National Museum of Racing and Hall of FameSaratoga Springs, N.Y. — The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will debut the one-of-a-kind interactive experience Equine Eyes during an open house at the Museum on Thursday, July 23, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Equine Eyes is a hands-on, research-driven interactive, playful experience designed to simulate how horses perceive the world. Equine Eyes is rooted in extensive research by Dr. Alan Hook of Ulster University and aims to foster empathy, care, safety awareness, and interspecies connection. The Museum acknowledges the generous support of the Thoroughbred Education Research Foundation (TERF), which provided essential funding for the Equine Eyes experience.

Utilizing a specially developed headset with mounted cameras, Equine Eyes provides visitors with an immersive visual and sensory perspective of equine vision. This technology highlights key differences in field of view and color spectrum compared to human vision, offering a deeper understanding of how horses navigate their environment, leading to discussion about how horses experience the world.

“We are excited to collaborate with Dr. Alan Hook to implement Equine Eyes as an innovative educational experience at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame,” said Cate Masterson, the Museum’s director. “This immersive technology will allow visitors to see the world from a horse’s perspective, fostering a deeper understanding of equine vision, behavior, and interspecies relationships. This interactive exhibit will be integrated into our education and outreach programs, contributing to our mission of engaging audiences with the history, science, and culture of horse racing.”

Dr. Hook and Dr. Jennie Carlsten will lead a demonstration of the Equine Eyes technology at the Museum during the open house at the Museum on July 23 at 10 a.m.

Dr. Hook is a researcher, designer, and educator from the North Coast of Northern Ireland, and a Senior Lecturer in Interactive Media at Ulster University. His research explores how people can use playful, immersive, and participatory experiences to rethink our relationship to the world and connect in new ways with plants, animals, and each other. Dr. Hook has exhibited his media and design work across Europe, the United States, and China. He created Equine Eyes as an experimental design to explore how people connect with and understand horses in new ways, leading to building new types of kinship with them.

Dr. Carlsten is a researcher and lecturer at Ulster University. Her research explores metamodern screen aesthetics, analogue practice, polycrisis, and emotional affect. Her previous audience engagement projects include community cinema research for the British Film Institute Film Audience Network and community workshop delivery for the Heritage Lottery-funded Prisons Memory Archive.

To learn more about Equine Eyes, visit equineeyes.com.uk.

For more information about the Museum, including special events and program offerings, please call (518) 584-0400 or visit our website at www.racingmuseum.org.

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