[FutureVetGirl]

Up until recently... I had never heard of it. Though I can understand how it happens.

Pretty much I'm talking about foals that have their eye poked, or bashed somehow, and end up blind in that eye.

I had heard of it several days ago, with one ad that someone posted on here a while back, about a sorrel colt who was blind in one eye. And then, yesterday, I was browsing through the barns while waiting for my dad to pick me up, and I stopped at the stall of one of this year's foals. His left side was perfectly fine. Ultra cute. He had a great personality. His mom wasn't too happy about him being in front of her, so she pushed him away, allowing me to see his right side. His face was completely clean, but then you could see what appears to be a third eyelid over his eye. On closer examination, you could see that the eyeball was crushed. I'm still unsure if the pink was a third eyelid or whether it was tissue underneath the eyeball. It was completely clean, so apparently the owners knew about it, and are caring for it.

What do you do in circumstances like this? Can the horse be trained normally? Or what?

The foal is VERY sweet, and loves to be rubbed and pet. He has the cutest body, and some of the best conformation I've seen in a foal. But he is blind in one eye. How could this have happened? What would you do if you were in the owner's shoes?

[Deb]

Wow!! Not sure what happened. But, at least he is young enough to adjust to only having sight in one eye.

[FutureVetGirl]

yeah. I have no idea what happened either. It scared me the first time I saw it. But now I think it's kind of growing on me.

[4horsem0m]

Yep, they can be trained just like any other horse. Our 4-H leader has a filly that is missing an eye, not just blind, but the eye was poked and has atrophied. She get along just fine. She is going on three and ready to be started.

[Preppy_Ponies]

I'm not sure what was going on with that foal but it doesn't sound so good.

As for the general blind question. Yes some horses can be born blind. A good friend of mine has a filly that was born blind due to cataracts. She is a great little filly. Totally in your pocket and does all the stuff a normal 2 year old would be doing. And when she's old enough she'll be ridden and eventually be a solid all-arounder. Recently they've been showing in halter and doing great. Here's a few threads about Rosie:
Rescue Horse takes daily grand champion in halter div.!
Rosie's first show
It's Official! :D

[FutureVetGirl]

I'm almost positive that what happened was that either he was in the stall or out on the field. This is the mom who sometimes pushes her foals around, so if it was in the stall, it could be that he was pushed up against the wall, hitting a corner (there is a slight corner where the stall door meets the rest of the stall), and having it happen that way.

Or if he was out in the field, he might have gone to sniff something, got too close to something dangerous (they were doing construction a couple weeks ago on something close to the field), and hit it. Or it could have been something with the fencing.

There are a ton of ways that a horse can get hurt. All I know is that it's being cared for.

[amo_i_cavalli]

Training a 1/2 blind horse can be difficult. You have to make sure they understand to stay out of "your space" because when scared they can crash into you.When it happens as a baby it is much easier. Some horses prefer you to either lead them on their blind or sighted side. I halterbroke a pony that always wanted me on her blind side.

[stephanie]

Originally Posted by amo_i_cavalli

Training a 1/2 blind horse can be difficult. You have to make sure they understand to stay out of "your space" because when scared they can crash into you.When it happens as a baby it is much easier. Some horses prefer you to either lead them on their blind or sighted side. I halterbroke a pony that always wanted me on her blind side.

As long as you take your time and are listening to your horses needs, it is not all that difficult. Zephyr and I had an awful accident when he was 10 that left him blind in his left eye (no going into what happened to me). I was told that if I was lucky I could turn him into a dressage prospect. He had a few months of doing nothing because no one else would touch him except to clean his stall and feed him (one other person who thankfully was there a lot would turn him out). Once I was able to come back to the barn I started working on gaining his trust back starting by entering his stall. A year later I had the eventing pony I always wanted

[roxyroller91]

There is a half blind stallion at the barn I work. He is absolutely beautiful, when he was born his mom gave birth standing up. She swung around and he hit his head against the wall. We figure thats why.

He is being trained now. it has been a long hard process, but he is doing very well. No one will be getting on his back for probably another year, but he is doing very well.

[Rumonek]

One of my friends has a horse she leases to children for lessons and it doesn't have any eyes! Just the sockets... and they are furry. It's a black pinto and she has a mostly white face except for her sockets- they're black! Creepy lookin, but she's a great pony!