Equine cataracts / behavioural issues

[Panni]

Ok trying to keep a long story short....

I purchased my mare 10 years ago when she was 3.5 and the 5 stage revealed that she had a very small congenital cataract. I was told at the time it wouldn't bother her and wouldn't get bigger as it is a small defect that occurred inutero.

Ok my mare growing up hasn't been the easiest mare to deal with as she has always been rather sharp. But, she has improved with age and been a truly loyal friend and adapted well to my increasing disability. I've always kept the cataract at the back of my mind and always been aware of it when coming into dark arenas or out into the daylight, riding in unfamiliar arenas etc.....

Anyway over the past few months her behaviour has become very erratic! She has been twirling and running away at absolutely nothing whilst schooling. She managed to ditch me twice in one session and smashed my hat and confidence in the process.

Speaking to the vet we decided the warm weather was keeping her in season so at the beginning of December we have given her the improvac injection (hormone jab) to cover her winter as well as the jab she gets in the spring to cover her summer seasons. He thought we'd turned a corner with her behaviour as we saw an improvement this week. But again to day she reverted back!

My trainer (international pro) rides her before I do and he too feels like he's knocking his head against a wall. We've stayed nice and calm and relaxed and allow her to work in a relaxed manner, but she for no reason stops spins and tries to run.

Back, teeth, and saddle/bridle fit is all good and nothing to report. She's exercised daily and gets turnout. Feed regime the same etc....
The only thing we can think of is her eyesight is the problem?! Maybe the cataract has got bigger.... I don't know? The vet is due to come out on Tuesday.

As I have 4 days to let the worry set in even further, I thought I'd put it out here. Has anyone else had experience of this kind of behaviour? Experience of horses with eyesight problems? The treatments involved. Did you overcome the issues etc....

Any advice/ experiences are muchly appreciated.

[alonerawnut]

Gosh: how scary and worrying for you! I don't have any experience with anything like this but just wanted to show my support. Hope it doesn't feel like too long a wait until the vet comes and you get the chance for some more definite answers.

You mentioned that it's something she does while schooling - do you notice her doing it when out in the field / while being led? If it's only when she's ridden, it might be more likely to be a back / teeth / pain issue - I would have thought an eyesight problem would show up whatever's she's doing, but then again she might just feel under more 'pressure' when schooling and reacts more dramatically.

Hope the vet can give you some answers or some piece of mind that the cataract hasn't developed.

[Deleted]

My retired horse has uveal cysts which (as far as we can tell from behaviour and inspection of his eyes) restrict his vision when the sun is bright and the iris contracts. The location of them means he struggles to see things next to him, his sight forwards and behind him is fine.

I notice it when turning him out and leading in from the field, if it's sunny he goggles at things he's seen every day because as we pass them he seems to lose sight of things and wants to turn around to see where they went. There's days when I think "oh for goodness sake stop being a plonker" but he's not, he can't work out where things go once he passes them. He's no worse or better with new things but then he's never been a spooky horse. While I was still working him I did start to notice this when riding and he had become more prone to spooking but it was noticeable that it was always at something that passed into his 'blind' spot like people walking or driving down the road in the opposite direction to us.

If this was his only issue I could have the cysts removed by laser but it's very expensive and he's retired anyway so I just accept he needs to be able to look square on at things he's unsure of.

Based on this I'd be surprised if your mare's sight was only an issue when ridden but perhaps if you're out competing you're more likely to be asking more of her when she's under saddle?

[sharonh]

I had a friend who had similar problems to this some years ago and it turned out to be a cyst on the mare's oavaries. I hate to say it but I had another friend whose horse was eventually diagnosed with a brain tumour.
I hope you can get to the bottom of it.

[Katieleeown]

TO me the first thing that came to mind was brain injury or something like sharonh says... Heopfully it isn't this serious at all!
xx