My horse is going blind :(

Luna Corona

Luna Corona

New Member
Sep 7, 2009
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Galloway
Just had the vet out for the annual vaccinations, and he turned round and asked me what'd happened with Sam's eyes. Nothing that I knew of! But on further investigation, his irises are starting to cover over his pupils, on both sides. This must be very recent though I can't say for sure when it must have started, just in the last couple of months. Sam is 24 and from what I know of his parents, there was no issue about loss of sight (his mother is still alive at 28 and his sire lived till just over 30). I feel as if Sam has been a bit short-changed here :cry: The vet said he'd never seen this development in a horse before but has seen it in new-born calves. Weird. I will go and investigate further after work, and I'm not looking forward to going to work now :(

Anyone else have a blind horse? Sam will never be out of his field again - and I'd wanted to show him in veteran classes this year - but is there anything other than the obvious to make sure he will be ok in his surroundings?
 
I used to know a horse who was blind - I'm not sure she was 100% but she was old (late 20s) although I don't know if it was a specific condition or just general deterioration. But she was still top of the herd! A dear, sweet mare but it didn't seem to stop her 'being a horse' (for want of a better expression). She was out with her herd each day & was treated the same.

Sorry to hear about your ponio's condition though - I can't imagine how upset you must be. Keep us informed with what you learn though, I'd be interested to hear the vet's final diagnosis.
 
so sorry to hear the news, is the degeneration likely to be a slow process, if so sam could have a few years before complete loss and if he is on the same grazing will be able to adapt as sight diminishs - are you noticing any changes in his field behaviour that would be related to it?
 
My old horse gradually went blind. To start with he would be a bit spooky and react badly to tiny noises then he adapted. Because I had owned him all his life we had such a good relationship that he was safe to be ridden even with limited sight. Like yours he had lived here for a long time and had good friends who looked after him in the field and brought him in at night. He lived a good life from stating to loose his sight at 12 to being pts at 28 through old age.

I would ask for a referral to a specialist in equines eye conditions. I don't know where you are but I was recommended to go to Oakham at the time
 
There is a horse at the riding school near me is is knocking on 30, blind compeletley in one eye and limited sight in the other and she still goes out on hacks!
 
So sorry to hear about this. On a positive note though, I read recently in Horse and Rider mag about a lady whose horse had a friend in the field that acted as his guide - and he managed with no trouble at all. Do hope it isn't quite so bad as you thought - maybe it won't deteriorate so fast?
 
Also knew a rs horse who was blind through uveitis, she also went out as everyone else did including hacking - just did no jumping and went familiar routes.

Big hugs xxxxx what a horrible shock xxx
 
Sorry to hear about this. To join the other positive notes my friends horse is going blind in both eyes. One across from left to right and the other up from the bottom. She is 27 but it's been getting progressively worse for the last few years. She still rides her out with me but there is just a few things we are careful with.

She knows the field very well but before we put up permanent fencing and kept moving the electric fencing around we always walked her right along it (with the eye that can see out the bottom) to make sure she was aware of her boundaries.

She is worse at certain times of the day - we avoid riding early evening when sun comes straight through trees and creates a strobbing effect - this seems to spook her more and likewise we avoid getting them in at this light in the winter - she is best on overcast days and in the complete light or complete dark. She also seems worse after snow? Presume some kind of snow blindness doesn't help?

.. and she is most definately still in charge of the herd - she isn't at the front but she is right behind my horse pushing her exactly where she wants to go!!
 
Thanks for everyone's advice and support here. It's not like me to have bad news and then be completely stumped by it for a cause or for what to do next! I went to the vets tonight after work and spoke to the one who had done the vaccs this morning, and he wasn't sure there was an actual name for this, but gave me "adhesions of iris" and "corpora nigra" to be going on with. Sam certainly has not had uveitis or any facial injury which might account for this change.

I had spoken to my boss at work as she has a farm with rare breeds and she said she has seen similiar degeneration in some of her older sheep and goats. Just as she described, the "adhesions" are shaped like little bunches of grapes dropping down from the top of the iris into the pupil. I suppose they would eventually close over the pupil but as I am quite sure Sam didn't have anything like this in his eyes up to a couple of months ago (guilty as charged for not paying more attention), I am now concerned it might be quite a quick degeneration for him.

I feel quite bad about it but is sounds like there's nothing I can do :( As for any change in his behaviour, I have noticed recently that he doesn't bother hooning around the field with the two young 'uns, but I just put it down to his age and joints and started feeding him FlexPlus! He also half-closes his eyes when he's eating and I did only notice that change in him in the last couple of months, so that might have been an indication of something from him.

Would it be worthwhile on these (rare) bright sunny days to use some kind of mesh face mask to shield his eyes?
 
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