do you have a horse with cataracts ?

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lavery834

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hi, just bought a lovely mare last week.noticed one eye swollen,but no discharge.she has been shutting it over slightly. i didnt vet her when i bought her.had the vet out today to vaccinate her,do her teeth and look at her eye and have been told that she has a cataract in this eye.she isnt spooky in any way,doesnt trip.do any of you have a horse with this and does it disadvantage them.i have been told that she is a very good jumper,but i only want to hack her.
 
We had an old jumping pony who had cataracts removed as a teenager.

He continued to be ridden until his mid-20's when they came back and it was eventually decided to PTS as he was too old to risk anaesthatising when it became obvious that he was having difficulties and becoming very spooky when approached as he couldn't see clearly.

How old is the mare - would you be able to get them removed? It is a progressive problem so likely to get worse over time (although hard to give a timescale) if left untreated.
 
My 27 year old pony was vetted when we bought her at 18 and I was advised she had mild cataracts then. She is fine. She has her moments when a shadow on the ground appears to me a big dark hole that she must jump but these moments are few and far between and she is perfectly fine. :D
 
i think it depends on the type of cataract some are fast growing and you may find problems start to arise some are born with it and dont ever have an issue. One of mine has one in each eye but ive had no bother. Sometimes struggles when its very sunny and will spook or wearing a fly mask he about walked into a gate, he doesnt like going into dark stables either, but no other issues.
 
my 31 yo has a cataract in 1 eye, I notices it about 4 yrs ago. Hes always been a spoon so I dont think it makes any difference. Vet said he had good eyesight. Hes retired now, so he doesnt care:) but hes the most alert horse ive ever seen, he screams for brekky when he hears my car down the road!
I have jumped a horse with only 1 eye and he was amazing, it bit spooky on his blind side as you would expect but nothing major. He was a rescue from HAPPA
 
hi,the mare is eight years old.you cant notice anything on the eye to look at her.the vet says it is covering two thirds of her eye,i was also told they dont remove them.i phoned the dealer and told him this and he said he would take her back no problem,which i declined she is just perfect for me.he also says that he brought her from ireland two weeks ago,knows the previous owner and she allegedly passed a five stage vetting six months ago for insurance purposes.he is going back next week and is going to get previous owners number and vetting certificate if she still has it.is it possible for this to develope in the past six months?
 
My tb has a cataract to his left eye, caused by trauma to the head. He was kicked in the head 4 years ago. It took 6 months for this to be found. The vet who examined him after the injury said he would be fine. Over time he always seemed to have a weeping eye. The vet was out for annual vaccs and I asked for the eye to be examined, and found a blocked tear duct and a cataract. As for management of this he has it examined yearly, does not affect his vison in any way. He is a showjumper. The vets jst reccommend to keep a close eye yearly and if any changes are detected, then they will be acted on. The only drawback is that he is not insured for this eye, because of this problem. Just beaware of where you stand with your insurance.
 
we had an 8yr old showjumper come to us with cataract in one eye, vet examined and said it wasnt very bad. i think it varys with every horse. just get it checked regularly.
 
My 6 year old has a cataract on one eye. It doesn't make a difference on his performance, jumping or dressage. He is great at hacking out and is always the head of a hack. He does compensate occassionally by really turning his head to get a look with his good eye when we are out. But he doesn't make him spooky.
 
At the riding school I used to work at at the once yearly vet checks of the ponies cataracts often used to crop up in the older ponies, vets seemed unconcurned and passed them for riding school use.
 
My 7yo has a cataract thanks to equine reccurent uveitus (but not in its standard form). He's lost about 30% or his sight in that eye but could be more now as it gets worse each time. He has started spooking at things every so often but its not an every day thing and other than that he is fine! His jumping is still fine as is his hacking. I just find that I have to be alot more aware now than I used to be incase he walks into a gate whilst we go through it etc. I've found that using commands on the ground helps, so he knows about turning, standing and walking and knows which way to go depending on which side i touch him :)
 
thanks for your replies,it seems that your horses coped very well with this condition,and i hope she proves to be the same.i have only had her a week and although i knew her eye was sore she had given no indication of being unable to see very well.i have allready bonded with her and will be looking into the possibility of getting it removed as it seems from the posts that this can be done! thanks everyone
 
One of mine is developing cataracts; he started to walk in to his feed bucket as he went in to his stable, and was much spookier out hacking than before; the vet looked at his eyes for me about 6 months ago and said he did seem to be forming cataracts in both eyes, but they would be very gradual and he should adjust. Every now and then he seems to be worse - I think he found really sunny weather diffficult with the sun being so bright and he can be very sensitive about people moving around him, and sometimes will misjudge where he is in the gateway compared to the gate post, but he seems ok at the moment. I havent jumped him as much since he was diagonosed, but apart from that he is still the same lovely pony.
He was 13 and a half when diagnosed.
The vet just said she would check him again later this year to make sure they hadnt got too bad - unless i felt I needed her to look sooner (which I dont).
Personally if I had a pony vetted and they were identified, depending on what I was intending do with the pony I would probably think twice - but saying that the pony I am talking about here didnt compete the vetting when I bought him as the vet scared him, the owner let go and they couldnt catch him! The right pony always gets your heart.
 
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