Equine Moon Blindness

[MikePA]

Our vet has tried everything from pills, to ointments to shots in the eyes and nothing has worked. Our mare came down with it in one eye a few months ago and it seemed to clear up only to return in both eyes over the last month. She's all but blind and we've had to keep her in her stall 24 x 7 while she's treated. If things don't improve, odds are we'll have to put her down as a life in a stall seems cruel.

Anyone run into this? If so, what helped?

 

[tallyho8]

Our vet has tried everything from pills, to ointments to shots in the eyes and nothing has worked. Our mare came down with it in one eye a few months ago and it seemed to clear up only to return in both eyes over the last month. She's all but blind and we've had to keep her in her stall 24 x 7 while she's treated. If things don't improve, odds are we'll have to put her down as a life in a stall seems cruel.

Anyone run into this? If so, what helped?

Can't help you out with the moon blindness, but I have had a couple of friends with older blind horses who managed fairly well on pasture and one was even used in Mardi Gras parades.

If they are used to their rider before they go blind they are able to perform many tasks just as well when they are blind.

They can even compete in speed events if they trust their rider. You can blindfold your trained horse and be amazed at how he will follow your commands.

I would never sell a blind horse to a new owner or move it to a new location.

 

[Lloyd_E]

MikePA,

Tallyho has a point. My wife's horse trainers had a blind horse in their care. The horse was a well trained dressage horse in its earlier years. They paired it with an experienced rider and both did well for many years. Unfortunately the horse passed on last year due to old age. But it was a great companion to the end...

I would reconsider...

Lloyd

 

[Ken45101]

I agree with all that was said.

There is nothing to stop the progressive deterioration. It's called "moon blindness" because it comes and goes like the moon, but keeps getting worse.

We adopted a blind horse, didn't realize it at the time. She was a real sweetheart but had to be kept separate in her own 2 acre paddock. She lived out her life naturally.

One of the big name trainers, John Lyons, had his favorite horse go progressively blind. He continued to use the horse for training and demonstrations. As he wrote, the horse doesn't know that something has gone wrong, the horse just adapts to life as it comes.

I didn't realize it at the time, but as others here have mentioned, blind horses can be very good mounts, even for trail riding. You just have to help them. There are several yahoo group dealing with blind horses. One is
Blind-Horses2 : Blind-Horses2

I wish that I had known how capable our girl was when she was alive, I would have ridden her some.

Best wishes,

Ken

 

[riptides]

Agree with all said.

We all have our issues. If the horse has adapted well to your handling and care, the routines it goes through will just be the same for it. Of course you and yours will have to watch out and work a little more to give it care.

Best of luck.

 

[Ken45101]

If the horse has adapted well to your handling and care, the routines it goes through will just be the same for it.

That's an important point. Keep the horse in a familiar environment if at all possible. Same stall, same turnout area, etc.

 

[tallyho8]

Just another word of caution. A partially blind horse is more spooky than a blind horse. They don't see some things that they would normally see far away until they are up close and this sudden sight can sometimes startle them.

This is most noticeable when the horse is first going blind and has not yet adapted to it's failing vision.

The horse quickly learns to depend more on his hearing and sense of smell as time goes by.

If a rider/trainer is not paying attention and leads a blind horse into a bad situation where the horse gets hurt/spooked, it will be much harder for the horse to have faith in that rider again making riding much more difficult.

 

[MikePA]

Thanks for all the replies. I will pass them on to my wife. Everything about how we treat the horse is the same yet she manages to come back to the barn with new scrapes and we're concerned she's going to run into/through a fence. We've already watched her try and get away from a horse fly only to run into a fence around an old well. Two Sundays ago, it was raining and she balked at coming into the barn, something she always did, usually by following her barn mate. Once in the barn, she refused to go in her stall. My wife worked with her for over 2 hours, no go. Later that afternoon, she walked in like there was nothing to it. Lately, she refuses to come out of her stall.

 

[blueriver]

Had a totally blind mare that raised several babies ... keep your horse in an area that remains familiar and always talk ... they will respond to your voice ... the ear becomes a line of sight.... all should be well... the sense of smell will guide them to water, feed and belive it or not YOU !!