Vision impairment and riding

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TandD

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Due to a quite serious car accident a few weeks ago I am having to face up to the possibly of learning to deal with large change in my sight/vision. Everyone is hopeful that it may yet improve, but no one is holding their breath. Unfortunately it is not something that can really be corrected through glasses and it is quite possible I will be down to one eye.

However I would like peoples stories/experiences on how they cope with vision impairment and riding. How do you cope/deal with it? Do you do anything different? Anything you find more difficult?

Of course I understand everyone's problems are different but just a general overview would be good!

freshly made brownies on offer!
 
TandD said:
Due to a quite serious car accident a few weeks ago I am having to face up to the possibly of learning to deal with large change in my sight/vision. Everyone is hopeful that it may yet improve, but no one is holding their breath. Unfortunately it is not something that can really be corrected through glasses and it is quite possible I will be down to one eye.

However I would like peoples stories/experiences on how they cope with vision impairment and riding. How do you cope/deal with it? Do you do anything different? Anything you find more difficult?

Of course I understand everyone's problems are different but just a general overview would be good!

freshly made brownies on offer!
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So sorry to hear this, any disability his horrid to deal with.

One of my liveries has Muscular dystrophy in her eyes she only sees tunnel vision and only limited distance and find distinguishing colours hard to make out. She has regular check ups and the recent one shows a slight change, she has moments when her vision is blurry.
The sad thing is she is 18 and knows the end result is she will be totally blind, and is making the most of her vision while she has it.
She is qualified driver (carriage) and his training my pony and me, she does have a white stick for when in crowds or in darker days. She walks the 2 miles to the yard and is so gutsy and light heart about her condition, she is an inspiration to many.

She rides her horses out and hacks out alone with no problem at the moment.

I do have to help her with searching for poo piking when they are further away, and she will never experience driving a car. I have dealt with horses with impaired vision and now a human. I could never hazzard a guess at what it would be like, but hope you have close friends and family to help you.
 
If you have very low visual acuity in the bad eye, your brain will eventually learn to ignore the image from that eye, which may mean for a while you'll feel unbalanced, but would only really affect the periphery.

I work in an optician's and see may people who only have vision in one eye, most you wouldn't even know- they live very normal lives, however the majority have ALWAYS had that vision.

Good luck for your recovery, I hope you're able to ride soon. I know there are para dressage riders that have poor vision- so of it is worse case scenario there is still hope :) however I hope it does recover

Ax
 
So Sorry to hear about your accident and hope your eye-sight turns out better than you are fearing.

Many of my fellow RDA riders are totally blind or visually impaired and ride very well. I would suggest contacting your local RDA group or RDA headquarters who can advise you on strategies, compensating equipment ( many riders use an earpiece so someone can guide them when riding etc, or they follow someone in hi-viz gear for example). Your local council can also advise you on groups/societies who deal with visual impairment who may know of special equipment.

I am hopefully going to be at my local RDA group tomorrow, (health permitting, haven't been too good this week) I can ask about strategies/equipment/tips for you if you like.

Good luck with both your recovery and your riding
 
So sorry to hear about your accident, I hope things turn out better than you expect. We had a trainee at our RS who was registered blind. He had some limited vision and you'd never tell from seeing him ride that he couldn't see. He even competed in UA showjumping up to about 2`9". He was a real inspiration.
 
I suffered from a giant cererbral aneurism a few years ago which paralysed my left eye and left me with fairly useless vision on that side. The brain does adapt and it eventually learned to discount the images from that eye.

The biggest difference for me riding was a lack of depth perception. I just had to be more careful with judging distances and was glad to have a horse that I could trust to lengthen or shorten a stride in combinations, as I couldn't help him.

Depth perception was also an issue in everyday life. I lost count of the number of times that I thought that I was puting a glass on a table and missed the edge of the table completely! I also found that I would turn left and bump into a person or object that I hadn't realised was there, as my peripheral vision was missing on that side.

I'm so sorry to hear about your accident and I hope that your recovery goes well.
 
I became visually impaired just over 5 years when almost finished for the season as hunt groom, I have a rare and aggressive form of glaucoma which has resulted in optic nerve damage and no useful vision in my right eye and some visual fields are gone in my left eye. In simple terms I tend to say to people that I am blind in one eye, I'm also short sighted and wear disposable contact lens in my good eye but not the other, I do get some burring across from my bad eye but I have learnt to ignore this as much as possible. Glare can be a bit of a nuisance.

The worst part of it was having my driving licence revoked, I was a groom and I drove every day. It is hard, and it's hard to come to terms with it, and I think different to people who are born with a visual impairment.

You do however adapt, and you do without realizing it, like when I'm leading, as I can't see the horse I'll tend to keep my hand so it's just touching the neck.

Riding wise, no real issues. I went back to my job as hunt groom but rented a cottage 5 minutes walk away, also rode work on point to pointers, though as we were on farmland rather than a gallops I preferred to be in behind than leading.

I'm interested in para dressage but the travel for training is an issue for me, usually get about by bus / walk / cycle and it's difficult to get lifts. I live in Northumberland and bus services can be sketchy.

If you want to know anything feel free to ask.
 
Just to add, I haven't competed but I have hunted, taken a green pony ( that I'd never ridden before ) to a very busy x-country schooling day, done a fun ride and currently doing rehab work with my sharp and spooky tb. If he stays sound I'll likely do some local level comps.
 
I am sorry to hear about your accident. I was a volunteer for a local disabled riders' group, mostly aimed at children but with a handful of adult riders as well, several were visually impaired, some very seriously, but with the right horses they were well away, not all plodding on a lead rein either, we had an advanced group who were learning to canter in the school. Horses with a patient temperament seem to be quite good, in my experience, at adapting to their rider.

My great granddad (in my profile pic) lost an eye as a child, and he was a horseman through and through, although he didn't ride. He was a farmer, and worked with horses until (I think) the early '60s. He found driving them far simpler than driving a vehicle as he trusted them to compensate for his lack of depth perception, and to give him warning of things he couldn't see himself. The only problem was he used to work the fields the same way all the time, because it was easier for him to see to work that way, so his horses refused to work for anyone else who tried to take them the other way!

Good luck for your recovery.
 
I lost most of the vision in my right eye about 12 years ago as a result of a circulation problem causing swelling on the optic nerve (only nerve that can't repair itself I'm told, just my luck!) and at first it took some getting used to. I am basically blind in my right eye. At the time I was really worried about how my balance would be affected but it turned out depth and distance perception was the most difficult thing. I too knocked drinks off tables instead of picking them up, missed key holes with keys etc. and I just make a joke out of it if it happens now. I've never stopped riding though. I knew my old horse inside out and could, for instance, 'feel' where he was in the approach to a jump so I could place him. He died a couple of years ago and I now have a young mare. Riding her is different and when jumping her I can't place her I just have to find a rhythm and let her find her own place, which is probably better anyway. I can't see her when leading her but keep a loose rein and can feel if where she is. So, as others have said, you adapt and I don't let it stop me doing anything I want to with my horse. If anything, riding has helped me adapt to my impaired vision in other areas in my life. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
 
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