Ridecamp: [RC] One Eyed Horses/Runaways!

My horse, Bitsy is blind in her right eye.  Well, not completely.  She, at some point in her life had an injury to it that tore the cornea, iris and a bunch of other stuff in there leaving her with a milky white eye that can't focus or react to light at all.  The vets speculate that she can see some light and dark and some movement and that's about it.  They said because of this, she would actually be more spooky than a horse who was completely blind on one side because she'd be able to see the movement but she wouldn't be able to tell what it was.  Pretty scary for a little Arab/Quarter mare, you would think.
Well, the fact is that she is, in many ways, pretty much bomb proof.  Things that scare other horses leave her yawning.  Plastic bags blowing all around her, loud noises, you name it....  
Once when she was tied next to another horse, that horse's saddle fell off and rolled right under her with the helmet bouncing off against her legs.  The other horse went ballistic.  Bitsy just stood there...ho hum ho hum.  Looked at me like:  Are you gonna pick this stuff up or what??  So in most regards, her eye doesn't seem to bother her.
However:
She HATES ANYTHING coming at her fast!!!  And it doesn't matter which side...left or right.   A dog off leash crashing through the bushes sends her running.  A horse galloping up behind her on the trail sends her scooting forward a good 10/20 feet.  And the worst...which is why I added Runaways to this post is that last week, we were ambling up a switchback with a steep drop off to the left.  Her good side.  I was loose in the saddle, loose in the stirrups and the reins were loose around her neck. We were both very relaxed...just enjoying the beautiful day.  I was in front and I was casually chatting with the person behind me when around a blind corner not 10 feet in front of us came careening at top speed a MOUNTAIN BIKE!!!!!
She spun 180 degrees, pushed past the horse behind me (on a VERY narrow trail) and GALLOPED flat out down the switchback to the bottom of the hill...galloped a bit more and then I finally got her stopped.  The bike was riding illegally in this area and I was completely unprepared.  I will say this...my left hand reflexively had an instant death grip on the pommel that the devil himself couldn't have pried loose with a crowbar!!  My right hand was trying to grab for the reins and I was yelling 'Stop stop' for some weird reason!!  Later, my friend reminded me:  Kath, the word is whoa!!!  Yeah, right..well for some reason stop stop was what came to mind.  
At NO point did I ever think of bailing.  No way!!!   That seems like suicide to me.  Bitsy is very sure footed and staying with her seems the safest option as long as you have the presence of mind to duck when you need to.  When she stopped, she was very proud of herself for having saved us from the horse/woman eating machine!!  Fine with me.  I was really grateful that she had the good sense to stay on the trail rather than opt for the short cut over the edge!  >g<  
I believe this is more a horse thing rather than an eye thing, tho.  

So the bottom line is...one eye so what!  She's a great trail horse and a wonderful companion.  I wouldn't trade her for anything!

But if you feed her some alfalfa or senior then all bets are off.  She goes straight into orbit and the slightest 'boo' makes her jump out of her skin.  But then that's a brain thing, not an eye thing.

Kath