Can Horses Feel the Whip?
A 2015 study published in the open-access journal Animals found that horses can feel the whip. In a series of experiments, humans were prodded with a Singapore pool horse racing whip. The animals were spooked and then bruised. This test demonstrated that humans experienced pain when struck by a whip, but horses did not. In 1996, a research team measured how much force a cow felt from a jockey's prodding. And in the McGreevy experiment, a jockey produced 46 Newtons of force.
The skin of horses is similar to that of humans. It has the same pain-sensitive epidermal layer, nerve endings, and key anatomical structures for cutaneous pain. However, the dermis of a horse is thicker and does not contain nerve cells, which makes it insensitive to the impact of a whip. Therefore, there is no reason to believe that a horse cannot feel the whip.
While horses are very similar to humans in their epidermal layers, they are not able to sense pain in the same way. Although the two species share the same anatomical structure that detects cutaneous pain, the thickness of the human dermis is more thick and does not contain nerve endings. This means that a horse does not feel the whip in the same way as a human. In addition, it is unlikely that a horse can feel the pain of a whip strike.
One study conducted by Dr Lydia Tong of the University of South Australia shows that whipping does cause pain to a horse. The animal's skin is only millimeters thick, making the sensation of pain much greater than that of humans. The human epidermis is much thicker, insulating the skin from the impact of a whip strike. This means that a horse is not insulated against the pain of a whip strike.
The outer layer of a horse's skin is as well-innervated as human skin, allowing it to feel whip pain. As a result, it is very similar to human skin, but has a different thickness. Its dermis is thicker, but does not contain nerve endings and isn't as sensitive to pain as human skin. The resulting extra thickness prevents the horse from feeling the whip, and if it can feel pain, then it is similar to what a human might feel.
While the human skin is thicker, horses have much thinner skin. Their dermis is far thicker than that of humans, making it easier for them to detect pain. While it may be easier for horse skin to resist the impact of a whip, its dermis is not insulated. As a result, the horse does not feel the pain when it is struck by a whip. It can't feel the impact at all.
https://tengcasino101.edublogs.org/2021/12/22/singapore-pool-horse-racing-rules/
https://baccaratsg88.wordpress.com/2021/12/22/off-the-bridle-in-singapore-pool-horse-racing/
https://5fb215b543ea9.site123.me/blog/why-are-racehorses-put-down
https://4dsingaporepools.mystrikingly.com/blog/why-are-race-horses-tongues-tied
