Horse's eye watering

[Alter99]

Before everyone jumps all over me, the vet has been called and is coming tomorrow morning. I’m just trying to get an idea of what everyone thinks this could be.

The past three days I’ve noticed my horse’s left eye has been watering quite a bit. Not constantly but sometimes I will come in and there are wet marks (that have dried) down the side of his head. Both eyes were watering (the one just more than the other) and I thought it was just from being so hot the past few days. Today I when I went out it was watering more than before and there was a white wad of gunk in the corner of his eye. He’s never had this problem before. We had a complete vet check about 3 months ago and his eyes were fine so I do not think it’s anything chronic (unless it’s new in the past 3 months).

Any ideas?

[Laurierace]

Gosh I hope you didn’t feel the need to create an alter to ask this question. The most likely cause that I can think of is a clogged tear duct or conjunctivitis. Since you have the vet coming out there is no need to guess. Just wait and see what they say.

[shakeytails]

She probably did, considering the number of people here that can’t read for comprehension.

Since you’ve scheduled the vet, he’ll tell you for sure.

Just to set your mind at ease- it could be basically nothing. I’ve got two older mares that sometimes get watery eyes. One old girl has just one eye that’ll get watery on occasion, the other one has slightly watery eyes most of the time. Their vision is fine and the vet couldn’t find anything wrong with either of them. Could be allergies of some sort, who knows. You could try a fly mask- they don’t work for mine 'cuz their pasturemates are jerks.

[sublimequine]

Just an idea if you’re gonna be there before the vet arrives tomorrow, a nice saline rinse is often comforting to the horse until they can get looked at.

[esdressage]

It could be a reaction to flies. Does he have a fly mask on during the day?

My mare actually had a horrible case where flies deposited habronema larvae in her tear duct and they had to be surgically removed. That doesn’t sound like your case with just a little intermittent watering, but the gunk wad made me think of it. With my mare you could see the yellowish edge of the habronema larvae in her tear duct before the vet removed it. Yuck…

Hopefully it’s no big deal and the vet will get your horse tip-top in the morning! My mare still gets watery eyes with the flies, so she wears a fly mask daily in fly season, but thankfully no more habronema again (that was four years ago!)

[walkinthewalk]

This is way off the mark and I’m not saying it’s the case with every horse that has a watery eye problem:

My 12 yr old’s blood results indicated really high insulin levels. His sweet self was 200# overweight and now wears a muzzle to go out and play. After three weeks, he still has 176# to lose but at least he’s moving in the right weight direction.

He has always worn a face mask, so I knew flies weren’t the problem but his eyes watered so much I was beginning to wonder about blocked tear ducts.

A few days after he started wearing the muzzle, I noticed his eyes quit watering.

All I can figure out is that the high sugar/starch/fructose in the grass was triggering something besides high insulin levels.

I am by no means saying this is the issue with every horse with runny eyes, but all that sugary grass might be the cause in a few instances.

My 23 yr old that is I-R never had runny eyes, so I was suprised when the 12 yr old’s runny eyes quit running after putting the muzzle on him. Not one thing has changed with this horse except a muzzle.

[Snowdenfarm]

My horses used to get runny eyes when I didn’t know to limit spring grass. Here on the east coast the grass is recovering from drought conditions which us basically like spring grass sugar-wise.

[Alter99]

Thanks for all the advice. It looked better this morning after being in all night so I’m thinking it might be irritated by flies or sun. He doesn’t wear a fly mask because I was always told they could get corneal tears.

The grass thing is an interesting theory. He is a pretty hefty guy but he’s also a WB so I don’t think he will ever look “slim”. I’d be surprised if that’s the problem just because this is the first time this has happened and he’s been turned out on the same grass since I got him four months ago. However, I will definitely ask the vet! She is supposed to arrive between 12-2 so I will keep everyone updated as to the final result!

[AnotherRound]

There is a not uncommon virus which is similar to herpes which horses get in their eyes, producing a condition “uvitis” (pronounced U-V-itis) which inflamed the eye and makes them sensitive to light, and a flare up is noticed first with tearing. It is very painful for the horse. The reaction of the eye to the inflamation is to produce more blood vessles inside the iris, and after the inflamation has passed, these harden and eventually block the sight and freeze the iris closed.

Damage can be minimized by fast and correct diagnosis and then each time a flare up occurs (for the rest of their life) fast use of pain and other meds such as a pupil dialator, so that if the pupil is going to get frozen at least it can get frozen open and perserve sight longer, and a vet visit to block the nerve temporarily to help.

Just mentioning because I seen several horses with this and owned one. I get concerned when I see chronic tearing. Check out if he seems in pain or sensitive to light, have a doctor look at the eye to make sure.

[ponyjumper4]

It could be a number of things. He could have gotten something in his eye, could be a fly reaction, could be conjunctivitus, could be allergies, could be the sugar in the grass----if you haven’t had rain in a while your grass could be higher in sugar because of it–my IR pony (never officially tested but shows the signs so vet and I decided to just adjust the diet) will get water eyes if she’s getting something with too much—I have to triple rinse her non molasses beet pulp.

[Alter99]

The vet said he has conjunctivitis. He’s getting antibiotics for about a week and he’s going to wear a fly mask to try to keep him from rubbing. She said there’s a chance, if the antibiotics don’t work, that he has a blocked tear duct, but we’re going to try the medication until Monday and then go from there. Hopefully the antibiotic drops will take care of it though

[LauraKY]

I’ve never seen or heard of a horse with a corneal tear caused by a fly mask. I have, however, heard of cases where the horse developed an ulcer and because the fly masks were not removed every day and the eyes checked, the injury and inflammation went unnoticed until it was serious.

After too many eye injuries, mostly caused by rubbing when the eye is tearing, ours get a fly mask as soon as we see any tearing. Depending on what’s going on, they also get a dose of IV banamine. If it’s not improved in an hour or two, we call the vet. If it looks like more than just an irritation, the vet is called immediately. I don’t screw around with eyes!

[Draft_and_a_mule]

Hi everybody !

I have two untrained pack equines one mule one Percheron. They both are greenish. I am an intermediate rider. I don’t want to get rid of them because I have had them for a couple years now but at the same time they are too much to handle and I don’t safe riding while ridding them out alone.
What to do ? Send them back out to the uncertainties of the horse sales world or is there light at the end of the tunnel for them to become good safe riding mounts?

[Scribbler]

@Draft and a mule

Hi everybody !

I have two untrained pack equines one mule one Percheron. They both are greenish. I am an intermediate rider. I don’t want to get rid of them because I have had them for a couple years now but at the same time they are too much to handle and I don’t safe riding while ridding them out alone.
What to do ? Send them back out to the uncertainties of the horse sales world or is there light at the end of the tunnel for them to become good safe riding mounts?

You should start a new thread not just bump up an unconnected thread on eye health.

When you do this, the advice you receive will be to invest in lessons and training with a good trainer. Every horse is green and not safe to ride until it has been trained. Alternatively you might want to see if you can rehome them with a trusted outfitting guide or ranch. Such horses have little value on the the resale market and drafts often get sold for meat.

Your trainer will be able to evaluate if these are good souls who just need 90 days under saddle to be decent trail horses or if they are particularly difficult individuals. I expect they just aren’t broke to ride and need some education.

[Draft_and_a_mule]

Oh I didnt see that I was posting on eye health. Bmpup not intended. This is my first time post on this site so I’ll start again.