I think my horse has a eyesight problem

[Ish2020]

There is a few things I have noticed with my horse
. She is constantly spooked at nothing
. When I am lunging her I have noticed she doesn’t respond to lunging crop on one side but gos very fast on the other side.
. My horse is scared of water tray and would not go normally near one but she only noticed it when I put her on top of it the other day.

I think my horse has a eyesight problem in one of her eyes. I was just wondering do you need to get a vet out or do you manage it yourself.

 

[cobgoblin]

You need a vet to examine her eyes and find out what/ if there is problem, and if there is, whether it is treatable.

 

[DabDab]

As a first port of call the vet needs to examine her. Although I have a horse who I'm fairly convinced sees things differently on one side more than the other, but the vet can find nothing. Mine has spotty horse genes, which have been observed to give some eyesight conditions (e.g. night blindness), so I kind of work on the assumption that she has something like that going on and am just a bit more careful on her off side. By choice she makes a noticeable effort to keep horses and humans on her near side.

 

[paddy555]

I had a horse that went blind. Even when he was blind it was difficult when the local vet examined him. She could look into his eyes etc but moving things around him to see if he reacted was difficult as he was friendly and the responses were far from conclusive even though he was blind and could not walk up the road due to blindness.
I think if I had a horse I was pretty sure about I would take it to a specialist vet or at least horse clinic to get a more accurate diagnosis. I couldn't as mine couldn't see enough to walk into a lorry let alone travel.

Everything you describe could relate to blindness or anything else. Lots of horses are spooky for example. Some horses have difficulty with water because of the reflection and trying to see how deep it is.

I first realised mine was blind (it came on very quickly) when he couldn't lead out of the gate onto the road something he had done every day for 10 years. He couldn't be led up the road unless it was next to the wall so he could tell where he was. Walk in an open space with no boundary to define it and he was lost.

You need to get a vet but to start with try a lot more testing yourself. Lead in hand on a short rope. Does she go past things equally in both directions. Try and work out what she can see ie her perception of things. Do the same on a long rope, put her the other side of the road. Set it up so she is going to walk into things. Try it in both directions, put her in an open space on a long rope. Does she cope well?
It is not easy as they are able to compensate for so much.

 

[ycbm]

All horses see things differently with one eye than the other, there's been research on it. They usually prefer to assess danger with their left eye and consequently prefer to have their handler on the left, and are more spooky with objects to one side that the other.

Does you horse walk into things on the 'bad' side?
.

 

[Ish2020]

Update I have done a few of the horses eyesight test that I found online. I can confirm that she is blind in one of her eyes. I hope to get the vet out this week to have a look . Thanks for your advice.