Eye tumours and one eye horses... your experiences please!

[dominobrown]

Firstly sorry for posting another depressing negative post, such is my life at the moment.

Jist got back from the vets with an 8 year old tb who is bred to event. He had some problems with his roght eye, and my vet though uvitis but referred to Veterinary Vision of Penrith (excellent place btw if you need help with any animal with eye trouble). Luckily my local vet was convinced and decided to refer.

After a long work up scans revealed a "significant tumour" in the right eye. The current plan is to take the horse back in 4 weeks and check the tumour again. If there is no improvement to the inflmmation of the eye despite the drugs given, or if the tumour has grown in any way the eye is going to be removed. Fingers crossed that the tumour isnt too agressive and remains contained in the eye... otherwise....

I have never dealt with a one eyed horse before, has anyone else and did it make any difference?
Any success stories about eye tumoirs? Apprantly its very rare, especially in such a young horse which is concerning.
Thank you... need chocoalte to get me through this week!!!

 

[be positive]

There have been a few horses at top level SJ and eventing with just one eye, ahrena on here has one that was doing novice BE so it certainly should not prevent him having a useful career, my own experience is a friends pony who lost his eye in an accident but he was only a companion so it had not impact on how he lived.
I think it may be better to get the eye removed so you can get on with him without the tumour being something to constantly worry about, obviously be guided by the vets but if it is causing ongoing issues you will end up stop starting and it will still be there, once the op is done you can get on with him without it hanging over you.

 

[dominobrown]

Its 90% likely that they remove the eye. The vet said they may be a slim chance that it could be a blood clot etc. He said its highley unlikely, so if the steriods etc havent made a difference the eye will be coming out sooner or later. He did suggest sooner as if it a nasty tumour it would be the best way to prevent in spreading.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Back in the early 90s one of mine had an interface with eye on fence post, eye had to be removed, but he still carried on doing mounted games for 6 more years (zone final twice in that time) before we retired him to light hacking, so it can work out

 

[Apercrumbie]

I used to own a one-eyed horse - he coped very well I have to say. Others jumped him while I competed him to a reasonable level in dressage. When I was on his blind side I would just talk to him so he could hear where I was. Only issues we had were that he was very head shy and didn't like narrow gaps.

He had his eye taken out at 12 (uveitis) and I had him from 17-24. Eventually the sight in his remaining eye went too but he even coped as a blind horse. While I would expect an adjustment period, he should be fine.

 

[cauda equina]

Adventure De Kannan won the Hickstead Derby in 2014 after removal of an eye the previous year

 

[AandK]

My 21yo had his left eye removed on 28th Feb this year, he had a rare, aggressive tumour on his third eyelid and the only way to ensure it was all removed was to take the eye out as well. There was no issue with the eye itself (sadly), his sight was fine so he had to adjust from full vision in both eyes to just the one. He has adjusted amazingly, had the op (standing sedation) late afternoon and I picked him up the following day. Can do everything I used to do on that side (feet, mounting, tacking up etc), but I now lead from the 'wrong' side so he can see me. As long as I talk to him when working around his blind side, he is fine, just make sure he knows I am there! Got back on him after 2 weeks and he was no different to pre-op, haven't managed to get going yet due to foot issues (we're fine now!) but I have no doubt he will be fine to do all he was before (low level eventing).

 

[[59668]]

Very sorry to hear this. You have my sympathy.

I had a blue eyed horse that I got when he was about 4. A year after I owned him I noticed a lump on his eye. Turned out it was a squamous cell carcinoma. He went to the AHT for treatment and to have the tumour removed. The treatment was successful but I was told there was a high liklihood of it recurring.

A few years later I noticed it was back. I was advised to have his eye removed, which he had done under standing sedation.

A few weeks later he had a complication which unfortunately meant I lost him. he started to lose balance and just fall over, and got uveitis in his remaining eye. He was in a lot of pain, and we tried to treat it for a few days, but then he fell and couldn't get up and i made the decision to have him PTS. It was unclear if there was swelling from the eye removal (unlikely) which caused issues in his other eye, or if the tumour had already spread and was causing issues and swelling in his brain which tracked to the other eye.

I'm very sorry i dont have a better story for you.

 

[dominobrown]

Thank you for your input so far. Hoping for next case but it's likely to be cancerous so who know if it is one of many tumours or not. This is when you realise the difference between human and animal medicine! My nurse friend asked had they not do this scan and that scan... ie brain scans... until I reminded her it was a vets not a large hospital!

