[Fallon]

Here's the deal. I have this yearling filly that I've had about 7 months (since immediately after weaning). She's purebred arabian, bay but is going grey.

When she was delivered I checked her out really well, I remember talking about her nice big brown eyes and how 'nice' they were.

Yesterday I ended up getting up close and personal (a little too up close and personal lol) with this filly. I happened to notice that her eyes are slightly blue.

I asked my two friends that were here to look and see if they saw it, they did and of course said to get her tested to see if she has vision problems.

She has not been injured since she's been here and the breeder says, she wasn't injured there.

So, it was suggested that I test her to see if it's congenital (sp?). Anybody know what that test is called and who would do those tests? US Davis?

I will have the vet out to take a look, but that brings me to the next question. (The vet has not called me back yet and probably won't until tomorrow- just getting some info). Would it be better to take her to the clinic?

Has anybody had this sort of thing happen before? What exactly will they do to check her vision?

I've never had a horses' eyes turn blue, born blue yes, but not turn blue (unless they were like 25 + years). So, I'm kind of at a loss here. Any ideas or help would be appreciated.

[Native Winds]

Are you talking about the iris itself turning blue?

If not then...Is the eye runny, have pus coming from it, is a cloudy bluish white colour in the anterior chamber (normal fluid behind the cornea turing blu white?) Is it centralized or generalized? Do you see an icrease of blood vessels forming in the Sclera and around parts of the eye itself? White spots on the eye it self? Third eye lid protruding? White spots with red veins going through it?

Now mind you that in some horses the eye may not be extremely dark and can have various hues to the colour brown. Some may be a greyish brown, drk brown, black brown, and etc. When the sun or light hits the eye it gives off a very light blue hue. Its caused by the reflextion of the tear film. It is not that easy to see but I have seen it before in your light brown eyes and I have even asked the Vet about it a few years ago.

If the blue is prominent and is cloudy (esp is its cloudy) or if you see fluid pooling at the bottom of the eye itself and etc. I would have the Vet out or take the horse to the clnic. There might be a slight infection in the corneal fluids, corneal edema and etc. If the Vet feels that its an infection he can give you ointment designed for the eye.

[Fallon]

There's no fluid coming out of the eyes. It looks more ice blue (cloudy) or white towards the center than darker blue towards the outer parts of the blue area.

It's hard to explain but when looking at the eye itself, the outer part of the eye is brown, the blue areas are more in the center (kind of off center) surrounded by brown. It's in both eyes but not exactly the same spot in each eye. Does that make any sense?

I didn't notice any increase in blood vessels or the third eye lid sticking out or anything like that. I couldn't tell you about the fluid behind the cornea, she's pretty much half wild and is a bit hard to handle, so a real close up exam was not possible. Under sedation it would be but with us just holding her out in the pasture trying to angle her face to get a good look was just not happening.

The eye looks the same as it always has except that it is now turning blue. They were a deep brown when I got her. They look healthy, when looking at them, but are just changing color.

I will have the vet examine her but I was looking for information in the meantime.

[Fallon]

Oh forgot to say that the color of the eyes looks the same in a dark stall and in the pasture on a slightly over cast day. You can still see the blue in either situation.

[Native Winds]

Originally Posted by Fallon

Oh forgot to say that the color of the eyes looks the same in a dark stall and in the pasture on a slightly over cast day. You can still see the blue in either situation.

What about the parents? What colour are thier eyes? I know one of them had to be grey since JR is turning grey. It might very well be an aninomily and perfectly harmless.

Whats the chance you can get a picture with the oddity showing?

[Goonhorse]

My friend has two ponies with eyes that have a hint of navy blue in them--they were born that way. I believe Arabs can have blue eyes.

Does she have any white on her?

[Apanac]

Sorry if someone mentioned this, but I didn't read what few comments there were. Too lazy. Anyway, when I noticed my filly (her sire went blind) getting this I just brought my finger close to her eyes, brought it closer and closer until I got near her eye. She didn't close her lid until I bumped a whisker on one side, but on the other she blinked way before I got to a whisker. So I called the vet out, he knocked her out, gave her a shot, and she sees!

So I'd do that little test first. If you notice it I don't think it should hurt to wait. We waited until the next day (maybe the day after) for him to come out and all was good. And this was with our crappy cow doctor who hated horses.

Forgot to mention, all my horses have a slight blue tint to their eyes. I don't notice it until I get up close, but I notice it. If it's cloudy though I'd defiantly get it checked.

[Native Winds]

I just brought my finger close to her eyes, brought it closer and closer until I got near her eye. She didn't close her lid until I bumped a whisker on one side, but on the other she blinked way before I got to a whisker.

That is the "menace" test. When doing the menacing test you will want to be sure that the horse does not see the hand movement. The hand motion sould not be so much to cause air current from you hand going by the eye. It also should not touch the eye wiskers and lashes. The menacing hand should be up and move toward the eye from a diagonal between the facial bkone and the cheek. If the horse does not react or reacts slow then he/she may have a partialblind spot or total imparment. Vets usualy do more thorough test to get to the root of the problem.

Here is an inserpt from one of my "eyeball" books. "............The majority of horses have a brown iris but occasionally you will see a horse with a bluish/white or even greenish-coloured iris. This is a normal but somewhat rare variation and does not affect the horse's vision. As with the walleyed horse the horse with the unusually coloured iris gets a bad rap as some horse ppl equate it with poor performance, poor health, and or predispostiion to eye preoblems. But this is not the case......Equine eye pg 79
If that was true there would be alot of blind horses out there. Blue eyed horses see just as well.