I’d never purposely buy one that already had uveitis. My first horse developed it (yes she was an appy). It progressed very slowly and did eventually affect her healthy eye. She wasn’t a spooky horse but when she have flare ups, she would act very “herd boundish”. You can stay on top of treatments to minimize pain, which I did but it costs a pretty penny.
Only if I was doing it to be sure he got proper treatment and care until the end of his days and if I was looking for a way to spend my money and break my heart.
While I also would not recommend buying a horse with uveitis, I am a little surprised by all the people recommending euthanasia for horses with the condition…my appy fewspot mare (now 16) was diagnosed at age 3. After a few flare-ups in her earlier years, we put her on MSM and she never goes outside without a Guardian mask (winter due to snow glare) or fly mask (summers when she isn’t having a flare up). She hasn’t had a flare up in several years. A friend of mine who breeds appy sporthorses also has dealt successfully with several cases of it (by successful I mean minimized the number of flare ups and maximizing horse comfort by being super vigilant). While it is a labor-intensive condition to manage (eye ointment multiple times a day during a flare and no turnout without masks ever means cleaning masks year-round), I don’t consider it a death sentence for every horse.
I also don’t see the huge expense, not compared to some of the other issues horse owners have to deal with (ie. joint injections, meds like Prascend, full ulcer treatment and ongoing management). The biggest expense is having the vet come stain the eye at the beginning of the flare-up to ensure no abrasions so that the steroid ointment can be safely used. Also, I can say that a lot of vets aren’t well-versed in the diagnosis/treatment of eye issues.
OP, the owner of this horse really needs to ensure that the horse is placed with someone who is willing to manage the condition, not merely “sold” (and I suspect he’ll have a hard time selling said horse anyway). I feel sorry for this horse because of his uncertain future (and the horse should always wear a mask, not just during flares). Just my .02.
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I would not take the horse, having already lived through having one horse with uveitis. If he was just blind in one eye and wasn’t still having attacks in the good eye, then I’d say he’d be fine. One-eyed horses do great at pretty much any discipline. However, with continuing attacks, it’s a huge management issue, and chances are he’s heading towards blindness in that eye, too. It took several years for mine to progress from being blind in one eye to two, but I wouldn’t willingly go through all that again.
[QUOTE=Ghazzu;7477201]
I wouldn’t take it if it came with a bank account.[/QUOTE]
Me neither. No known eye issues for me. Too heartbreaking.
I know this is an old thread but it’s helpful.
My daughter has an 18 year old warmblood/paint cross mare that we’ve had for 12 years. A sweetheart of a horse.
We used to have a farm and our horses at home but the kids grew up and we moved my daughters elderly pony and this mare to a great boarding facility when we moved to the city. Its about 40 minutes each way to get there.
But the best place we could find so we could finally travel and not be tied down.
Our daughter is now in law school, and just has no time for the mare so we started looking for a new home for her. Very nice mare, athletic, trained up to third level in dressage and a handy jumper but out of work other than pleasure since daughter started college several years ago.
We thought we’d found a great place.
And then she got a corneal ulcer that wouldn’t heal. After two months it’s finally healed but we also got a diagnosis of bilateral endotheliitis and recurrent uveitis. Both have extremely discouraging prognosises though the endotheliitis is the worst. Either way, she will eventually go blind.
The boarding stable, bless their hearts have been amazing in administering five different medications staggered, for the last couple of months. But it’s not something they really want to do long term. Best case scenario is twice yearly eye specialist appointments and 20 bucks a month for daily maintenance diclofenac.
And…about six grand for surgical implants. Which have no guarantees.
This plus board, all of the ancillary costs is A lot for an unused horse,
The absolute last thing I want is for her to end up in a bad place. And we all know how frequently it happens, even with a well meaning person. Horses are expensive and this one more than others. She also has a chronic diarrhea condition that requires daily sand clear as a supplement. I do t want her in pain in someone’s pasture because her eye conditions are too much.
I am leaning toward euthanasia because I don’t want to pass on our problem and expect someone else to deal with something I don’t want to deal with. And no one seems interested anyway and I have put the word out. I, myself wouldn’t want a free horse however nice with these conditions.
I guess im just looking for confirmation on a very hard decision.
Sorry if bringing up old threads is a bad thing.
