Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

My mare bumped her eye on a tree branch, we think, way out in pasture. 
By the time she came close enough and I saw it, probably a few days 
later, the vet said there was nothing to be done, and even if we had 
seen it right away, sometimes there is still nothing to correct the 
damage. Her eye started getting a little cloudy and now it is bright 
blue-- looks like moon blindness but was caused by trauma. Obviously it 
is not contagious.
I have another mare who was leased to a client and she had blockage of 
the tear duct. The vet put in steroid drops, not realizing that she must 
have had a scratch on the eye (perhaps happened during treatment? don't 
know as I wasn't there). When the client gave her back she also had 
clouding which has now turned again to bright blue eye. (Both mares 
manage very well with one eye (as does my mare who was deoculated???( I 
know that's the wrong word but it is as close as I can come without 
looking for my vet manual). There was a champion race horse, champion 
cutting horse and champion jumper, all with one eye. Horses adapt, but I 
think I would be nervous with a one eyed horse on the Tevis :-)
I guess the motto is to be sure it really is moon blindness and not 
something else. One vet said that moon blindness gets progressively more 
painful and eventually the horse has to be put down. Is that true?
Bette

Lysane Cree wrote:

> Two horses at the barn where I board have now
> developed moon blindness. The first one had it very
> mildly and it cleared up with drops. The second horse
> to get it has it really badly. He was diagnosed last
> week and has been treated with drops, but it is not
> working - his eye is completely changed to a milky
> pale blue. Only one eye is affected at the moment.
> The vet said that while it is not contagious between
> horses, it could be something in the water. Leptopiros
> bacteria (??). He also said that there is some
> research that links this bacteria to beavers...there
> are beavers across the road from the barn and we have
> wells, so is it possible it could have travelled
> through the groundwater? 
> I am really worried about my own horse getting this
> disease- would a young horse (2 y.o.) be more
> susceptible? Is this the same bacteria associated with
> Leptospirosis?
>
>
> Lysane
>
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--
Bette Lamore
Whispering Oaks Arabians
Home of 16.2h TLA Halynov
who lives on through his legacy
Hal's Riverdance!
http://www.arabiansporthorse.com

Always remember: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." (George Carlin)




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noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience,
which is the bitterest.
~  Confucius

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