Head tilting, one eyed 2 year old

[OGM]

Sometimes we all do something questionable. This time it was my turn. I bought a 2 year old for my 60th birthday with the intent of a light riding project and broodmare down the road. She had been kicked in the face as a weanling and lost an eye.

She arrived damn acting damn near feral. I say damn near cause once the rodeo of haltering her was over, she lead respectably. It’s been a week and I’ve been able to touch her about 3 times. Thankfully the progression is a positive one. But I’m digressing…

What I have noticed is when she is intently looking at something she cocks her head to the good side, the seeing eye lower. Understandable I suppose yet it this with the combined behavior has me seriously wondering about the chance of ever taking her undersaddle. All kinds of ugly have gone through my head this morning from brain damage to she’s just a flighty range bred filly.

BTW, I am not new to one eyed horses, I have another who lost an eye later in life who does not cock her head to one side. Any thoughts or experiences with such a thing would sure be appreciated!!!

[2DogsFarm]

Sounds like the headcocking is just her coping mechanism for the loss of the eye.
As for the flighty behavior., give her longer to settle down before deciding she won’t work out.
You’ll probably see more changes in behavior as you do the groundwork you’ll need to prep her for U/S & that should give you a better idea of what you have.

My Hackney Pony came to me @ 8yo after 2yrs of basically running his own life.
Feral described him pretty good too.
He’d been broke to drive, had a crash & ended up on the farm of a woman with a herd of broodmares & 1 Arab stallion.
She put pony with the stud & he tried to pick a fight.
Put him with the mares & they beat him up.
So he was either stalled or out by himself.
He loaded like a gentleman for me for the ride to my place, then once I put him in a field he took off & it was 2 days before I could get the lead & halter off him.
He’d bring himself in with my other horse to be fed, then scoot before I could touch him.
I used to have to literally sneak up behind him to close the dutch door to the back of his stall so I could do anything with him inside (My horses live out 24/7 with free access to stalls)
Took me a lot longer than a week to get to the point where he had decent manners & accepted being handled.

Tincture of Time is the best RX to fix what happened before you came along.
If she’s getting used to being handled after a mere week, expect she will settle even more as you go quietly along.

[ShotenStar]

I now know several one-eyed horses, most who lost their eye later in life. All will head tilt when they really want to see something. One also carries his head to one side so the functional eye looks more forward. All are rideable and in fact seem to do better with a rider they trust and who allows the head set to be where the horse needs it to be. As 2dogs said, time and kind, consistent work may yield a good riding horse for you.

star

[findeight]

Horses do not have " binocular" vision, meaning what each eye sees is from the side of the head the eye is on and not combined with what the other one sees, even with two good eyes, They don’t see like we and other critters with eyes on the front of our faces do. That’s why they tend to spook at things right in front and dead center, like somebody putting on a bridle on or reaching up to pat the front of the face, there’s a blind spot and they just don’t see it.

Known one eyed horses before but they lost an eye after they were already used to being handled and learned to trust humans to keep them safe and to stay focused on their direction.

This ones going to be tough because you are starting from a place of mistrust. Not saying it’s impossible but it’s going to be a long haul. Kniw one that was a pretty good AO Hunter (3’6") But it was already an accomplished horse over fences when it lost the eye. Even so, you could not turn short to a fence, had to give it time to clock its head and look. It was subtle but it had to happen.

Another accomplished one eyed show horse being led to the ring was startled by something on the blind side as I was leading mine from the ring and spooked right into mine, pushed it right over on top of me, shattered wrist at the age of 57.

So I’m not one to sugar coat this, a one eyed horse can hurt you, which is your choice to risk. Or it can hurt an innocent bystander which was not my choice to risk.

It is a liability.

[akdraft77]

My old man is blind in one eye, happened over time. He does some goofy stuff when he is looking at something.

It helped me immensely to understand more about his perspective. This isn’t the article I was trying to find for you, but it is close, and may help understand the head tilt. She is likely listening and tilting her head to use a different part of her remaining eye to focus.

https://equusmagazine.com/riding/eye-eye-31022

It is just going to take extra time for her to settle in. With patience and consistent handling, she’ll probably come around nicely. You said you are already making good progress - that is promising.

If you are familiar with blind horses, then you already understand the benefit of verbal cues.

I forget this sometimes with my old guy. He likes to remind me…

[beau159]

A good friend of mine has a one-eyed mare that lost the eye when she was, I think, around age 5. The mare is very reactive and flighty. I wouldn’t call it cocking her head, but she does often hold her head funny. It’s just her way of using her only eye to see as much as she can.

I would say that the filly you have is a pretty “normal” one-eyed horse. You’re just going to have to progress extra slow with her, from the sounds of it.

Did you buy her sight unseen?

[OGM]

Beau159, I did … or I should say I was well aware she only had one eye, I saw photos. I bought her mostly as a broodmare prospect, conformation and color were the draw factors. Having the other one eyed mare I wasnt concerned. But … she did come off a fairly large cattle operation so I’m not so sure how much handling she really had. Clearly enough to be respectful with a halter on, just not enough to let you get a hold of the halter!!! LOL

[Color_of_Light]

Bless you for taking her in! She sounds like a typical one eyed horse. However, that, combined with being 2 years old already and completely unhandled might not be in your or a foal’s favor. She has already learned to cope as a one eyed wild horse. Adding a human and all things in civilization into her limited and already established personal bubble might be a dangerous situation for all those involved. In order to ever see anything on the side of her body missing an eye, she’s going to have to blindly turn her head or swing her body around, potentially being oblivious to anything that’s in her way in the process. This is not to say that she can’t become tamed, eventually be ridden, or become a good broodmare. You’ll just have to make the decision if she really is a good candidate for the jobs you intended her to do or not, or if she is happiest and safest at just being a pasture ornament. Only you can make that decision.