Equine Iridology

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Moomin1

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A friend of mine was saying she has heard of someone who does equine iridology (which I believe is something to do with looking at patterns within a horse's eyes and diagnosing potential health issues.

Has anyone had any experience of this and what were your thoughts?

Something I have never come across!! :confused:
 
Rhino? Rhino always puts these things better than me.

I only have one relevant word, and that is: "pseudoscience"...
 
I have come accross it before, but haven't looked in to it enough to make my mind up either way. The one thing I will say is that my horses eyes really changed in the days before he was PTS, the colour wasn't the same and I can't look at the photos I have of him the day before he went, because the look/colour of his eye isn't how they were when he was well. Whether that has anything to do with what was going on inside him, or if it was just something that happens, I don't know. But it has made me wonder.
 
Hmm, well as the 'structure' of the iris is directly down to genetics, and doesn't change over the period of an individual's life (bar increases in pigmentation over the first year or so and excluding medical issues such as glaucoma), I entirely fail see how it would work. That is why 'iris scanning' is being introduced as a method of identification..

Any properly controlled experiments have unequivocally proved that there is no merit or validity in the practice of iridology, as published in the British Medical Journal and elsewhere. :)
 
I don't know much about equine iridology but I wouldn't discount it without a bit of research.

I have had the back of my eyes scanned at the opticians before (high street, well-known opticians) as they can tell you about your health that way (diabetes etc.). Could be the same for horses?
 
neighneigh said:
I have had the back of my eyes scanned at the opticians before (high street, well-known opticians) as they can tell you about your health that way (diabetes etc.). Could be the same for horses?
Click to expand...

Oh god that's not the same - they're checking your eyes for conditions like diabetic retinopathy - not usign your eyes as an indicator of non-eye related conditions.
 
neighneigh said:
I don't know much about equine iridology but I wouldn't discount it without a bit of research.

I have had the back of my eyes scanned at the opticians before (high street, well-known opticians) as they can tell you about your health that way (diabetes etc.). Could be the same for horses?
Click to expand...

I've seen the research, which is why I was able to discount it. ;)

It's also not the same as a fully trained, qualified professional carrying out an intensive investigation of the entire eye, it is a lay person using a torch to look at the iris alone.
 
A vet friend of mine summed it up nicely, so I will use her words, loosely translated :):
''Iridology? Oh, no, we don't use it here, if an animal has something in the eye we take it out and give dicortineff'' :D
 
My mother had her cataracts done last year and her consultant (surgeon) happened to mention that there are indeed things in the coloured portion of the eye that can reflect certain illness, so I wouldn't entirely dismiss it.
 
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