Possible eyesight problem in young horse

[Hollyanna]

So I have a young horse and I have noticed a few behaviours that make me wonder if he may have an eyesight problem, it isn't bad I don't think but enough to worry him... If any of you have had similar experiences please let me know the outcomes. It may be I am doing 1 + 1 = 10, but I will get my vet to check when he's up in a few weeks. Here's the reasons I think he may have an issue:

1. If he sees things in the distance he freezes like a statue and baulks with his head like a giraffe. It takes him ages to work it out (maybe just a baby thing).
2. He gets really freaked out about things in the distance behind him,, and always looks back with his right eye, (his left is the one I think may be impaired).
3. I can carry a whip (schooling whip) on the right side but he is much more worried on the left and I find he tries to look at it much more.
4. The other day I was fussing about something near his head / jaw on the "bad" side and I was doing it for a few minutes and then all of a sudden he freaked like he hadn't seen me.

It could just be babyness, but would be grateful if anyone had similar experiences they could share?

Thanks!!!

 

[JillA]

A lot of those behaviours are young horse in a new environment, but if you are worried get your vet to check. Years ago I had a horse who was blind in one eye and she coped really well - vet said the only issue might be jumping because she no longer had stereoscopic vision to calculate distance.

 

[serenityjane]

As JillA said- could just be a young horse, but my son has a mare (8years old) that we suspect has vision problems. She does all of the above, also when riding her she will shy from any different coloured tarmac, drains, or muck on the road, again like your chap spinning so she can see it with her better eye, but will be fine with buses, lorries etc etc. She has problems in a school (bad problems indoors and just problems outdoors if there are jumps/mounting blocks/yard sundries lying around) and her night vision is fairly non-existant- she did not drink for a while when he first got her as she could not find the black water bucket in the shaded part of the yard- would come to me for water when I was refilling buckets with my red bucket!!! She also relies very heavily on her field companions at night to follow around, and hates moving to a new field too far from the barn light (which I leave on for her).
It would definately be a good idea to get a vet to have a good look!

 

[Birker2020]

So I have a young horse and I have noticed a few behaviours that make me wonder if he may have an eyesight problem, it isn't bad I don't think but enough to worry him... If any of you have had similar experiences please let me know the outcomes. !

I would suggest a lot of this are baby issues and lack of confidence.

My horse was very spooky at one time and I got the vet to check his eyesight as I had concerns. He said he had an extra layer of cells over the epitheral layer ( a layer of cells that lie over the cornea) and he said this could cause slight loss of vision resulting in spooky behaviour.

However a second vet from the same practice gave him a very thorough examination a few weeks later and could find nothing!

 

[cptrayes]

Horses use their left and right eye differently. There is some research about it which shows why they are happier handled on the left. I'll try and Google it.

I've had a four year old go blind from retina atrophy but it was both eyes.