Archie has an eye ulcer :(

Archiesmummy

Archiesmummy

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Got to the yard yesterday and went down to get my boy.

Popped his head collar on and as we were walking up to the yard his head was low, I thought this was a bit strange. I changed sides, to his off side, and noticed his eye was swollen and dripping with tears.

Bathed his eye with sterile water and called the vet. Out within an hour. Good job because he has a ulcer. The vet, Stuart Duncan, was F A B and Archie was a really good patient.

Have drops, including his own plasma to put in his eye, painkillers and because he gets frantic stabled he is out with a fly mask with a huge eye patch to cut out the sunlight to that eye.

He is being a remarkably good patient and Stuart is back on Wednesday to check how things are going.

Has anyone else's horse ever had this problem? Did it clear fairly quickly?

No obvious cause, perhaps dust or a bit of hay maybe.
 
Aw poor boy, you def did right to get the vet out straight away, eye injuries are an emergency.

Is it only a small ulcer? Did the vet say?

My tb smashed her eye up throwing herself out of an arena and down a drop, took the surface off her whole eyeball - huge ulcer.

She went to the vets as it was quite bad, and had drops inc plasma etc several times a day. It started healing quite well then stopped, so she had to go to liverpool for specialist treatment.

They scraped her eye and got it healing again and the ulcer knitted up so she has kept the eye (we also found out at liverpool that she has detatched the optic nerve from the back of the eye so has no sight - this was due to the heavy blow to her face).

Dont see why your boy shouldnt heal the vets seem to be doing the right thing, think they are usually quite good to heal unless there are any aggravating factors. good luck x
 
My old pony had an ulcer. I stupidly took the advice of others at my yard that he'd be fine, no need for the vet and just to bathe it. I did for a few days then my better judgement took over thank god and i called the vet.
He had drops and also wore a mask as he'd not be stabled alone and in mid summer no one else was willing to bring one in with him.
I fenced a tiny paddock under a big tree and this with the mask made him more comfy. He made a full recovery in a short time. I cant remember the exact time but it wasnt long at all.
I learnt a big lesson, not to mess with eyes and have since enforced it when other peoples horses have had sore eyes (so far ive diagnosed a further 2 ulcers!)
Im sure yours will be fine as you caught it so quickly.
 
Thank you for your replies. Archie is well enough in himself, full of beans today. His eye lid is still slightly closed but the swelling has subsided. He is being such a good patient and stands there munching whilst I do what I need to do.

Will let you know how things are on Wednesday x
 
The outlook 100% depends on the reason for the ulcer. If it's a straightforward poke or scratch from a bit of grass or bramble then there's no reason on earth why he shouldn't make a quick and uneventful recovery. If it's linked to something else going on in the eye it might be harder to clear up as corneas don't have a blood supply. One thing I wanted to say though is be very very careful if you are applying drops or creams to his eye several times a day. Most eye medication comes in a tiny tube with a pointy plastic end to it. One jerk from your horse as you hold the end of the tube a millimetre from the eye surface and you can turn a bad situation into a desperate one. The safest way with creams is to wash your hand thoroughly then apply the cream to the end of your nice squishy fingertips and then use fingertips to apply to the eye. Drops are harder but you have to pull the lower eyelid out into a little pouch then apply the drops to the pouch but holding the tube parallel to the eye, not at rightangles to it. You may need help for safety's sake. My horse ended up losing his eye because yard staff stabbed him in his bad eye with the end of the pointy tube. He was on immunosuppressant drops so when a real infection got in, it was the beginning of the end. Take GREAT care!
 
I managed to turn my little lad around in 24 hours with a huge amount of work and a fab vet. drops every hour for first 6 hours then two hours for the next 18 hours- it was a very long cold night!!!! kept him on cross ties to stop him rubbing which meant very close observation to allow him to eat and drink plus plenty of walks out. On the plus side, he was fit and able yo compete at a very important show.
 
The vet came out this morning and the ulcer had gotten worse, though to look at Archie you wouldn't have thought so, full of beans and his eye looked, to my eye, so much better. With dye it was apparrent it was much worse so he has been whisked off to Liphook for intensive treatment :( I have just found out his hospital livery will not be covered by my insurance and am gutted, so lesson for everyone, don't think these things are included as part of the treatment, they are not.
 
Archiesmummy said:
The vet came out this morning and the ulcer had gotten worse, though to look at Archie you wouldn't have thought so, full of beans and his eye looked, to my eye, so much better. With dye it was apparrent it was much worse so he has been whisked off to Liphook for intensive treatment :( I have just found out his hospital livery will not be covered by my insurance and am gutted, so lesson for everyone, don't think these things are included as part of the treatment, they are not.
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oh flipping heck, why is nothing with horses ever blooming easy! (or cheap). You must be so upset xx
 
you def did the right thing uveitis and ulcers need to be treated like an emergency.
Take it from me ulcers are painful my mare has both the above.


let us know how you or should i say he gets on.:)
 
Have just got back from seeing my boy. He is having treatment every two hours. I got him out of his box for a couple of hours, walked him in hand, grazed and then let him loose in the school to stretch his legs. Was a little worried being in a box after living out 24/7/365 may bring on colic or something so getting him out has set my mind at rest a little.

The house vet says his eye is no worse. No better but no worse. At least we are not going backwards.
 
One of my lads had an ulcer whilst he was still in training, a pretty nasty one too. He was kept in a very dark stable with a uv fly mask on at all times. When he was leaving his stable to be ridden or go on the walker he had an eye sheild on that we had blacked out the bad eye side so he could see nothing out of it. He had various drops 4-5 times a day, when the ulcer was cleared he still had a small abbrasion on the surface of the eye and so to stop that being rubbed and irritated by the eyelids he got a contact lense to wear. At the time the vets only had a blue one that fitted him so he was wearing half a pair of sunglasses.

And all the while he was still galloping and keeping racefit. The only thing he didn't do with the masks on, but did when he only had the contact lense was jump. No point in risking a vastly expensive horse for the sake of 3 weeks. It took 4 1/2 weeks from start to finish and he raced, and won, 2 weeks after his last drops and 5 days after the contact lense was removed.

He has never had a bother with it again since and that was 3 years ago now.
 
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