Ok, I saw this ad for a potential barrel horse for sale but it has only one good eye. Now I haven't ridden barrels in many many moons, but it just seems that it would be difficult to run barrels on a horse like that or even train one for that matter!? Anyone care to chime in?
I know a few horses that run barrels and only have one eye, and they do very well actually. They just rely on you more (obviously) to put them where they need to be.
I had a mare a few months back (put down in January due to a losing battle to cancer) who only had vision in one eye and was losing it in the other (not to mention she was just south of sanity), and she did a little better when she started losing her vision because she worked off of my leg cues better.
My main barrel horse only has one good eye! He lost all of his sight in his right eye from a pole bending accident. Not even two months after the accident happend he was running in our state fair. There are challenges at times but nothing that you can't work out. I feel more in tune with him knowing that he relys on me and I pay way more attention to everything we are doing. It has been beneficial for me as the rider as well! He is the best horse I have! Posted via Mobile Device
I ride a pony with one eye. While I can't run barrels with her we do just fine doing anything else. I recently took her for her first road ride and she was fine! Posted via Mobile Device
I know quite a few speed horses that run barrels, poles etc and do very very well. They consistently place in many different events. So absolutely horses can be trained to run, and they shouldn't be discarded because of it.