My horse has had limited vision in the right eye due to an abuse incident at a barn we were boarding at an our 3 years ago . He’s been spooky on that side for a bit but we managed. We moved barns recently to bring him closer to my house and we started to see behavior changes ( rearing … fearful behavior during turnout) had the vet out and he’s going blind in the left eye as well due to cataracts but he still seems to want to work … so we have been doing a lot of groundwork and I did ride him the other day but he is very wary of the indoor and has been weird about indoors since the initial incident happened. I have the REM mask for turnout and that seems to help a ton and so does the Evysor for riding but he will need to have at least the right eye removed. Any ideas on how to help him adjust and any specific exercises to help him ? He’s already voice command trained and does well with them! Thanks!
Ah. I joined this forum when I was probably 11? Years old (yikes on many levels, but I’m dating myself). I don’t even remember the screen name or login. I joined because my beloved pony had at least her first eye removed at that point. She ended up living a long life with both eyes removed.
As far as training or exercises, the internet was pretty new then and I don’t think I thought to ask these things on the forums. What I do remember is giving her time and keeping our routine the same (especially when losing the second eye).
Definitely a good fly mask or eye protection is important when they have just the one eye or limited vision in the eye that is going to be removed.
The way we found out my pony was going blind in the first eye was she stopped at a horse show and I fell off. Very uncharacteristic. The vet said she likely had a horrible headache for a long time - so behavioral changes would certainly be warranted for your horse.
Sorry for the jumbled thoughts. I hope this kind of helps? Essentially routine and eye protection. I’ll be curious to see what others say. Best of luck.
My gelding lost one eye to a cross tie accident and had compromised vision in the remaining eye. I always let him know verbally when I was on his blind side and we operated on some basic voice commands - “to me” and “away” to let him know which we were going to be turning when leading, and also up and down to let him know when the terrain was changing. I used the “up” and “down” commands when leading but also when out trail riding. He grew so reliant on those commands that one day I was hand grazing him on the side of a small rise next to the barn and forgot to say “up” when heading back up to the barn and he face planted into the hill - and proceeded to give me a very dirty look. I also found out how much I had been relying on the wall of the indoor when riding and had to make sure I was riding both sides of my horse at all times 
I have an older guy that was found neglected and the owner willingly gave him to me. His right eye was terribly damaged. Arranged for enucleation (don’t watch it if you don’t like blood, it’s REAL bloody when they do it lol). He was a reserved, kind of non-trusting type of dude, but had a complete turnaround in personality once that eye was out. Probably because he was no longer hurting.
I had an older retired mare who needed her eye removed because of a corneal ulcer that was painful and not healing. She did very well for many years afterwards.
The most important thing I learned is that horses with impaired vision mentally map out their environment to help prevent collisions, such as with fencing. A blind horse who lived near my mare in a 24’ by 24’ paddock knew the boundaries of his home, and rarely came in contact with the fence. He had confidence in his surroundings.
Confidence is key, and we have to be sure not to put them in situations where they may fail.
@MAW2018 I have no experience to share, it looks like others here have that covered.
I hope your boy adapts without much Ado.
But perhaps a story you can smile at?
I was feeding for a friend who had Hackney Ponies & minis he & his Dad kept at a BIL’s barn.
I went to put grain in the stall if one of the Hackney studs…
AND HE CAME TO MEET ME WITH WHAT LOOKED LIKE A PUNCTURED EYEBALL 
No eye & raw-looking socket 
In a panic, I called the owner & was informed:
"That’s Popeye, he was born like that"
Umm…
I’d gotten pretty specific feeding instructions for all.
Perhaps you might have mentioned that to me? 
I had a pony given to me with a damaged eyeball - my vet thought he was fully blind in the eye, I was pretty sure he still had at least some ability to tell light from dark and maybe some shapes. I had it enucleated and he had no trouble adjusting. I think no sight is sometimes less stressful for them than poor sight.
I didn’t do anything special to prepare him. If they know their surroundings and trust you, it’ll be fine. You might make sure you’re both brushed up on you leading him from the right, if it’s the right eye coming out - he might feel more comfortable with you on his blind side in certain situations, my pony definitely seemed that way.
Find a submissive, low totem pole horse buddy as a turnout
mate.
My Asb as a 2 yr. old was paired up w/ an old blind Arab mare.
Seemed like an odd pairing to me but the BO was genius at matching up buddies.
After about 4-5 days I came to the boarding. barn to see my young horse acting as a seeing eye horse. The old mare had taught him to always be her guide, always stay on her right side and always stay near her where she could touch him.
it was fascinating to watch their interactions.
My young gelding was quite willing to accept his new job and old blind mare could safely maneuver around the pasture and their dirt lot.
We had one at our barn that struggled with loosing the last scraps of her vision (uveitis), and honestly I think being able to see just shadows and light/dark changes was harder on her than being fully blind.
Her owner and our barn owner went above and beyond to manage her - we removed their hay feeder structure so they just had a net, picked up every rock in their paddock, removed the electric strand over the gate and switched off the electric for their paddock(she bumped it by the gate once and scared herself good with the shock), kept her with the same gentle, quiet pony buddy for several years. We put a bell on each of her pony friends, which she seemed to like, especially with the annoying mini gelding who she would chase around in their paddock. Her owner attached a small bell to the end of a dressage whip to do groundwork with, she started while the mare had some vision. Voice commands for things like “step up” are also helpful.
Endo the Blind and his owner Morgan Wagner are an incredible example of a successful blind horse. They’re active on social media and Morgan does some training in Oregon, and may be able to help virtually as well to some extent.
Horses do amazingly well with just one eye. I recommend keeping everything as normal as possible and avoiding any surprising situations. I think it would be nice to avoid turnout with any particularly aggressive or playful friends.
We hung a wind chime by the run-in shed. Our blind horse could always find her shelter. She had a sighted buddy.
At feeding time we’d jingle the chimes, but hearing a voice was enough to make her head for her feed tub.
Lots of great ideas here! I had a one eyed mare who became a no eyed mare and did just great. If you’re on Facebook, you might find the Friends of Blind Horses/Blind Horses group helpful.
