Mare with eye issues - any suggestions on riding her?

Rivonia

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Hi all.

My mare has issues with her left eye which are permanent and being managed by our vet. We don't know how much she sees but she sees something. She reacts to a hand being placed there and reacts to my body language when doing liberty work in a round pen.

Up until now I have been riding her and even jumping small jumps as if nothing is wrong. However, maybe I should start taking her eye into account.

She is a very wiggly horse and usually, if I'm not riding every single step, her shoulders have a tendency to break free. Just lately, for about two weeks, she was amazing. Very soft, shoulders staid put - it was great. All of a sudden, she starts being very challenging. I start off riding on the right hand, perfect. As soon as I switch to left hand, she falls apart (that's the side where her bad eye is). She will not turn or bend to the left. Tries bending to the outside all the time. It could be something else but the most obvious answer is her eye.

Any ideas how to approach this? Carry on as if nothing is wrong and hope for the best? Try and build more trust so that she relies on me for guidance? How do I do that?

Nothing more can be done for the eye and I did have a vet and a dentist out the last time she was majorly misbehaving. They didn't find anything wrong then (last November).
 
I suspect some of her ridden issues may be unrelated to her eye. A one-eyed horse won the Hickstead Derby a few years ago so that certainly should not stop you continuing with what you are doing with her.

My vet is also a horse chiropracter and the work she does on my horses makes a big difference even when it doesn't feel as if anything is wrong before she treats them. It could be that she is holding herself tight on her 'bad' side. Do you have a trainer who sees you riding when she is being more challenging?
 
Being able to see something is worse than seeing nothing out of the eye and if it comes and goes this could impact on her behaviour, having the eye removed may be the best option long term as they soon learn to adjust and it will not be a constant issue for her to cope with.
 
Being able to see something is worse than seeing nothing out of the eye and if it comes and goes this could impact on her behaviour, having the eye removed may be the best option long term as they soon learn to adjust and it will not be a constant issue for her to cope with.

I’d agree with this - I’ve known a couple of horses compete to a decent level with one eye. They adapted really well to the removal.
I would imagine it would be far harder for the horse with deteriorating vision, the goalposts must be constantly changing in those circumstances.
 
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