Would you buy a horse with uveitis?

[Ridinwyoming]

Found out last night my gelding’s pasture buddy is for sale. He is a sweet appaloosa in his late teens and he has uveitis in one eye and is blind in that eye.

The horse is being used by the BO for beginner lessons and trail riding. The BO is a good friend and says he gets around great and you would never know he was blind in one eye. He wears a fly mask during flare ups. I’ve been looking for a companion for my gelding and these two get along great.

I would definately have my vet take a look at him before deciding to buy him. I know nothing about uveitis and looking for some COTH advice on if I should take on a horse with this condition?

[Highflyer]

No. I would not have one as a gift, no matter how nice it was.

[Hollywood]

After personally experiencing the heartache and frustration of my heart horse having uveitis, no I would never willingly buy (or take a freebie) with uveitis.

[wsmoak]

Keep in mind that the BO is probably there most of the time and can easily check the eye, medicate, change fly masks, or whatever needs doing.

If you have a job or other responsibilities and only go to the barn once a day, it becomes much more difficult to keep on top of the situation.

No, I wouldn’t buy one with uveitis and would think long and hard before even accepting one as a free companion horse.

[AnotherRound]

Ditto. Having had one, the care was worrisome, and th ehorse was blind in the one eye. There was always an instant possibility the virus would flare up in the second eye. Although he could be ridden and was very safe, it was expensive and painful for the horse with every flare up, having to have his nerve blocked, atropine administered to dilate the pupil, confine th ehorse and shield from sun. It is basically like having herpes in your eye, or on the optic nerve, and is very painful and contagious.

No would not knowingly purchase one.

[Dressage_Fancy]

No. It will progress to total blindness. I have known people with uveitis horses. It is never good. One friend had her’s mares affacted eye removed in hope of keeping the uveitis from traveling to the other healthy eye. Two years later the healthy eye also became affected.

[onthebit]

No, no matter how nice the horse I wouldn’t take one for free that had uveitis, much less pay for one. NO.

[draftdriver]

No. I have lost two to recurrent uveitis. It is heartbreaking.

[Kanza]

No, never. I bought a horse with uveitis and had only a poor understanding of the disease. I now, unfortunately, have had an excellent education on it. I lost him last fall and would never buy another.

[Fenfox1]

Nope

[HenryisBlaisin]

Would I buy one? No. Would I take a freebie? Maybe. I adopted my mare from a rescue last summer, and have not regretted it for one second. Yes, it takes vigilance, and treating flares in no fun, but if you are very observant and catch them early, they can be minimized. I’ve had great luck in reducing flares with daily aspirin, MSM, and devil’s claw and by keeping her in a fly mask whenever she is outside. When she does flare, she’s treated right away with Banamine (aspirin must be stopped while giving this) and an eye ointment with dex that I get from my vet for about $17 a tube, which lasts a week or so, so not terribly expensive. So far,that’s taken care of it, but like I said, I’m very vigilant and check her eyes closely at least twice a day.

Flower is completely blind in one eye and has limited vision in the other. She rides beautifully in the arena and on trails, though I don’t trail ride her alone. In the arena, she’s a bit hesitant when her blind side is on the rail, but as soon as she realizes you’re not going to ride her into it, she’s fine. She’s not spooky, even when she does occasionally run into things. My gelding is very devoted to her and lets her follow him around, but she can also get along without him. My vet feels she will do just fine when she is completely blind.

She is one of the best lesson horses on the farm. She is kind and forgiving (if a little mareish sometimes) and the kids love her. She placed above a lot of fully sighted horses in the 4-H show we took her to–the judges couldn’t believe she’s mostly blind. I wouldn’t trade her for most sighted horses-she’s a wonderful lesson horse and beautifully trained.

All that said, I spoke at length with my vet before making the decision to get her. He felt that many totally blind horses do just fine and that she would do very well with me, and he was right. But he also said that he wouldn’t recommend taking a ERU horse to most horse owners because it’s labor intensive and requires extreme vigilance. But before you run away screaming, have an in-depth talk with your vet and ask him to lay out everything you’d have to know and do, and the cost of the various treatments, including cyclosporine pump implants-those could keep his good eye good for a long time if he’s a candidate, but they are expensive.

