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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1053
 
Location: Arizona | My daughter was given a 2yo aqha colt off the track who was born with a deformity in his right eye which he is mostly blind in if not completely. We plan to rope on him but wonder how easy/difficult it would be to run barrels. Anyone ever started or ran a horse that is blind in one eye and have advice? |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 599
| My college roommate did!! She college rodeoed on her. She always outran me! |
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  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
 
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | Â Frenchmans Guy ran with one eye |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 673
Location: Where it isn’t cold! | Flitastics Mom went to the NFR on a horse with one eye. His name was Lee Rider. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| Shorty 2 - 2018-07-21 11:04 AM
Flitastics Mom went to the NFR on a horse with one eye. His name was Lee Rider.
I was just going to post that! You beat me to it! And yes she did. Just as you describe! Didn’t bother him one bit. He was blind In his left eye and she ran him left so he only had one blind turn. He just really listened to you on first barrel. When you sat and said whoa, he turned. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2532
Location: the land of dust & sticks | They need a lot of trust and confidence in you to begin with. Never trained one for barrels but had one with severe infected ulcer and he lost vision for a few weeks. I wanted to longe him some to get him out of stall and at first he wouldn’t go to the blind side but with time, patience, and guidance he learned to do so and learned that I wouldn’t let him get hurt. I even had to haul him to overnight shows with me to doctor. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 883
Location: Southern Indiana | Mine was already seasoned, but my mare went blind last year and I’m getting ready to have that eye removed. She’s never missed a beat. I continued to run her to the right, even though she is blind on the left side. I figured why confuse her when she already knows that direction?! She was actually a bad ducker to the left prior (she did have vision then) and I had just got her lined back out when she developed uveitis. She’s a fun, consistent 3D check puller now.
I think they listen to you and rely on the other eye a lot. Horses have incredible senses. She rides no different, but I notice she’s a bit more sensitive to sounds than she used to be. So a colt may be spookier and I’d say starting out the horse will need a little more help pick up the turn on that side at first. Other than that I don’t see (no pun intended:) how it will be an issue. Some horses probably adapt better than others. If he’s been that way all his life he’s probably use to it.
I would locate an ophthalmologist and get that eye checked every now and then to make sure he doesn’t develop any other problems. Eye issues are serious! Get the good eye checked too! |
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 Popped
Posts: 20421
Location: LuluLand~along I64 Indiana | mine was born with only one eye and never knew the difference. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| I’ve known a couple personally, got along just fine - and was mentioned Frenchman’s Guy was blind in one eye.
Since he’s young it’s likely all he knows. I recommend being very consistent and deliberate in training to develop that trust, but he should get along just fine :) |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2931
Location: North Dakota | I have a friend who is currently training a horse who lost an eye due to an injury (so she wasn't born without it). Almost seems like these are more nervous/fightly because they used to have vision on that side and now they don't. She's missing her right eye.
She takes her to the right barrel first so they only have one turn without vision. This is a nervous mare but she is doing a wonderful job with her. She's very quick and catty and I have no doubt she'll be a really nice horse when she's finished out.
So long as you take it a little slower, they seem to do just fine. Of course, they do have to trust you to make that blind turn.
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 Expert
Posts: 2457
| yep - totally can be done! I run barrels and mounted shooting on a mare with limited sight in one eye from a freak pasture accident. To add - we didn't start the mounted shooting until after the accident. They just need a confident rider and partner they trust.
Good Luck!! |
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