This is how I decide too. Red tissue around the eye I’ll flush out with a saline solution several times that day and if it improves overnight then its done. If it’s around on Day 2 the vet comes out.
If it’s the eyeball itself the vet is phoned same day.
My prrevious horse had recurring eye and around the eye issues! He hated flies or even just being itchy and would bash his head into things. He scratched the cornea or each eye more than once in spite of our best use of fly masks, fly wipe, etc.
After several visits, the vet and I worked out a system. She left me banamine, antibiotic ointment and steroid drops.(I was not to use the streoid without her okay!) By this point I could recognize when he was swollen around the eye and when it appeared to actually be his eye that was the problem. So if he was swollen, but the eye itself didnt look too bad, I would first cold pack the area (he liked this!) Then I could get a better look at the eye and could call the vet to give her a heads up. (pre cell phone days!) She would tell me to give banamine and use the antibiotic ointment just in case. In a few hours the swelling should be mostly gone and the eye looked and functioned normally. If not she would come out to stain. The only time the system failed was when the banamine was old. He didnt improve as expected so she came out and found no scratch - just ineffective banamine!
One of mine has an old eye injury that causes trouble on a recurring basis. I know what the “normal” issues look like and am comfortable treating them on my own. I can easily recognize when it’s not responding as it should, or if it’s an abnormal issue - for either of which I call the vet.
Last time I dealt with an eye thing, BO insisted horse just banged his eye and I was overreacting (normal for me, I guess I do overreact with horsie things) BO also thought I was a nutso for blanketing my California horse in the winters up here. I have the horses at home now.
Anyways I flushed his eye out… ending up digging out a piece of cheet grass… he now has a partly cloudy eye. Unbothered by it but I’m still upset like two years later haha.
I’m a little late to the party on this topic but I searched for this as I recently took my horse in for eye swelling and I’m also not sure if I could have treated it at home rather than going to vet. This is all very good to read but I have some dumb questions.
Can you see an eye ulcer? How do you know if the “eye looks good”? So I’m assuming for the eye; if no discoloration, no flecks, pupil looks normal, then proceed with home treatment for 12-24 hours? I’ve just never seen an actual eye issue before, just wondering if they are easy to notice/see.
As for any goop or drainage, ok if clear? But if it has color assume infection?
Sometimes you can see them if they are large, but a small one or a scratch would be very hard to see. You don’t want the scratch to turn into an ulcer so that’s the reason for calling the vet out right away… In your case it’s a good thing you got the vet involved.
That said… I’m so experienced with eye issues I don’t usually do a farm call except for when my gelding was kicked in the face a few years ago. I call my vet, he gives me the meds. I ALWAYS ALWAYS treat as if it’s a scratch (banamine, non steroid ointment). Never will I put a steroid in the eye unless I know for sure there is no scratch or ulcer via stain. This has worked for me, but I also know when I’m out of my depth and will call the vet if that’s the case.
Sometimes you can see them if they are large, but a small one or a scratch would be very hard to see. You don’t want the scratch to turn into an ulcer so that’s the reason for calling the vet out right away… In your case it’s a good thing you got the vet involved.
That said… I’m so experienced with eye issues I don’t usually do a farm call except for when my gelding was kicked in the face a few years ago. I call my vet, he gives me the meds. I ALWAYS ALWAYS treat as if it’s a scratch (banamine, non steroid ointment). Never will I put a steroid in the eye unless I know for sure there is no scratch or ulcer via stain. This has worked for me, but I also know when I’m out of my depth and will call the vet if that’s the case.
I sent you a pm… for some reason my reply to you keeps getting flagged as spam 
Got it, thanks!
Eyes = emergency. I’ve never seen a swollen/puffy eye without any sort of tearing. I take a picture and send it to my vet. The picture needs to be almost straight on, so she can see the angle of the upper eye lashes. Generally, if the lashes are pointing out (normal), she doesn’t come out. If the lashes are pointing down, she comes out. I let her make the decision though.
This is very interesting, in all my years of horse ownership I never knew this.
I tend to be very proactive when it comes to eyes, as others have said, it can get bad really fast.
A mare I had years ago had a scratched cornea that I couldn’t treat even with help, so the vet took her to his clinic, put a catheter in so I could inject her meds in the tube by her withers. That made it so much easier!! And it wasn’t even that expensive.
My current mare has had a puffy eye twice over the many years we’ve been together, with clear tears. Both times, I just decided to wait the night and see how it looked in the morning. Both times, her eye looked fine in the morning. Had it not been my mare I would have called the vet.
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