Horses Adjusting to Blindness

[shamrock]

I know an aged horse that recently lost her vision in both eyes over the course of what seemed to be only about 4 - 6 months. It seemed so fast. I feel so bad for her . She is so sweet and kind and was an amazing show horse.

She seems very scared and hesitant all the time now (rightly so!). Another mare I know has been completely blind for many years and she seems to do okay for the most part, but there are times that she seems agitated and out of sorts too.

I realize it depends on each individual horse how well they may or may not adjust to being completely blind. Can anyone share their experiences with horses they know that went totally blind? Did they adjust okay? Or not? How is their quality of life?

[caryledee]

My gelding went blind when he was about 25 or 26. It was a gradual loss of sight. He is now 32 and I have been quite surprised about how well he adjusted. He has one paddock he stays in with a donkey for company. He does get agitated if I try to bring him inside the barn so I just let him live outside. He gets a little disoriented once in awhile, but overall I think his quality of life is good. I wouldn’t hesitate to put him down if he was a danger to himself or his handlers though or if he seemed unhappy.

[roseymare]

Some do fine others never adjust. Hopefully ypur horse will adjist soon.

[shamrock]

Thanks for sharing caryledee. Glad to hear your boy adjusted okay.

[sassy45]

We had a horse go blind he never adjusted,pretty much became depressed and quit eating… So we had him put down,was 28 years old.

[shamrock]

oh dear, I’m sorry to hear that Sassy.

[goodhors]

One of the 4-H kids had an elderly mare going blind. They hung cheap wind chimes from the Dollar Store on the wire fences. Seems like a $1 chime every long section between posts. Chimes helped horse orient herself to the fence, kept her back so she didn’t walk into it. Chimes are cheap, just replaced them when the strings wore out in the sun and wind.

Horse seemed to manage pretty well, got around just fine. The chimes move at the least breeze or even birds landing on the electric wire, so there is sound 99% of the time that a horse can hear. Horse was in this small field a couple years before they lost her. Gentle pasture mate for company, never had any issues where blind horse got into trouble after the chimes were put up.

Maybe this will be helpful for your horse.

[shamrock]

That is a very thoughtful idea. Thanks for sharing goodhors

[Mango20]

I had one who didn’t adjust. He went blind in one eye first, and adjusted just fine to that. When the other eye went, several years later, he was miserable and becoming a danger to himself and others. He would lose his pasture mates and call for them (but no one answered). He was running into things. He became difficult to handle. He was not a happy guy. I ended up euthanizing him after enough time had passed to tell he wasn’t going to adjust.

On the other hand, I have known of several blind horses who get along just fine, so you never know.

[shamrock]

So sorry your boy and you had to go through that Mango. So sad.

I guess it really depends on their personality if they are able to cope with it or not.

[Foxtrot_s]

I suppose it depends on temperament. There are some very positive stories out there. I gave away a pony to be companion to a mare that was blind from moon blindness. They were look-alikes - one smaller black and one very large black.

They adjusted together beautifully. She stayed in her well known surroundings and were hair to hair constantly.

[shamrock]

Aww, that’s nice to hear Foxtrot’s!