Partially sighted in one eye?

[SnowPhony]

The scatty one is partially sighted in one eye, aparently due to an injury when she was younger and I think this may have been the reason she was put to be a broodmare.

Has anyone ever riden or owned a horse with poor vision in one eye and did it affect them day to day with ridden work such as hacking out alone or jumping?

 

[emma69]

I used to ride a mare with only one eye. She would occasionally jump at noises she couldn't see on the blind side, and would be startled if you approached her without any noise, but in terms of ridden work she was very trusting of her rider, and certainly had no problem over 3'-3'6'' height jumps. Not sure if judging height would present a problem at higher jumps. Never hacked her, so don't really know on that front. Had a pony in the riding school who was almost totally blind when he was retired (he hated not working) and he would sometimes jump at shadows / patches of light. He did very little in the way of school work (he just did lead reins when his eyesight went) so not sure on other things with him.

 

[gothdolly]

Domino is slightly, his cataracts are a bit cloudy in one eye. he leans on the bit to one side which I think is linked and he can be a bit jumpy if you approach without giving him lots of warning sometimes. But then that could just be him as hes a bit strange

No problems hacking or jumping as a result!

 

[blackcob]

My horse is blind in one eye, and it's never affected her in any way.

I will add though that there can be a huge difference between horses that are totally blind in an eye and those that have partial sight in the eye - partially sighted horses may be more apt to spook as they can still detect forms and shadows but can't always work out what threat they pose.

 

[ribena73]

I used to ride a cob with one eye and it didn't affect him at all. The only thing I noticed was he would turn his head to see things on his blind side and that when schooling where his good eye was on the outside he would turn his neck. I always let him know where I was though, especially if coming up on his blind side, just so I didn't freak him out. He was great jumping though just needed to give him plenty of warning if turning into a jump on his blind side.

 

[jes_nibley]

my boy (11.2hh welsh mountain pony) is 90% blind in his right eye. He can see out of the back of his eye so tends to spook at things after he's past them.

He is too much for kids but that's largely down to his character not his eye...!

He falls in on the right rein on the lunge but otherwise he's ok. He can jump small jumps (but with a 5'9" rider I wouldn't push him anyway...). His depth perception can be a bit off sometimes - the other reason i don't jump him too high - he's been fine to date with jumping but can try to step onto a kurb if he thinks he's close to it when actually he's a foot away!

I've also known one eyed children's ponies that have been fantastic confidence givers!

 

[SnowPhony]

Well B doesn't seem at all spooky when you approach her in the field, even on the side with her cloudy eye and the few times i've walked her out she hasn't seemed spooky, just a bit fizzy but that's her personality anyway.

I have heard that she was probably used for show jumping before she was a broodmare so wondered if the reason she was put to stud was because she was no longer up to jumping. I guess though the only way I'm going to find out is to have a go myself

 

[hairycob]

My sons horse has a dense cataract in one eye that severely restricts the vision in that eye. He jumps 1m quite happily providing you turn to a jump too tightly on the dodgy side. He can be a bit (well, very actually!) spooky if it's windy so branches & stuff are moving a lot. I think he can see enough to see something is moving, but not enough to see what it is.