Building Up Confidence In My Blind Horse.

Question
Hi,

I have a horse called Midnight, when he came to me all the history I knew
about him was he was rescued from a situation in which he had become
under weight due to being picked on by other horses and inadequate feeding.
(There was also a possibility of being abused from a previous owner before
he was finally taken from this situation, but no hard evidence).

He is a very quiet and gentle character, he is great with grooming and great
on a lead rein and lunging, but when I lunge him or lead him on a particular
side he would always have troubles. So after having a vet out he is officially
blind in his right eye. He is still green broke and is still only 3 or 4.

He is now in brilliant shape, and is back to the weight he should be.

I am working with him on lead rein and lunging a lot more trying to get him
to trust me on the side he has issues with. I have also mounted him and have
no problems other then he likes to turn in sharp circles. I understand this is
probably due to him wanting to be able to see 360' around him, but I want to
try and work with him on this.

I have started working on building his confidence and spending up to 5 hours
a day just being with him and working with him on simple floor work; trying
to make that as concrete as possible before I start ironing out the in saddle
issues.

I was wondering if you knew any trainers, books, general knowledge on the
best way to go about this. I believe in discipline, but not beating a horse into
submission. So the gentlest way possible is the route I would like to take.

I am in no rush to mount him but I do want to help him with this issue so that
me and my family can enjoy him to the max.

Many thanks Ruby.

Answer
Hi Ruby!

Actually it sounds like you need no advice...you seem to have everything under control.

While I have owned several only one eyed horses and one fully blind horse, I have no connections to refer you to.  I suggest searching the Internet for authentic organizations that deal with blind horses.

The only real piece of advice I can give you is to NEVER forget he is a young horse.  Just because he is blind in one eye, he does not get a "pass" to be bad.  Do not coddle him or spoil him in any way.  He needs to understand you are the Boss Mare and your space is to be respected at all times.  Just like any other young horse.  Being a softie on him and allowing his manners to slowly slip into the red zone is not doing him or you any favors.  Never allow yourself to say "But, he's blind.  I have to be nice to him" or "It's ok. We do it this way because if I ask him to do it MY way he gets antsy or angry"

NO.  Do not allow yourself to fall into that situation.

Go to the video store and rent the Helen Keller story starring Patty Duke...I think that's who it was. Anyhow, it's a family terrorized by a pushy blind/mute girl who got everything her way because it was easy and they had no real knowledge on how to teach her.  Then "Teacher" showed up and put her straight.  It is an excellent parallel to how some nice women treat young horses, or rescue horses and such.

Yes, he needs "some" extra care.  But, it's not right now I am concerned about, he's only a baby at around 4 years old. He really knows nothing and is not into his "teenage" years yet.  I am talking about when he is about 1000 pounds and 8 years old and constantly testing Mom to see what he can get away with.

Every single horse that was given to me for free, was deemed "Dangerous" and had actually hurt someone, was a QH gelding between the ages of 5-8 and was the product of far too nice ladies who were all far too nice in all of their training.

So, while you believe in discipline, I say believe in being firm, being consistent and smack him up if he even puts one hoof out of line.  He weighs now and will weigh about 10 times what you d and you could not hurt him if you tried.

He, on the other hand, can easily hurt you without even trying.

Good luck and remember to always wear an ATM/SEI approved helmet!

Solange