Partial Blindness In One Eye

[Nats_uk]

Has anyone heard of a horse having a 'curtain' in one eye?

I was told by my horse's previous owner that he has this. His left eye does look slightly milky and he is much more spooky on the right rein i.e. when his left eye is nearer to the "scary" object.

Just wondered if any HH'ers had come across this before?

 

[YorkshireLass]

Years ago we had a youngster who got tangled up in a gorse bush. His eye ball was pierced by a thorn. He recoverd and went on to have a flat looking eye (when you viewed him front on, the injured eye did not protrude so much as itought to.) The eye was also milky looking, like a swirl of milk! This was the scar tissue. He had limited vision in that eye, always a bit spooky on that side. However, he went on to be a fine hunter!

 

[merlinsquest]

The pony we bought for our kids had a milky swirl in his eye too... again by thorn or similar. But as it was high in the eye the vet thought it probably didnt interfere with his sight. He was never spooky etc.

 

[scotia2k7]

Hi there, there is a condition in horses called "Moon Blindness" - or "Equine Recurrent Uveitis". It can be caused by lots of things; previous or current baterial infection, a virus or a knock (trauma), even just a hay seed that never got found out before and set up an infection that got overlooked. The "spookyness" on one side might be because his vision is clouded. There are various treaments if you or the vet can find out what caused it, but generally speaking these have to be pretty fast findings. Your vet might try atropines, combined with anit-inflams, or steriods - bute & even asprin.

Even if your boys condition doesnt improve, horses adapt incredibly well with cloudy or partial vision in one eye. Id just suggest you seek proper vetinary advice.

Scotia

 

[liet1]

A horses I no longer have damaged her eye as a baby. Managed to cut it on the only sharp unfound thing in the paddock. She did have a blind spot in that eye but went on to a great career jumping electric tape and any thing else! I guess my point is that as long as you know what is going on with the eye it is not an issue in my experience for the horse. This horse wasn't terribly spooky except for one very large rock ... but I think that was her joke with me.

 

[rcm_73]

My 17 y.o. mare has some clouding of the lens in her right eye thought to be due to cataract changes. My vet said it would probably be a bit like looking at the world through the bottom of a plastic cup in that eye but as her other eye is ok most horses adjust to suit. My mare has always been spooky anyway, you just have to be careful approching her from the affected side and for jumping you have to let her go at the fence with her head turned a bit to the right!