All of those who have horses with one eye!

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Stacie_and_Jed

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Just wondering how you all get on?
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My friend has a warmblood gelding who has lost sight in his left eye. She is currently 7 months pregnant so i have taken over riding him. On Friday eve i was in the school and he got a wee bit close to the fence on the right rein and caught my stirrup which made him spook and run off. He is very strong and extreamly hard to stop at the best of times so i can really do without any more spooks like that.
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How can i work him so he gets used to his surrounding's or will he just learn to live with it and move over from the fence??? He is 14 incase that makes a difference with learning.

Thanks all in advance
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Just wondering how you all get on?
confused.gif


My friend has a warmblood gelding who has lost sight in his left eye. She is currently 7 months pregnant so i have taken over riding him. On Friday eve i was in the school and he got a wee bit close to the fence on the right rein and caught my stirrup which made him spook and run off. He is very strong and extreamly hard to stop at the best of times so i can really do without any more spooks like that.
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How can i work him so he gets used to his surrounding's or will he just learn to live with it and move over from the fence??? He is 14 incase that makes a difference with learning.

Thanks all in advance
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You need to be his vision on his blind side, so it is up to you to keep him in from the fence, particularly if you are riding him on a contact, which will prevent him turning his head far enough round to see things with his good eye.
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We had a horse at the livery yard I worked at who lost one eye at 12. She injured her back at the same time so had to have a long period out in the field, by the time she came back into work she seemed to have pretty much adjusted. She was brought back into work slowly (essentially re-started) and went on the horse-walker a lot to build up her back muscles, which may have helped her adjust her distances as well. I don't remember that we did anything specifically targetted at her loss of sight though.
 
If he just caught it once maybe it was just one of those things that can happen to any horse. My horse has sight in both eyes and a couple of times I've had to move my leg swiftly to avoid the arena fence.

I have ridden a couple of horses who were blind in one eye including a brilliant jumper who did a bit of everything and never seemed to have any trouble at all with spatial awareness. If you're worried maybe just give him time to have a good look around before you start working him properly.
 
Hi, I used to ride a cob with one eye, although he lost it as a yearling so really didn't know any different so it didn;t bother him. He did used to ride to the side slightly to give himself more of a cyclops vision, and when jumping he needed more of a run up when turning into a jump on his blind side. Doubles were also a problem sometimes as he didn't have as much of an opportunity to spot them. AS for schooling , i never had a problem with him getting too close to the fence on his blind side as he did ride to the side slightly, but you need to give him a bit of spatial awareness too, especially if you don;'t think he can see something.

THere is a girl on my yard who has a cracking dressage horse that lost his eye on the journey over here when she bought him. It's not affected him at all and he is still an excellent dressage horse, so clearly they can learn
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12 years ago I had my gelding PTS aged 16. He lost the sight in one eye aged 4 and aged 10 blindness spread to his other. His blindness was due to cataracts and he was the 19th horse in the UK to be operated on to remove the cataracts in one of his eyes at a cost to me of £1000. That was a huge amount of money back then!
The operation gave back 75% of his vision and extended his life by 2.5 years. I think it was worth every penny.
In response to your query about riding him. I became my horses eyes. I schooled him so he needed just that the lightest touch from my leg aids, and I used my voice all of the time. We trusted each other completely.

Throughout his life I showed him at county level. There are some judges who had no idea that they were riding a 'blind' horse and as little as two years before he had his operation he was became Champion riding horse.
I stopped jumping him aged 7 or 8. I just felt it wasn't fair, but he did jump beforehand. It is worth speaking to your vet to describe if and to what extent he does or doesn't have vision so you can work out how best to ride him.
At the end, I knew it was the day when enough was enough. It was the saddest day I have ever had with my horses.
RIP Rodi I still miss you.
 
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You need to be his vision on his blind side, so it is up to you to keep him in from the fence, particularly if you are riding him on a contact, which will prevent him turning his head far enough round to see things with his good eye.
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That makes sense thank you for that. Its hard to make him realise that the right way to work in the school is now wrong. If that makes sense! Working off the track instead of on it!
 
Hiya, my mare only has one eye. She lost it at 7 and is now 12.