 

[ceva]

I have bought a horse with blindness in one eye due to two traumas, one in the lorry another with a metal hayrack, I got him relatively cheap because of the eye condition, I have no problems whatsoever he brilliant in every way, hacks out alone and in company, hunts perfectly, not particularly spooky no more than some others I have ridden, the only thing I find is if I approach him on the blind side it makes him jump so always make sure he knows where I am, I have had him 4 years now with no problems he does jump quite big to allow for sight and also when he goes over a ditch he certainly makes up for poorer sight, I just make more allowances for him so he can see clearly what I am asking of him, so don't worry too much but hopefully the outcome maybe okay and he wont loose the eye.

 

[Orangehorse]

There was a point to pointer with one eye called Nelson that ran for years locally.

A very good PC pony had a small tumour removed from the corner of the eye, which didn't affect the sight and pony went on hunting and competing successfully. However, at the age of 14 it developed a growth in the jaw area that turned out to be an inoperable tumour, so PTS at a relatively young age. But then, anything can happen at any time, so she had a very successful 10 years as a competition horse.

 

[EventingMum]

Years ago a stallion show jumped with one eye - he tilted his head a bit but was highly successfull. I also know a PC pony who had an eye removed well into her teens - it did take her a little while to adjust and regain her self confidence when ridden but once she had adapted she was fine. I also had a livery, a very well bred young horse (sj lines) who was blind in one eye, sadly he hadn't had sufficient handling as he'd been written off due to his eye injury and was rather difficult, however I suspect it was the lack of handling rather than the lack of sight that caused the issues.

 

[Snowfilly]

Friend a the riding school had a 14 year old school horse who also did riding club dressage and jumped up to 1.00m tracks, who lost an eye to a growth. He had 6 weeks recovery, two weeks complete rest and the other month exercise with staff who knew what they were doing, before he returned to full work. He did another 4 years of full work, 3 years of light work and a bit of retirement before old age caught up with him but the eyesight was never a problem.

Also know a pony who was born with one eye, she was broke to harness and having a useful life as well as nannying youngsters on hacks.

An American racehorse called Patchy recently won on his debut after an eye removal as well, don't know his story but he looked happy.

Everything crossed for your boy but it won't be the end of the world if he does need it removed.

 

[ycbm]

I've been beaten at novice BE by someone on a one eyed horse. I watched her warm up for cross country with an open mouth, she even jumped the practice fence on a slant with the blind side to the fence!

 

[druid]

The racer Eye Of The Storm was so named because he had only one eye. They adjust very well

 

[MissTyc]

My friend's pony had an eye removed due to a rare tumour. The mare's behavious changed in the weeks following the surgery, for the better. She'd always been a lovely mare, but she became so much more settled. The vet reckoned that she'd probably had low grade pain and maybe some visual disturbances on that side for a long time, and so the better behaviour was essentially relief. My friend hasn't looked back - pony can do everything it did before, and now more reliable about it too!

(they have, however, started taking her to the clinic for her annual teeth/vaccinations in order to have the other eye properly checked once a year. As it was a "rare" tumour it was unknown whether there was a higher risk or not for the other eye)./

 

[Shay]

My cob is blind on one side - although the eye remains - and we have a one eyed pony on yard. We also have two with degrees of sight loss from uvieitis who may well loose eyes in the future. Adding up I've known 2 or 3 others with one eye over the years. On the whole they cope very well - especially if sight has been deteriorating on that side for some time. My cob needs to trailer on the right as he dislikes having a horse on his blind side in close quarters - but other than that he is a top notch PC Competition pony. He hunts and events to PC Novice. (He's 13hh - so too small for BE). The one eyed pony is going slowly completely blind (he is 35+) as a result of issues in his remaining eye but he copes absolutely fine. I did see a one eyed horse at a dressage competition recently and the rider had adapted a browband to include an eye patch to cover the dent. She did it because it alerts other riders in the warm up to something being different to encourage them to pass more widely on that side. She had permission from BD to ride that way.

 

[dominobrown]

Thank you. Sounds similar to your friends pony misstyc. He is a very shut down horse in general. He was bought intially because he owners thought he was quiet but he more numb and unresponsive. It kicked me on arm loading on the way to vets... he stood at the bottom on the ramp completely switched off and ignoring everything, made a groan and then actually went for me like a boxer with his front legs. I was starting to despair with him as he is so "well bred" but so backwards and ungeniune which is another reason why we were so quick to refer him as I have never been convinced he is 'quite right'. I am not saying he is dangerous... he will hack ok and do basic stuff in the school but if you ask anything new or more of him he just shuts down. He is like a 3 year old who is quiet but being forced to do too much however he is 8 so he really is capable of doing more than the basics. He was broken at 5 and turned away until he was 6.5 so I put it down intially being lazy and enjoying the unemployed lifestyle however have become increasingly concerned at his compeletely switched off to fight for the death moments with no signs but a weird groan. I am concerned this may not be the only tumour but one of many in his head....

