[Liz906]

The new horse i'm taking one is blind in one eye, do you think this should be a problem for me while re-training her ?

[Kicks]

Is she totally blind in that eye? What is the cause of the blindness? Waht are you wanting to do with her?

[Jeblina]

I rode a schooling pony that was blind in one eye. He was an ex-barrel racer, and his blindness didn't affect his performance in that one bit (in fact, I'm sure he could have run a barrel pattern at full speed with no good eyes )

BUUUUT...whenever we did anything new with him, it took a little longer....he didn't have as much confidence and took longer to get used to things. He would be slightly spookier going one direction.

My advice would be to take any retraining of this horse very slowly, and be consistant. Allow him/her to build his confidence with you, and learn to trust you...the half-blindness issue should stop being an 'issue' once he/she gains more confidence in you and his/her job.

Some horses have adapted so well to their half-blindness that it really is not an issue. Even if this is the case, you should still be aware of this when walking by scary things...

Good luck. My experience with riding a half blind horse was one that I will never forget. He was one of the best rides I've ever had. I hope that you find the same

[ridergirlx0x0]

what do you plan on doing with her?

[Liz906]

Thank you, I just really dont want to put her in any distress because of the eye.I plan to work on the basics walk trot then canter, if our relationship is strong enough a may do some ground poles/ small jumps. I think if we build a solid relationship the possibilities for her are endless.
[:

[barefoothooves]

My paint is blind in one eye, has been since age 2, he's 7 now. Does just fine as is. He's not slow to learn anything and doesn't have confidence issues. He's an excellent trail horse and we hop over small jumps easily. I'd say his real disadvantage is that on his blind side I have to actually give a verbal or physical cue when longing him as he can't read my body language, obvioulsy. On the trail, he just turns his head all the way around if he feels he needs a good look. I would absolutely buy another horse regardless of missing only one eye...completely blind might be something to think twice about, but I see some successful blind horses out there, too. It depends on personality for that , I think.