For horses that are sensitive to sound, earplugs will be a great solution. However, putting the earplug in and taking them out without hurting your horse could be a problem.
Learning to put the earplugs requires practice, but it is not too difficult. The hardest part is getting your horse cooperation and training him to accept earplugs.
Some horses do not care about having earplugs put in, but some are very shy. In either case, you need to be patient, work slowly, and make it a part of your horse’s life.
Start with the basic ear handling during grooming, lingering on the ears a little longer than usual. Then, you slowly put earplugs in the horse’s ears and fix them. During putting in, if your horse gets resists or nervous, stop right away. And, give him carrots at the end.
Remember that some horses seem perfectly fine when you put the earplugs in, but keeping them is another story. Some of them will continuously shake their head to get rid of unpleasant earplugs. Be patient and continue schooling your horse until he accepts the procedure calmly.
Do Racing Horse Wear Earplugs?
Yes, of course.
As we mentioned above, horses have a wider range of hearing sensitivity than humans. While we often hear from 20 to 20,000 Hertz, horses can hear out to 35,000 Hertz. A lot of sounds humans cannot hear, but horses can.
On the track, the horse needs certain alertness for the best performance; however, cheering fans, cracking whips, etc. — all create a noisy sound. Your horse becomes nervous, loses focus, and could not perform as well as expected.
So, racing horses need to wear earplugs. These earplugs will reduce noise, helping the horse focus on the race.
