pet doesn't perform as you had hoped. All results are important to us.
Do give your pet the time, space and quiet that it needs to have a good go at the test.
If you are a child, make sure an adult is present when you test your pet.
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