Cateracts?

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Annagain

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I've had an inkling over the last week or so that my share horse's (technically, but he is more or less mine) eyesight is starting to deteriorate. He's 19 and the last 3 times he jumped he's either spooked really badly at fillers on the side of the arena next to a fence or at the jump itself and stopped. It doesn't feel like a backing off "I can't do this" type of thing, more of a "WTF is that?" slam on the anchors type of thing (that's always his spook reaction, rather than turning and running) so I don't think it's pain related. It's also always approaching a jump off a sharpish left hand turn when there's only a couple of strides to the fence. I can count the number of times I've seen him stop in the 15 years I've known him on one hand (including with me riding in the last 5 years) so this is something significant for him.

We're off to the vet tomorrow (along with owner, my best friend) to get it checked out, but looking at his eyes in a certain light I can see a tiny, very faint white line around the edge of his eye. Is this how cateracts start to form? If it was just him, I'd be almost certain that's what it is, but my horse also has the same thing? He is also 19 so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that they're both starting to develop them, but it would be a hell of a coincidence. Having said that none, of the other horses on the yard has this line that I can see, although I've not looked at them as closely as I have at my two.

Any thoughts? I just want to be prepared for what vet might tell us.
 
Don't know an awful lots about ocular conditions in horses, but cataracts affect the lens of the eye, and aren't visible to the human eye without an ophthalmascope. I couldn't possibly be sure and am no vet by any standard! I would have thought, if anything, you would see something in the centre, though it sounds as ifit could be something corneal.

Ax
 
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So the cloudiness you can see in dogs' and humans' eyes with cateracts doesn't manifest itself in the same way in horses? I know next to nothing about their eyes. Never had cause to find out before. I may be overeacting and it's just him starting to feel his age so is less inclined to go unless he's on a perfect stride, but it doesn't feel right, he's always been so honest, bless him.
 
Ok cataracts once they hit a certain size you can see without any ophthalmoscopes or special lights! They don't just form in the centre of the lens. I would assume that any older horse will have a cataract of some size, just like humans it's generally an age problem. The odema (cloudiness) you've spotted could be more troublesome and possibly glaucoma or uveitis. I recently lost my horse who had previous surgey for uveitis, it's an inflamortary disease at the back of the eye, controlled by steroid drops or in my case an implant, sadly the downside to steroids is the increase of cataracts and glaucoma, it's sadly a viscous circle. Your doing the right thing and seeking the vets advice as no one can tell you what's wrong without seeing the horse. I used to have a guardian eye mask which reduces the suns uv which will slow down the development of the cataracts and help to stop another uveitic episode, check them out online, expensive but work! Fingers crossed for your horse!
 
Quick update. It's not cateracts - in fact vet said they amongst the best 19 yr old eyes he's seen. He thinks it probably that's he's starting to feel his age and maybe there's something about coming around a left hand corner and jumping immediately that's causing him some pain. We're to persevere for a few weeks and if the stopping continues we'll do a bute trial.

Very relieved. Arthritis and if necessary a new dressage career, we can deal with!
Thanks for the advice.
 
When you shine a light into a horses (or humans )eye you should seea red flash from the retina if you don't there is something I the wAy the most common cause of the loss Of red reflex is a cataract
 
annagain said:
I've had an inkling over the last week or so that my share horse's (technically, but he is more or less mine) eyesight is starting to deteriorate. He's 19 and the last 3 times he jumped he's either spooked really badly at fillers on the side of the arena next to a fence or at the jump itself and stopped. It doesn't feel like a backing off "I can't do this" type of thing, more of a "WTF is that?" slam on the anchors type of thing (that's always his spook reaction, rather than turning and running) so I don't think it's pain related. It's also always approaching a jump off a sharpish left hand turn when there's only a couple of strides to the fence. I can count the number of times I've seen him stop in the 15 years I've known him on one hand (including with me riding in the last 5 years) so this is something significant for him.

We're off to the vet tomorrow (along with owner, my best friend) to get it checked out, but looking at his eyes in a certain light I can see a tiny, very faint white line around the edge of his eye. Is this how cateracts start to form? If it was just him, I'd be almost certain that's what it is, but my horse also has the same thing? He is also 19 so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that they're both starting to develop them, but it would be a hell of a coincidence. Having said that none, of the other horses on the yard has this line that I can see, although I've not looked at them as closely as I have at my two.

Any thoughts? I just want to be prepared for what vet might tell us.
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Don't panic. My horse was diagnosed with an early stage cataract when he started shying at nothing after a lifetime of never shying at anything. The vet gave me the option of going to Liverpool Uni for a assessment with the possibility of an operation there OR just doing nothing. He said that in some cases the retina could become detached but even this would not give the horse any pain or discomfort. I thought it over and did some research and decided to do nothing. When the vet came back to check the progress of the cataract I told him what I had decided and he said that I had made the right decision for my horse. The operation would involve a general anaesthetic and invasive surgery. His advice was not to ride on the road (the cataract is in the left eye and a shy would put him in the way of any passing vehicle) but to carry on as usual. Now we are aware of the problem we watch out for anything that might frighten him and deal with it accordingly. We don't jump him as a safety measure but he hacks confidently and will school if we insist. He's 23, by the way.

Obviously you will act on your own vet's advice but I thought my experience might help you.
 
Ellen Durow said:
Don't panic. My horse was diagnosed with an early stage cataract when he started shying at nothing after a lifetime of never shying at anything. The vet gave me the option of going to Liverpool Uni for a assessment with the possibility of an operation there OR just doing nothing. He said that in some cases the retina could become detached but even this would not give the horse any pain or discomfort. I thought it over and did some research and decided to do nothing. When the vet came back to check the progress of the cataract I told him what I had decided and he said that I had made the right decision for my horse. The operation would involve a general anaesthetic and invasive surgery. His advice was not to ride on the road (the cataract is in the left eye and a shy would put him in the way of any passing vehicle) but to carry on as usual. Now we are aware of the problem we watch out for anything that might frighten him and deal with it accordingly. We don't jump him as a safety measure but he hacks confidently and will school if we insist. He's 23, by the way.

Obviously you will act on your own vet's advice but I thought my experience might help you.
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Thanks that would be really helpful if he did have cateracts, but we saw the vet and thankfully his eyes are fine. vet thinks it's more likely he's getting a touch of arthritis and there's soemthing about a sharp left corner quickly followed by a jump causing him a bit of pain. So not perfect, but something managable we hope! We're to carry on in case it's a momentary blip but if it continues we'll do a bute trial. I do appreciate you taking the time to try to help though. Hope your horse continues to cope as well as he has.
 
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