Bind Weanling

Awh, that's true. It seems like dogs go blind a lot more than horses. Maybe I should look up blind dog info.

If you do a forum (or Google) search, lotsa stuff - my girl is blind (well, nearly blind, she has a progressive disease that has progressed to where she's basically blind in one eye and 85-90% blind in the other) and I've made quite a few posts about her story/how I deal with her. :)

This is my all time FAVORITE article on caring for blind horses. I feel like the author covers everything in a really sensible way. It is a long read but such a good one: Blind Horse Care, Training, and Riding

One trick that I came up with (that I spout off to EVERYONE, hahaha) is that I wear my keys on a carabiner attached to a belt loop on my pants (so they jingle whenever I move) whenever I'm around my girl. That way, since words are what I use to communicate her world to her, she knows where I am at all times and my words still have meaning (unlike the common advice of talking to the horse all the time - I kinda feel like that encourages the horse to "tune out" and then where are you when you're saying a word with actual importance like "up" to get her in the trailer, or whatever).
It works great for us. It took her all of 15 minutes to figure out that keys=Wallaby and now, if I forget my keys or have them in my pocket, she is a whole lot more nervous about where I am (acts like I've disappeared).
I've also found that touch is SO important to my girl. She loves to stand together, gently touching me. It makes sense though - touch means I'm right there with her and she doesn't have to think about where I am or what I'm doing. Along with that though, just remember that since a blind horse cannot see you, you can't expect the horse to stay out of your space like you would expect of a seeing horse. I actually had a lady (someone who THOUGHT they knew better, of course) slap my girl in the face because she "got too close." Oh, tell me more about how my horse, who can't see you, got too close? How does that work again? Anyway, just lay down reasonable rules that are understanding towards sight impairment. Make sure you don't baby this baby because he's blind but take the blindness into account. :)

Feel free to pm me with any questions you have!
I love having a blind horse. The relationship is just so much deeper and on a different level than one has with a sighted horse. Both are great, of course, but there's something wonderful about a blind horse, imo.

My trainer and I were talking about this the other day but a horse that is born blind can actully turn out better when a horse that goes blind later in life. When foals are born blind or in your baby's case at such a young age the don't know that the world isn't a dark place they don't realize there is any other way to life. They don't have a long adjustment period because they learn to grow up blind and don't have to learn a new way to live. You can expect a blind foal to grow up to be a spunky, fun, curious, and energetic horse who has no idea of its limitations.

Wallaby- thank you so much for replying. I probably will pm you. How long have you had your horse? When did she start to go blind? Do you ride her? How does she react in scary situations since she can't see. That's my biggest fear. She is a well bred quarter horse and I would like to do some showing with her. But I'm afraid that bringing her into unknown situations wouldn't be fair to her. What are your thoughts on showing a blind horse?

I read that entire website like three times. It has some really great information! There are definitely things that you never think about- like I was leading her and I stopped but she didn't and she ran right into me. I felt so bad because it was totally my fault! It would definitely be a tough for both of us. But it seems that owners of blind horses do seem to have a very special bond :)

And I'll definitely try to find more on your stories :) thanks!

