Horse goggles enable perception of the environment from the animal's point of view

Horsepower: Since the invention of the cow goggles, many horse owners have also asked Benito Weise if he could develop VR goggles for them too. This is what he has now done: This is how the horse sees.

His virtual reality cow goggles (we reported) was already a hit, now inventor Benito Weise, an employee at the Agricultural Training Centre (LBZ) of the Lower Saxony Chamber of Agriculture (LWK) in Echem, is following up: The technique is to be transferred to the optical perception of horses. After receiving funding from the Society for Equine Medicine, the development of the new software can now begin.

The aim of the project is to use the foundations already created for the development of horse goggles and to add acoustic perception. Like the cow goggles, the horse goggles do not simulate scenery and the horse's view of it - instead, the virtual reality goggles enable the user to see in the moment, to perceive the current environment like a horse.

The benefit

In the context of education, further education and training on the keeping of horses, there are numerous possible applications:

• Experiencing the environment with the visual and auditory sensory impressions of the animal (sensitisation and empathy building)
• Understanding the resulting behaviours of the horse
• Derivatives for animal-friendly handling, for example in equestrian sports
• Derive principles for animal-friendly planning, for example for walkways or courses.
• Targeted investigation of causes of stress, such as noises
• Conclusions on adapted animal density (individual distance)
• Building understanding of animal reactions
• Avoidance of accidents with animals

Users of the system are able to examine in a differentiated way how certain places in the housing environment, certain processes and the background noise are perceived by the horses, in order to draw concrete conclusions on improvements with regard to animal welfare, animal well-being and accident prevention.

On behalf of animal welfare

Inventor Benito Weise, who coordinates inter-company training at the LBZ and has 20 years of professional experience in education and training, has been particularly concerned with the topic of animal welfare in recent years. He has been looking for new didactic approaches that give animal owners a more emotional approach to the animal. Since the invention of the cow goggles, he has received countless requests for VR goggles for other animals. But for no other animal was the demand as enormous as for the horse.

In cooperation with the software company C.O.M. Computer Output Management GmbH from Wetzlar, Benito Weise is now working on the software for the horse glasses. The Society for Equine Medicine enables the conception and realisation of an electronic system for the representation of optical perception in horses for training, further training and education through financial support. It is expected that interested parties will be able to purchase horse glasses at the end of the year.

The cow goggles have already achieved international popularity: they are used in Austria and Switzerland, for example, and the LBZ has also received enquiries from New Zealand and China, among others.

Source: topagrar / Youtube