Optical Illusions Etc...
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Description Presented here is a vast gallery of many different forms of Optical Illusions. Whether these optical illusions are conveyed through fractals, photographs, architecture, art, or old fashioned pen and ink, they are bound to remind you that "seeing is not believing."

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Monday

Horses in Snow Optical Illusion

I had many people find this site looking for the answer to 7 horses. I have an illusion on this site by Jim Warren that is called 7 horses. It became clear to me over time that many were coming here for the answer to the below illusion and not the painting by Jim Warren.


This painting is titled "Pintos" and was painted by Bev Doolittle. She had this to say about the creation of this painting.
"I was observing a small group of chestnut horses in a grassy meadow when I became aware that they were 'observing' me. This seemed like an interesting situation for a painting. I also thought it would be fun to have the horses observing you, the viewer, before you could find the horses! So I began to think of ways to camouflage them. The chestnut horses became Pintos, and the grassy meadow turned into a backdrop of rocks and snow." - Bev Doolittle
The reason people are confused is because there is one optical illusion site out there that states as fact that there are seven horses in the painting, but they don't bother showing you where they are. Well I am going do something very similar. I am going to give you the answer without actually pointing out each horse.

The answer is there are only five horses. The reason I am not pointing them out is given some time you can find the 3 adult horses the one colt and one foal.

It is only when someone says there are two extra horses that people are driven crazy and go searching the net for someone to show them the horses.

If anyone has information on this painting that shows me there are more than 5 horses please leave me a message on this post.







11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been digging into this, as I swear there are only 5. I emailed the NIH which has this picture posted and says there are 7. Here's their response:

'Sorry, I was away from the office for a few days. Perhaps this humorous
note from one of our best scientists (and puzzle experts) will help:

"I guess it helps to know we are looking for seven. In that case, I see
one on the left looking out, and in the middle four faces are clustered
close together - in that group the brown nose of one (second from left)
covers the right side of the face of the one crouched lowest. To the
right is a small horse standing sideways, and above it is the rear of
the seventh. Unless I am hallucinating."

Hope that helps. And if you don't see more than five (or six, if horse
heads also count), just consider it a mistake on our site.'

I will continue to research. Perhaps I can get a note to Bev herself.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for digging into this, but it is very simple there are only 5 horses. Bev wasn't trying to hide the horses more then at first glance. I quote her inspiration in the post.

NIH was fooled also and since they were told there were 7 horses they struggle to believe what they were told.

Rest easy this is not a question of are there 7 horses it is a question of how far people will go to fool themselves once they were told that what they should see.

Anonymous said...

I feel like there is a rearing horse in the rock on the bottom left and a galloping horse in the snow just above the left horse's butt. I don't know if I'm right, but that makes 7 horses in Bev Doolittle's pinto print.

Anonymous said...

I see six horses. There are the five standing horses. The sixth is a horse's neck and head and includes all of the horses. The horses on the right make up the curve of the horses neck. It curves up into the rocks and comes down to the left where the face is part of the two horses on the left. This may not be so, and I can't find anything to make a 7th, but like you, years ago I heard there were 6 or 7 and it took me seeing it again after many years to see the 6th.

Anonymous said...

Ther are atleast six, look at the Adult horse on the right, follow his legs straight up, stop when his legs meet with the horse head by his left leg. The 6th face is that of a small horse and it faces to the left. The two heads at the top of the adults legs combine, the eye becomes an ear and the share the same snout. I am wondering if seven is just a head in the upper right corner.

Anonymous said...

there are the five horses standing there and i can slightly see two other horse forms in the rocks. There is the head of one in right hand top corner and one of the horse and neck above other horses in the middle. Remember that the last two are in rock forms, well that is what i can see. Hope it helps. :)

Anonymous said...

If you count the legs, then there are clearly only 5 ... !!

Beautiful Brown Woman said...

I agree with this person (whomever they were):
"Anonymous said...
There are at least six, look at the Adult horse on the right, follow his legs straight up, stop when his legs meet with the horse head by his left leg. The 6th face is that of a small horse and it faces to the left. The two heads at the top of the adults legs combine, the eye becomes an ear and the share the same snout. I am wondering if seven is just a head in the upper right corner."

But I have this to add. The 3 heads in the middle combine to form the seventh horse's head. I had to download the image and flip it several ways in order to see this and I've been looking at this pic on and off for over ten years!!!

Memere Kitty said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I surely thought I was going nuts. I'm usually able to see these things right off, but I can only see FIVE horses! I've been looking at this picture for 3 days trying to find the extra 2!

horseluver said...

I see 7 horses the ones you can see clearly then the first head in the cluster is the head for the sixth
Horse because if u look at it straight on the head blends in with the brown spot on the second horse of the cluster to make the sixth horse then the colts head is the head of the seventh horse cause the neck is on th horse next to it and so is th butt and one of the legs is on the colts body therefore there is seven beautiful horses in this picture/ illusion

Unknown said...

So if I am going to believe some of the explanations of this photo, then I have to add that in this picture there are: fish eating fish, a human skull, bear, donut, Hawaii, Barney, Alien character from the "Alien" movie series, a human face, Disney characters...



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