Anytime! :) I remember being in shoes similar to yours and it was really scary!
I've had my girl for 4 years as of last July. She was 23 when she was given to me and she's about to turn 28 in February. :)
From what I can tell, she's always had some vision loss in the time I've had her - her previous owners conveniently "forgot" to tell me anything about her medical history before they, of course, disappeared off the face of the earth! However, I had no idea that she had any vision loss until last April - I had wondered but she did well enough that I figured I was just being overprotective. Then last April she had a very severe flare up (she has a disease called "Equine Recurrent Uvietis" or "Moon Blindness") and, in less than two days, had gone from functionally sighted to mostly blind, and ended up being diagnosed with ERU. That was such a scary time for both of us. Thankfully we already had a strong bond which I really think helped. There was still a pretty intense transition period but, as far as transition periods go, it could have been much worse.
I did ride her quite regularly up until she tore a suspensory playing in her pasture this last fall (one of the risks you run with a blind horse - they are more likely to twist or pull something) and I have high hopes to be back riding her this spring/early summer if her leg holds up (she's currently sound but I'm giving it time to heal as much as possible).
She does have difficulty with arena work (we trail ride/rode) but I think that's more of a personality thing as well as a lack of knowledge on my part thing (she relies on me A LOT for balancing cues and I find it much easier to focus on those things going down the trail vs in a static environment for some reason). I've heard really amazing stories of people with blind horses getting involved in things like dressage and doing really amazing stuff. Riding a blind horse is very different than riding a sighted horse - it's like you're becoming a centaur for however long you're riding since you're the eyes and the horse is the body/movement. After riding a blind horse for so long, whenever I get the chance to ride sighted ones I have the hardest time not manhandling the whole ride like I would have to with Lacey! But once I relax, I always realize how much easier it is (but less fun - less connected somehow)! Hahaha

As far as showing goes, that depends on her relationship with you - I think. My girl, I'm all the time riding her through neighborhoods, behind garbage trucks, around dogs barking behind fences, kids screaming, etc and she could care less. BUT she knows that I'm watching out for her and taking care of the "issues". If I put an inexperienced rider on her and ask her to take on those same challenges, she'd absolutely refuse. She's actually the most bombproof horse I've ever had the chance to meet and most of that is just because if I stay cool, she stays cool. It doesn't matter what is going on, as long as I act like I could care less. If I get excited though...not a good idea.
But yeah, give showing a try! I would not be surprised if she was fantastic at it. Just go slow, introduce her to everything, stay laid back, build a strong bond first, and you'll do fine. I think with seeing horses, the big thing is the change in locale but for a blind horse, the location doesn't so much matter as much as YOU do. You are going to end up being her "guide human" so how you approach the world is how she'll approach the world.

Aw, that's such a cute story, I've had the same thing happen. Haha She's lucky to have someone so invested in her. You sound like the perfect owner for her. :)

There are things you have to think of with a blind horse that are really common sense but don't occur to you if you've never dealt with one. My saddlebred went blind a few years ago and it was a very difficult transition for him. The biggest thing I found to calm him was to hum or sing ALL the time. That way they know exactly where you are all the time. You CAN just keep up a constant stream of talk around them, but then you end up confusing them if you want to use voice commands. So I hum. When you are leading them, they are much more comfortable with no slack left in the lead. Whereas a normal horse does better with a loose line. The blind horse relies on you for direction, so having the slack out of the line gives them confidence that you are there. And never never forget and let yourself get in front of them when leading. Its a great way to get walked on or knocked down. I have taught mine things like "halter", "blanket", "up" for if he needs to step up a hill or over something, and "easy" if I want him to be careful where he's putting his feet. Always touch him first before you try to do anything to him, so that he knows its you, and not another horse or a predator sneaking up on him.

Actually though, I had an easier time retraining my boy to ride after he went blind than I did the first time around. He was extremely reactive and spooky when he could see, very much a "flight" animal. After he went blind, he had to start thinking before he could react. If he just took off running he could get hurt, so it forced him to hold his ground and think first. Just take it slow, build your trust in each other, and things will be fine.

Here is a pic of her as a baby.



And here she is now. She's about 6 months old. :)

I've heard of pouring gravel around the fenceline so she knows when she is approaching a fence in a pasture.
Posted via Mobile Device

I have no experience with any blind horses, but I wanted to commend you for taking this on. You sound very willing to learn and be patient with her which I think is very important. Good luck with her!

Do you know why she is blind? Cataracts or something like that? Some things can be fixed if done early enough, too late & even if a problem is fixed the brain won't adapt.

I worry about what she will go through when you're not around, anxiety, that kind of thing.