BLUE EYES AND SIGHT PROBLEMS?

Can someone tell me if horses with blue eyes have more trouble seeing? I have a mini that has white blue eyes and he is very stand offish when you come up on him. Once you are touching him he's fine. Can this be a sight problem or is he just being attitudal with us?

I found this little article.... hope it helps

I'm looking at a Quarter Horse cross who is about 12 years old and appears to be perfectly healthy. My only concern is that he has two blue eyes. I have not had a pre-purchase vet exam done yet due to the vet's busy schedule, but was wondering if there is possibly a vision problem with a horse that has two blue eyes.

Loni

If this horse was born with irises that are blue, there is no specific ocular reason not to purchase this horse. Horses with light-colored irises are not at an increased risk for eye disease or injury, and are thought to have normal vision. However, some horses, especially if they have no pigment in the back of the eye (ocular fundus), might squint (blepharospasm) mildly in bright sunlight. I would recommend that you have your veterinarian check the eyes carefully to ensure that there are no ocular diseases present to explain the blue irises (i.e., chronic uveitis) and that the eyes are healthy.[/quote]

I know cats with blue eyes can have sight problems.

Hi there, I have a horse with two blue eyes now, and have had 4 others with blue eyes, we have never had a problem with there sight.

Thanks. I guess he's just being stand-offish with us then. Must be either a stallion or a male thing.

Actually, cats with blue eyes have been known to have HEARING problems. Even cat's with one normal and one blue eye are known to be deaf in the ear of the blue side.

Cats with blue eyes and white coats actually are the key- the melanocytes never migrate from the neural crest. These are the cells that later become pigment cells and critical cells in the ear for hearing. Alpacas have similar coat color genetics but blue eyes and white coats don't ALWAYS mean they are deaf.

Back on the subject of the op though, just because it isn't a genetic problem doesn't mean he isn't having vision issues. If he seems to bump into things or shy at shadows I might still have him examined just to make sure he does have proper vision.

No it's just a horse thing. You shouldn't make excuses for your horse. Some horse like people some could care less. The more you do with your horse the less standoffish he will be. Don't blame the gender.

kevin, since she mentions that once she lays hands on him he is fine, I think there might be more at work here than just a horse who doesn't like people. To a degree I agree with you on not handling different gendered horses differently, but there is too much biology there to completely disregard. Especially with a stud. The thousands of years of evolution which created horses to act different and have different behaviors (or, if you prefer, the way god made them behave so that the herd would survive...) that fit their different roles in the herd to ensure their survival don't just go away with a few hundred years of human domestication, *especially* if they are intact.

I have never heard of a blue eyed horse having sight problems in the day unless there was some other problem with their eyes than the color.

I don't know how true this is but I have heard that blue eyed horses are prone to night-blindness though.