I have to say that she is fab and it doesn't bother her. However, she is the same about getting too close to things. She has problems with narrow gaps and if part of me or the saddle touches a gate or something she runs. I have had her a year and I have had to adjust my riding when negotiating things like that. It has improved alot in the year I've had her and I think he will get used to it and learn to trust his rider. I think you just have to adjust the way you look at things to compensate.

She has recently started jumping and is doing brilliantly and even went hunting for the first time. She is very honest so that helps but as long as I ride the fence correctly, she jumps it perfectly.
 
a friend of mine has a horse that is blind in one eye (can't remember what side) and the horse has learnt to adjust. Also this horse is regulary competing at foxhunter level without any difficulty but I think that does depend a lot on the level of trust between the horse and rider.
 
One of the horses that i ride lost an eye at 7 - she is now 16. it took her a couple of weeks to get used to only having one but now you would never know! she hunts, events, does anything and everything! she really is a super star, it is quite amazing what she does and can do with only one eye.

I have only noticed her having probelms twice, if it is a really sunny day she has trouble seeing ground lines and someone drove up behind us once on the road and ran over some stuff on the road which started to pop like a gun and she paniced because she couldn't see what it was. they only other thing she does is if she wants to see something she will swing her neck around to have a took with her good eye (not a good look in a dressage test tehe!.)
 
Hi, my mare had to have her left eye removed in February this year after recurring uveitis. The vet thinks she had been slowly going blind in the eye since Summer 07 so it wasn't like she went from perfect vision to one eye -- but I have to say I am amazed at how well she copes with it! I have to be a bit careful going through narrow gaps/into the stable as others have said but usually I walk on her blind side and she knows I am there to make sure she doesn't bump into things!

She is 14 so it has come late in life! I was back on her two or three weeks after he operation and in April I took her jumping and she had a double clear round 2ft9 and came 5th - I think she goes better now than she did when she had both eyes! I don't know if it makes her focus more or trust me more or what! I have had her since she was 5 so I think that she does trust me a lot and that does help. But having said that other people manage to deal with her perfectly well, as long as you always remember she can't see on the left she is no trouble!

She is now in foal, the vet didn't seem to think there would be any issue with her lack of an eye - but I'm just waiting to see whether she insists on keeping the foal on her right side!!! If anyone else has ever known of a broodmare with one eye I'd be very interested to hear stories!!

Good luck with your new ride - as long as you just bear in mind his blindness on the one side I don't think you have to do any much different - just maybe ride a good distance from the fence!

sorry - really long reply!!
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Thanks for all of your replies guys. There is some very helpful info there.

The vet has been monitoring him for around a year with his eye and he now has no vision what so ever. Started off partially sighted around 11 months ago after he had a slight blue colour a year ago. He has told us to keep riding as we have been which i will do and stay away from the fence.
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Im just glad he is not written off as he is such a talented horse.
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Thanks again for all of your help.
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My gelding WB has one eye, i had it removed about 7 years ago he's 22 now. The first six/12 months he was allowed to re-adjust - he wasn't ridden just given a good old Rest and recuperation.

In the school, I am his eyes on the blind side, you have to ride him off the leg more and not allow him to get to close to the wall. He has obviously adjusted and i now longer have to be so strong on one side.
 
We have a blind horse at my yard if he is walked around surroundings and allowed to just waunder. He tends to get used to it. He went round firle with only one eye. And was placed! vet came to watch as didnt believe it was possible!
 
My 19 yr old had his eye removed 10 yrs ago and i used to have the same problem
the best way to solve it is to do a lot of schooling so you both get used to being controlled with the leg
when my byron gets too close i just leg him away from it so there is no panic
apart from that he is the most amazing horse and i dont notice anymore!
xxx
 
I was given a yearling in May this year, he was born with only one eye. The nearside eye is missing, although it has a socket and the stalk - the actual eyeball is missing. he has eyelashes and the eyelids open and close as a normal eye would. He has no idea he has no eye on that side. I treat everything as normal, making allowances for the fact the eye is missing, and he is acting as any normal yearling would, he is spatially aware, and seems to know exactly where his body is in relation to other things. I hope to event him, he comes from fantastic bloodlines, Remiro, Lemexico, Burgraaf, ladykiller, Candyboy and Nashwan, so should have both the jumping and speed along with the paces fr dressage.
 
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