[Guilherme]

No. You’re not getting horse you’re getting a vet. bill.

G.

[alto]

[QUOTE=Ridinwyoming;7476789]
appaloosa

uveitis [/QUOTE]

Do the research, there is a genetic correlation - uveitis is painful, may be difficult/expensive to treat … if horse requires surgery or loses sight completely, are you able to manage …

[Roxyllsk]

Never.

My first horse went blind with uveitis, and he dealt with it quite well. But
I had to keep on top of the treatment and when he had the flare ups it
was quite painful.

My current horse has uveitis because she got leptospirosis. She is blind in
one eye and the other eye has not been effected yet but it will be. She’s on
daily previcox to try and keep the inflamation away as long as possible. She is
20 and has a little arthritis but is still very much willing and able to work. She
will not deal with loosing sight in her other eye well, she has always been very
reactive and explosive. So far she’s fine, but I will have to euth when that starts to happen.

It is progressive and there is no cure, and it can be painful even with the best
maintenance program. I would never knowingly take on a horse with this condition.

[rcloisonne]

[QUOTE=Roxyllsk;7476994]
It is progressive and there is no cure, and it can be painful even with the best maintenance program. I would never knowingly take on a horse with this condition.[/QUOTE]
Neither would I. If fact, if one of my current horses ever develops ERU, I will have it put down without hesitation. The disease is:

1. very difficult to manage
2. there is no cure
3. progressive (many also develop chronic corneal ulcerations so no dex)
4. physically very painful for the horse
5. emotionally painful for the owner (never knowing what you’ll find when you get to the barn in the morning no matter how vigilant you’ve been).
6. round-the-clock care during a flare, especially if corneal ulcers are present.
7. lots of money on vet visits, banamine, implants and specialists who, in the end, can’t fix it.

Nope, wouldn’t have another ERU horse even if someone paid ME.

[Ghazzu]

I wouldn’t take it if it came with a bank account.

[Kadenz]

[QUOTE=rcloisonne;7477185]
Neither would I. If fact, if one of my current horses ever develops ERU, I will have it put down without hesitation. The disease is:

1. very difficult to manage
2. there is no cure
3. progressive (many also develop chronic corneal ulcerations so no dex)
4. physically very painful for the horse
5. emotionally painful for the owner (never knowing what you’ll find when you get to the barn in the morning no matter how vigilant you’ve been).
6. round-the-clock care during a flare, especially if corneal ulcers are present.
7. lots of money on vet visits, banamine, implants and specialists who, in the end, can’t fix it.

Nope, wouldn’t have another ERU horse even if someone paid ME.[/QUOTE]

All of this. I took a horse with uveitis, and while he was amazing and I loved him dearly and he made a lot of my dreams come true, it was heartbreaking to watch him lose his eyesight. It’s terribly painful, flares up at a moment’s notice, etc. It’s a condition I will NEVER knowingly buy a horse with, ever again.

[Ahmarezing]

I just want to put in my own little experience:

My employer owns and runs a breeding farm, but she also buys a number of horses of the same breed for her own pleasure. She bought this one gelding after her previous favorite gelding passed away a few years before. This new gelding, Soro, has uveitis. At first she thought it wasn’t a problem mostly because she didn’t realize how serious it was.
Now he’s gone through months of agonizing pain (he gets consistent headaches from it that she didn’t know about–with horses they can’t really tell you that they have a headache). She’s had to put globs of meds from a tube in his eye, as well as eye-drops. The poor thing has had everything pushed into his eye. He looks miserable! He had to be put up in the stall for a while so that the eye could go through more treatment and be dilated. Now, after all this attempted treatment, he needs to have the eye removed anyway. Not only was all this extremely costly, it was painful for the horse and the attached human!

I wouldn’t recommend it, just by watching what’s happened with my boss’s horse.

[LauraKY]

No, I had a boarder one summer with uveitis. She had a couple of flare-ups while she was here. Poor old thing, I still wish I had recommended they put her down.

[stb]

Nope. I leased a very lovely gelding with uveitis who was completely blind in one eye. The “good” eye required constant care and had several flares during the six months I leased him. He abruptly lost sight in his good eye (glaucoma and a detached retina) and the decision was made to put him down. He was very painful and frightened at the end. It was heartbreaking.