Meet SOLSTICE! "Sol" went blind about 4 years ago, gradually, due to an illness. He now sees via a 3-D-wave echolocation device called BlindSight by Jordycanid.com.Ā
He came to CWER in March 2015, and was fitted with the 1st ever equine version of the BlindSight earlier this year.
The device sends out a grouping of sound waves similar to that of a dolphin approximately every second, so he gets 'snapshots' of the world, like a child's flipbook cartoon.
Watch the whole video to see how incredibly well "Sol" is able to navigate his world!!!
This is working AMAZINGLY well for our Solstice and in fact we now have a 2nd blind horse here who is just starting to learn to use one. We are working with the designer to just to the eye positioning and views of a prey animal rather than predator, and think the next box will be a huge step forward for Sol's vision
-- Crosswinds Equine Rescue Inc.
Additional information from the Paulick Report:
Solstice, a 10-year-old, blind Quarter Horse that resides at Crosswinds Equine Rescue in Sidell, Ill., recently gained the ability to āsee.ā
The first horse to be fitted with BlindSight, āSolā as he is known, is quickly learning to use the device to help him navigate his environment. The device sends out a grouping of sound waves every second, similar to those a dolphin uses. Sol is able to get āsnapshotsā of the world, like a cartoon flipbook.
Sol quickly learned to āreadā the pictures and see what is in front of him. He can now āseeā an object about 3 inches in diameter (he will still trip over a 2ā x 4ā). He has become very dependent on the boxāhe even learned to shake his head when a wire was loose to get it clicking again. When his halter is taken off for whatever reason, Sol stands rooted to the spot until it is placed back on his head.
The rescue and engineer Paul Propst are working on adjusting the eye positions of BlindSight to that of a prey animal rather than a predator; Sol will get another box soon, allowing him to understand his environment even better.
Originally designed for his sister-in-lawās blind Golden Retriever, Propst created BlindSight to use a sound frequency above the human hearing range to provide echo information to dogs. The dogās brain then provides a virtual picture of its surroundings. While people tend to lose the ability to hear higher frequencies first, dogs actually lose low frequency hearing first, which allows them to still hear this high-pitched tone.
Though horses lose the higher frequencies first, because they can hear a wider range than humans, BlindSight can still be beneficial for many horses.
A second blind horse at Crosswinds Equine Rescue, Inc. is beginning to learn to use BlindSight, as well.
Learn more about BlinsSight at Jordy Canid.com