What would you pay for a horse blind in one eye?

[gailt]

We are on the horse hunt, we have found a lovely skewbald gelding 6 yr sold, green in the school and only ever popped a log, is a super safe hack, and my daughter loved him, he has a very laid back personality but is not a plod,, he is a good ride with brakes, but has a major cataract on one eye, making him blind in that eye, the add said it was wall eye but i think she is naive as she knew he was blind in it, but is definately not wall, the owner said it was from an injury when he was born his mother kicked him during a bad labour, ive no reason to disbelieve this, so am not overly concerned it would spread to the other eye. What would you pay for a horse like this?

 

[Holly27]

personally i wouldnt , but thats me , theres plenty about that can see in both , if you do love him just make sure you get 5 star vetting
is he cheaper due to this ? and she should of been honest in the add if shes not been truthful about this , i wouldnt belive much of what she said , but again thats me , a friend of mine has a horse who is blind in one eye and she compets him ect so its really up to you

 

[FMM]

She has lied to you about the eye. What else has she lied about? If you want to sell him on at any point, then you will have a problem. Many horses manage admirably with one eye, but generally they have had an injury and the owner has kept the horse - not many are sold with just one eye. There are 100s of lovely horses out there, so I would suggest you keep looking until you find the right one. You can improve a horses paces, teach him to jump, traffic proof him etc etc, but you will never be able to get that eye back again.

 

[maxinetaylor]

I dont know if you have read my post today ? if you havent then please do. basically i bought my horse in October last year. 2 weeks into owning her she was diagnosed with an eye condition called corneal edima, which aparently arose from an old injury. her vision was impaied and her eye became very blue, cloudy and painful. i ended up treating her eye 3 times aday but unfortunately the treatment didnt work. The eye then had to be removed last thursday. I was more than happy to have her with one eye, that didnt bother me one bit as i knew she would adapt and i would still ride her. Then came the big blow......after the op, she wouldnt get up. we tried to hoist her but her hind legs just wouldnt take the weight. We tried several time until i had to make that heart breaking decision this morning to put her to sleep. I dont want to put you off, as i am sure this wouldnt happen again but bare in mind that it could. You like me could end paying alot of money and end up with a painful loss. If you do want to go ahead, then get it vetted first. Unfortubately horse insurance will not cover any pre existing conditions, like ive found out and the vets fees have costed me about £3000 in last few weeks.xxx

 

[tendon_boot]

Sad to say but i wouldn't buy it. There are plenty of other horses that would pass a vet. Also im not sure of what insurance you'd be able to get. Echoing above as well lies. You never know it could be a degenrative (sp) condition. Eyes are also such tricky areas of horses (as with people). Sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear

 

[gnubee]

I would not let blindness in one eye itself put me off. However, I would be closely looking at a number of factors, including: the woman has lied in the advert to try to get a sale, showing a disregard for the horse's future welfare; what else is she lying about, and what causes you to believe she has acted in the best interests of the horse in other areas (shoeing, training, vetiniary care etc.) when she is willing to dump a one eyed horse in a home that is unaware of the problem? Has her vet ever been called about the condition (and if not think carefully about previous welfare point), and if so can you talk to him about his diagnosis (no point in paying out for a vetting if he can already tell you things you wouldnt want to hear). If you want to compete the horse in future, be aware that one eye could affect his depth perception and make him clumsy over jumps--even if you dont want to compete, this will affect the opportunity to increase his value through competition and training. As you appear to value his quality as a safe hack, I would also request a repeat visit to test out whether he is likely to spook at
"scary" objects appearing out of nowhere due to the defects in vision.

If you can get past all these issues, I would definitely have the horse vetted for verification that the problem wont develop, and would expect to pay a maximum of half the price of the same horse with 2 eyes, due to the reduction in the resale market and restrictions on the use of the horse. Ultimately though, the horse is worth what you feel comfortable paying, taking all restrictions and potential future expenses into account.

 

[maxinetaylor]

On the other hand, give the horse a chance but get a vet to have a look. the eye may not cause any more probs but just be prepared. i hope that this has helped. I am glad that i gave my girl a chance and gave her a good few last months of her life, perhaps you should do the same. Whats meant to be will be.x

 

[katylee]

as everyone else says i would get the horse vetted. i have ridden two horses with only one eye and they were both lovely. the first one was well schooled and you wouldnt have realised at all. the other one was great fun we used to jump him with no problem, they never spooked at all. good luck on your horse hunt!

 

[blackcob]

I wouldn't discount a horse that was blind in one eye as I own one and she is my horse of a lifetime. However, I completely agree with the above comments, if she has lied to you about the eye than what else is she covering up?

If you genuinely like the horse otherwise then a thorough vetting and some kind of written guarantee in case the condition got worse might work. I wouldn't expect to pay very much at all however.