This may cause high-strung thoroughbred hunters to show anxiety and break out in a sweat. Fear of parade bands, loud machines and gunshot noises may result from actual pain to the horse's ears. U.S. cavalry mounts used on pistol ranges would lose their hearing after a few years target practice. Most animals in the wild state have a good sense of smell. Horses in a research project in England that were frustrated by circling in closed trailers, were able to head directly homeward from a downwind distance of five miles.
Domestic stallions can identify mares in heat for great distances downwind.
Colts being saddled for the first few times should be allowed to smell the saddle and the blanket before saddling. This reassures them that they are not dangerous and that they have been used by other horses. Smell probably dictates grazing habits of horses, although it does not always keep them from eating poisonous plants when forage is abundant. The skin of the horse is a very specialized sense organ. It tells the animal whether something is hot or cold, hard or soft, or whether it causes pain.