A Night Vision Question

[Kenzie_Kelly@spc.com]

For everyone who rides at night - just how much can your horse see?

Last night I rode while it was dusk - there was still light enough for
me to see the trail, and I thought surely Zane could see better than I
could. The trail is a dirt and gravel road which is not kept up.  On the
downhills there are ruts in the middle of the road from water runoff.

The ruts are fairly shallow, and the hills not too steep, until the last
one on the loop.  That one is fairly steep, with a nice, big deep rut.  As
the light faded, Zane started wanting to either walk in the ruts or
completely off the road in the woods.  I would have let him walk in the
woods, had there been any kind of shoulder, but as it is you are
bushwhacking when you get off the road with small pines and low branches.
In other words, it's just not possible to ride off the road.

I didn't want him walking in the ruts either, because I was afraid he would
trip or injure his tendons.  They aren't wide enough for him to walk with
any semblence of normalcy - they are sharp V shaped, so one foot is always
on a slope.  I didn't want him bushwhacking me through the woods either.
We were doing okay, but sort of bouncing back and forth between the rut and
the woods. (Note to self:  work on straightening).

Then we got to that last big hill, with its really big rut.  10 feet from
the bottom, with no warning at all, he sidesteps into the rut.  You know
how when you were a kid, and you were running, and you tripped, and you
smacked your chin?  Well, that's exactly what this felt like.  One minute
we're going along, and the next I'm laying there with a smacked chin.

He was up to his forearms in the rut, and had to scramble to get out,
though luckily unhurt (well, probably bruised, but no swelling, heat or
cuts).  Now I'm wondering if maybe since the road, and the rut in it, were
all pretty uniform in color and therefore reflecting the light fairly
uniformly - maybe he couldn't see the ruts any better than I could?

I knew they were there from experience, but we haven't ridden this loop
enough for him to remember them.

What do ya'll think?  We had no glow sticks, or any other lights.  It
wasn't full dark, but it was close enough for the sky to be that blue that
comes after sunset.  Just before he went in to the rut, we had actually
straightened out fairly well, and weren't bouncing back and forth so much.

Just wondering how much you rely on your horse's vision when riding a trail
at night.  Also, any opinions on what I should have done (barring not
leaving the barn <g>) are welcome.  I'm pretty sure this was all pilot
error, but I want to know what caused it so I can correct it in the future.

One last thing - ordinarily I wouldn't classify this as a dangerous trail.
It is actually pretty nice, and the part of the road without ruts is larger
than that with.  Just so you don't think I am a complete idiot who would go
on a known dangerous trail at night.  :)

Kenzie & Zane (ow, Mom)
Birmingham, AL
http://kenzie_k.tripod.com/zane.html