Ear Plugs & The Murphy Blind

Many race horses will become more excited or nervous by the sounds of the crowd, the tractors, or from the sounds of other horse's hooves coming up behind them. For this reason, trainers will often "plug" their ears.

"Plugging" a horse's ears is simply putting cotton in their ears to drown out the noise. Many horses do not like the feeling of cotton in their ears and will shake their heads to dislodge the cotton. For this reason, you will often see tape around a horse's ears, and this is done to make sure the horse does not dislodge the cotton.

Trainers and drivers also use what is known as "pull-out" ear plugs. These are quite common in the harness racing industry. Often during the last quarter of a race mile you will see a driver reach down by his foot and pull up on a little piece of string. He is pulling the ear plugs out at that moment. The ear plugs have little strings attached to them with a clip which is attached to the bridle. There are longer strings which reach all the way to the back of the sulky. All the driver has to do is to reach down and yank on this string, and he dislodges the ear plugs. The theory is that if the plugs are kept in until the right moment, the sudden surge of noise will excite the horse, and thus, he will either pace or trot even faster at that moment.

Another piece of equipment commonly worn by trotters and pacers, is what is known as the Murphy Blind. It is a piece of leather that seems to stick out near the horse's eye from the side of the bridle. It was invented by Thomas W. Murphy and is basically used for the purpose of straightening out a horse's head.

A Murphy Blind is a large piece of stiff leather about eight inches square and cupped in slightly toward the eye at the front. It is fastened to the bridle and positioned so that it affects the view out of one eye. Like any other piece of equipment it must be adjusted properly to be effective.

For instance, if you have a horse that is turning his head to the left, you would put a Murphy Blind on the right eye side. Thus, when the horse turns its head to the left, the Murphy Blind will obstruct the forward vision of the right eye.

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