The Horse | Caring for a Newly Blind Horse

Caring for a Newly Blind Horse

by: Dennis E. Brooks, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVO
April 01 2003, Article # 4258

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Q. We have a 19-year-old Appaloosa gelding that is going blind fast from a genetic disease. He is not coping with it well; he stumbles around, runs into things, leaves the herd, then gets confused and panics. Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated. Amanda

A. Horses which become blind quickly often are very panicky. Horses which lose their sight slowly have time to adjust to their blindness and are therefore less concerned about it.

Blind horses generally do quite well in their home environment. Many can be ridden by experienced riders. I think this Appaloosa just needs a lot of time and patience to adjust to his poor vision. Put him in a stall, then gradually increase the size of his environment.

The question I have is if he is painful in his eyes and not just blind. If he has equine recurrent uveitis (which Appaloosas get), then he could be quite painful and thus not able to relax.

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