I’m watching the Olympic equestrian events and some of the horses in the jumping competition are wearing little crocheted hats/ear covers. Do these serve any purpose or are they just a wacky fashion statement?
Generally, they’re just a fashion statement. Some folks also use them as fly coverings to keep bugs out, and to muffle crowd noises for a spooky horse. Some competitive venues in events like dressage prohibit them; it depends on the event.
Thanks. I was wondering because yesterday a horse who was wearing a hat refused a jump and the commentator said maybe it had a bug in its ear because it was shaking its head. Perhaps it was just embarrassed by the hat…
They are generally a net material, not crocheted. Their purpose is indeed keeping flies & other bugs off the horses ears. They are quite commonly used on harness horses, either draft animals or those pulling carriages for rides in the park.
Or he had signed an exclusive endorsment contract with a rival horse hat company.
Generally from what I gathered from the commentary they are worn when the horse is wearing earplugs due to crowd noise. It prevents the horse shaking the plugs out.
They are also crocheted. You got your basic ear-shaped covering part, and then you got your crocheted fiddly bits, for fashion.
http://www.horseloverz.com/EPONA-Crochet-Ear-Eye-Net-pr-184915.html
And here I thought this was going to be about this site. I can’t figure out where the ears go, though.
Waht?
I seem to remember (and no I don’t have a cite) hearing about someone putting tampons in his horse’s ears before riding in a big competition …
They would have to be used tampons as horse’s ear canals are a fair bit wider than ours. A horse ear plug is about an inch in diameter.
eewwwww
Yes, people do this. They’re new tampons, of course. Apparently you get it wet so it fluffs up (it’s just cotton, yanno), then dry it, then put it in the horse’s ear. Purpose: to muffle sounds, in this case for a horse being used at a shooting event.
This is what I surmised. While watching the show jumping, I turned to hubby and said, “Why are they wearing ear bonnets? It’s not like the place is infested with flies and gnats.” Hubby: “Seriously! Isn’t this an indoor arena?” Me: “They must be putting cotton in the horse’s ears to minimize noise distractions, and use the bonnets to keep the cotton in.” Hubby: “Yeah, now that would make sense.”
That, or everyone is doing it because Everyone Is Doing It…kind of like those stripey GPA helmets they’re all wearing (although putting the flags on them was a nice touch).
And FTR, the one ear bonnet I own is crocheted.