If you are currently utilizing orange markers for equine safety around your farm or training centre, researchers are suggesting that you should break out the paintbrushes and switch things up.
According to an article by CNN, researchers with the University of Exeter have determined that equine see the colour orange as a shade of green. Therefore, other colours may be more effective in steering horses away from green areas on the farm or training centre.
The University of Exeter research had specifically focused on jump racing in Britain and how to make the sport safer. The researchers determined that the orange markers within the jumps actually blend in instead of standing out. Pictured below are images of how the human eye processes the jumps as opposed to equine.
Martin Stevens, the research lead that is a professor of sensory and evolutionary ecology at the University of Exeter, has pointed out that equine have two types of cones in their eyes, while humans have three.
"Basically it means they (equine) can only see colours that we only perceive as blues and yellows and they can't tell the difference between reds and greens," Stevens said.
The article states that researchers experimented with changing the colour of the jump obstacles to white and yellow. They stated that the change in colour didn't necessarily mean the horses could see the fences any better, although the change in colours changed the way that the horses jumped.
(With files from CNN)