 

[Keith_Beef]

The yard where I ride has at least one one-eyed horse, a grey called Nils, and has had a couple of them in the past. As long as we remember that Nils is blind in the right eye, and and avoid approaching him too quickly from that side, everything's fine. He's too small for my bulk, but the girls who ride him have no problems during lessons.

 

[MissTyc]

Thank you. Sounds similar to your friends pony misstyc. He is a very shut down horse in general. He was bought intially because he owners thought he was quiet but he more numb and unresponsive. It kicked me on arm loading on the way to vets... he stood at the bottom on the ramp completely switched off and ignoring everything, made a groan and then actually went for me like a boxer with his front legs. I was starting to despair with him as he is so "well bred" but so backwards and ungeniune which is another reason why we were so quick to refer him as I have never been convinced he is 'quite right'. I am not saying he is dangerous... he will hack ok and do basic stuff in the school but if you ask anything new or more of him he just shuts down. He is like a 3 year old who is quiet but being forced to do too much however he is 8 so he really is capable of doing more than the basics. He was broken at 5 and turned away until he was 6.5 so I put it down intially being lazy and enjoying the unemployed lifestyle however have become increasingly concerned at his compeletely switched off to fight for the death moments with no signs but a weird groan. I am concerned this may not be the only tumour but one of many in his head....

It is a worry My friend's pony is a grey, and as we know they are prone to growths and tumours. I think you can only do your best - have that eye removed, see how the horse develops. If there is something else going on such a brain tumour then at least you'll have tried your best. I do think that pain from the eye must be very confusing for a horse be there visual issues or not, so I wouldn't necessarily assume the worse just yet x.

 

[Antw23uk]

My friend has a Welshie with one eye (Uveitis!) and he is blooming awesome. NOTHING stops this horse. He does all PC and RC activities, he hunts, jumps and was working medium dressage (he's currently on loan to a PC home) He learnt to jump AFTER the eye came out. He's awesome, totally and utterly unstoppable and awesome

 

[AandK]

Thank you. Sounds similar to your friends pony misstyc. He is a very shut down horse in general. He was bought intially because he owners thought he was quiet but he more numb and unresponsive. It kicked me on arm loading on the way to vets... he stood at the bottom on the ramp completely switched off and ignoring everything, made a groan and then actually went for me like a boxer with his front legs. I was starting to despair with him as he is so "well bred" but so backwards and ungeniune which is another reason why we were so quick to refer him as I have never been convinced he is 'quite right'. I am not saying he is dangerous... he will hack ok and do basic stuff in the school but if you ask anything new or more of him he just shuts down. He is like a 3 year old who is quiet but being forced to do too much however he is 8 so he really is capable of doing more than the basics. He was broken at 5 and turned away until he was 6.5 so I put it down intially being lazy and enjoying the unemployed lifestyle however have become increasingly concerned at his compeletely switched off to fight for the death moments with no signs but a weird groan. I am concerned this may not be the only tumour but one of many in his head....

Perhaps the eye is bothering him, and causing him to be shut down. If there is a growth in it, cancerous or not, it may be causing pressure and discomfort somewhere?

 

[poiuytrewq]

Hi OP, I have experience of both but not together!
A pony i was looking after two years ago had a tumour, a fast growing aggressive tumour that appeared literally whilst the owners were on holiday. It was removed after trying some treatment that didnt work. After the tumour was removed the pony made a full recovery and has been fine ever since.
We had a beautiful Connie with Uveitis. After years of treatment we decided to remove the eye. So here's my experience of eye removal! Its a really surprisingly easy straight forward operation that requires only a few nights in hospital. He recovered incredibly fast and was back to his usual self very quickly. this included being ridden and jumping. He almost barely changed. We were careful at approaching in the field on the blind side but as long as we called him first and he knew we were there it was fine.
Very sadly he developed the condition in the remaining eye and with the accompanying sight loss he lost his confidence and the decision to pts was heartbreaking but fairly easy.
I think eye removal due to a tumour would be a far more successful outcome than uveitis as he's unlikely to get it later in the good eye.

nb- Our Uvietis horse was a complete idiot during flare ups, eye pain is awful and very difficult to cope with so you may well find him much easier in general after removal.