Hi everyone,
Not sure if anyone has any input but I thought I would ask this question here…
My gelding has one eye that is larger than his other. I feel it’s always been that way because I would have noticed if it suddenly got bigger. However, a few people pointed it out to me and that got me paranoid so I did have my vet examine him and everything was normal, no pain, no discharge, squinting, etc, his eyes are just not symmetrical.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Thanks in advance!
Does the smaller one appear normal-sized, and the other is just bigger? Or does the bigger one look normal and it’s the other one that’s smaller?
Do you have any older pics to try to see if their sizes relative to each other are the same?
In this article that was in Equus Magazine they discuss various eye injuries and they mention eyes
have lack of symmetry:
“A horse’s eyes are roughly the same size so if one eye appears suddenly smaller than the other it may have sunk deeper into the orbit.”
The article discusses many eye injuries so it’s worth reading.
I wonder if your horse has had a past injury to one eye.
It would be interesting to see a picture. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen anything significant enough for multiple people to make note of barring injury.
That said, if you really look closely, most horses’ (and peoples’) eyes are not quite symmetrically placed on their face. Sometimes there are tissue differences in the areas around the eye that can make them appear differently sized. I’ve seen quite a few examples of symmetry of the eyes (and other facial features) improving after bodywork. Tension patterns can affect the face just like the rest of the body!
Hi everyone,
Thank you all for your input! I was trying to find a good photo but his eye difference is not really noticeable in pictures for some reason.
I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point he had an injury. He was trained for the track (trotter) but was sent to a rescue for being too slow.
Sadly he has a few problems such as an extremely arthritic stifle and EPM so perhaps he has tension stemming from this?
Has your horse ever had any cloudiness in the smaller eye, like symptoms of uveitis or “moon blindness”? My old horse Rush had recurrent uveitis (ERU for short, E= equine) in his right eye. It’s a treatable disease, but there is no cure. As the disease progressed over the years, the eyeball itself was slowly shrinking due to loss of pressure inside- the opposite of glaucoma. It was noticeable in pictures taken in the last few years before he passed away.
Hopefully it’s just a quirk of genetics, though. Good luck!
I had a thoroughbred that had one eye that appeared smaller. The pre purchase vet told me that it was genetic, and was of no consequence other than making him unsuitable for breeding (he was gelded, but not until he was 6), as it could be passed down and potentially lead to progeny with a nonfunctional eye. I never looked into it further, nor have I heard of it again, so take that with a grain of salt!
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