![]() To get a closer look at the internal structures of the eye, the veterinarian gave Obie a dose of tranquilizer and a local anesthetic. The good news was that Obie didn’t show any other signs of glaucoma, such as pain or squinting. If the pressure within the eye remains elevated long enough, the optic nerve can be damaged, leading to blindness. In horses, glaucoma is usually secondary to a disease such as uveitis or a tumor within the eye. She did offer one possibility-glaucoma, an increase of fluid pressure in the eye that is a common cause of pupil dilation. After her initial examination, she agreed there was no obvious sign of trauma or disease and that Obie didn’t seem to be in pain. ![]() I was truly alarmed, so we called the trainer’s veterinarian, who arrived within the hour. Neither Jason, the trainer nor I-all lifelong horsepeople-had ever seen anything like this. In fact, he was acting perfectly normal-interested in his surroundings and even more focused on the possibility of getting some of the hay stacked in the corner. Obie didn’t appear to be in pain he let us touch his face all around the eye without protest. But we found no other signs of trouble-no tearing, swelling, discharge or any marks that would indicate trauma. My first thought was that Obie must have hit his eye or whacked his head in the trailer. That was exactly the problem confronting us: Obie’s right eye looked normal, and the left pupil was wide open and completely unresponsive to light. Any noticeable difference between the appearance of the pupils can be a sign of serious trouble. And, also as in people, both of a horse’s pupils ought to be the same size at the same time. On closer inspection, we saw that the blue appearance was the result of huge dilation of the pupil.Īlthough more oval than round, a horse’s pupils function just as our own do: They expand to take in more light when necessary, then constrict to limit the glare in brighter conditions. It wasn’t until we led him into the barn and took the fly mask off that we discovered a problem: Obie’s left eye looked strangely blue. We pulled into the trainer’s farm two hours later, and Obie, always a good traveler, came out looking relaxed and regal. Jason took a quick peek under the mask to make sure Obie’s eyes weren’t gooey, and since everything looked good, we loaded up and left. ![]() My trailer has stock sides, and the mask would provide protection from any debris that might come up off the road. He was still wearing the fly mask, and we decided to keep it in place for the trip. Even with the barn lights turned off I could see that he was gleaming. When I arrived early the following morning, Obie came out of the stall looking great. Noticing that the flies were bad that evening, Jason went back to the tack room, grabbed the nearest fly mask and put it on our horse. Jason bathed Obie the evening before he was scheduled to leave and then, to keep him clean, placed him in a stall for the night instead of turning him back out in his dirt paddock. When Obie’s pupil suddenly became dilated, his owner was immediately worried. Obie caught the eye of an excellent eventing trainer seeking a new prospect, and we agreed to deliver him to her farm on July 9th for an evaluation period. Obie, my 6-year-old Paint gelding, had loads of potential, so last summer my husband and I sent him to my friend Jason to be tuned up for sale.
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