ANY VETS/EYE SPECIALISTS - EPITHELIAL LAYER IN CORNEA?

[Birker2020]

When my 11 year old w.b gelding went to the veterinary hospital recently for a lameness workout I asked my vet to check his eye sight as his spookiness has got progressively worse to the point that he is constantly spooking at things, both in hand and whilst ridden and I am finding it very trying on my patience and my nerves. My vet says my horse has an extra epithelial layer over his cornea but that this would not cause any significant problems over his ability to see things. I cannot understand why my horse is so spooky, he will see things out hacking that 'normal' horses wouldn't even notice, a weed blowing in the wind, a patch of grass a different colour to the other grass, a bit of mud that has been created on the verge by a car going up it. He is very unpredictable whilst show jumping too, to the extent that he will not only spook at certain fillers (as will most horses) but he will see something in the corner of the arena or a spot of sunlight on the floor and react by leaping sidewards which is very unseating. Sometimes it seems that he lives on his nerves and yet I would not describe him as a nervous type of horse, ie you could wave your arms in front of him or drag a plastic sheet over his back and he would not react frightened. I would really like to know if this is a rider/handler issue (although I have many years experience I do get nervous because he is so jumpy) or whether this is a physical problem of some sort. I would love to be able to gallop carefree across a field but instead I have to scrutinise every square foot for objects that he might shy at before I even dare do something so simple in case he should spot something and shy violently like he does. Sometimes when I ride him he does a soft snorting/blowing sound which will dissapear after 1o minutes or so. Incidentally he has passed two vettings in the four 1/4 years that I have owned him (a five stage and a two stage) during the time I have owned him and presumably both of these have involved eye tests. So put simply would this extra epitherial layer on his cornea make any difference to what he can see??

 

[shazza283]

Has this "extra layer of cornea" been mentioned in any of the vettings ? How long ago were they??

I'd be asking for a more detailed explanation of what your vet thinks this might be? Especially if it wasn't noticed at either vetting - would suggest it's new....

Could be all sorts of things ..... I'd get a more detailed explanation from vet including - possible causes, any treatment available and if you want you could ask for him to refer you to an ophthalmology speciaist - there are some specific equine ones but also some very good multi species ones.

Whereabouts are you? I could suggest some if you'd like

Hope this helps

Sorry - just read your post properly - I would think that it might change the way in which he sees things - at best a thicker glass is different to look thru' than thin glass - at worst a "frosted" window is very different to look through than clear glass - if you put this in "corneal" context the cornea should be a clear thin even glass window - if this has changed over time he may be frightened as things now look different than he's used to - if he's always had the changed eye it shouldn't bother him.

You can get this with horses who get age related cataracts (window slowly gets more "frosted" over time) - they start off being bit spooky as it gets dark, then they start to get spooky in the stable and sometimes as the cataract gets worse they become spooky everywhere - sometimes the owner doesn't notice a change in the horse at all - but this is because thay learn where things are in their normal routine and don't need to see them clearly - but they get really upset if they're moved to a new yard!

Your horse can still see but it may be different than he's used to so he doesn't recognise things and gets scared.

I really would have a longer chat with your vet - explain to him/her the problems you're having and ask if the eye might be affecting him - then you can ask about possible treatments/causes and eye specialists.

Hope this helps- I will learn to read and not just type !!