# Help with Horse's eye



## Saddlehorse1978 (Jul 7, 2011)

This is what his eye looks like , never looked like this before and it runs and gooey lookin and his eyelid looks kinda swollen .. Please help

It is the stuff in the lower corner towards the front.


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

That horse needs to be seen by a vet ASAP. Eyes are nothing to mess with, they can turn bad really fast & can be difficult to treat.
I hope whatever it is is minor.


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## Saddlehorse1978 (Jul 7, 2011)

I called and will be atleast 2 weeks before he can get out there , not many horse vets around here


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## Pistol Babe (Jun 14, 2011)

How long has the eye been like this? And is the horse allowed to roam in a pasture with high grass? Sometimes the tall grass will poke them in the eye. Hay can also do the same thing. My horse had that happen and his eye looked JUST like that. I just put some Visine in it and in less than a week it was back to normal.


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## Saddlehorse1978 (Jul 7, 2011)

He roams freely in pasture , no tall grass but some tall stems from where it was cut not long ago . I just noticed it today , didn't look like that yesterday . 

Did you use just regular people visine


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## Pistol Babe (Jun 14, 2011)

Sounds like he probably got poked then. It will probably heal up on its own. When my horse got poked, I just put Visine in my horse's eye upon a friend's recommendation. I am not sure if the Visine did anything or if the eye healed itself lol But I'd just keep an eye on it while you wait on the vet. Could very well be something else but it looks like a poked eye to me.


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

he might have cut scraped by something...any barb wire? Flies can be an issue as well. Do you put a fly mask on him? Flies can cause eye infections/irritate. If you do use one make sure you clean it every week or 2 as it does get dirty.

Eyes are def. not something to mess with. Have you noticed any fogging in the eye? Does he have tears in that eye and does he keep it shut a lot like it hurts? This can be caused by the cornea seperating and it's very painful. You would need to buy or have the vet(which I would recommend if you don't know what you are looking for) check with an opthalmoscope  Having the corena seperate causes permanent blindness.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

It could be something as minor as a speck of something irritating the 3rd eyelid, or as serious as a scraped cornea. No way to know without a vet looking at it.

I've had the vet out a couple times for similar eye issues. Knock on wood, they were fine, but you never know. 

I also have seen a handful of horses over the year with cloudy/partially blind eyes too, that I assume are from some sort of injury. :-(

PS. A fly mask will help keep the flies out of the corners of his eye as they just love runny eyes.


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## Saddlehorse1978 (Jul 7, 2011)

WHen I put a fly mask on him his eyes run very badly , so I took it off . He has done that for years with the mask on they run . 
Right now doesn't look like any fogging and he doesn't close it or act like it hurts . Just running alot and the swelling and the black/white thing in the bottom of eye looking pretty nasty . 
Was wandering if a saline like I use to clean my eyes would work to clean it out .
He is about 23 or 24 years old and this is the first problem I have ever had with him .


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## Saddlehorse1978 (Jul 7, 2011)

The thing in the bottom front is circled in red in this pic , never seen that there before either .


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

He will probably be blind in much less than 2 weeks.

He either is having an episode of Uveitis or has and ulcer/ abrasion.

Either way, he needs proper medical attention ASAP. 

If you live in TN. There is a Vet much closer than 2 weeks away. At the very least, this horse needs antibiotic eye drops or solution that DOES NOT have a steroid in it. If it is very sore and/or the eyeball itself looks enlarged or distended more than the other eye, he needs Bute. These are prescription drugs and require a Vet to Prescribe them and most will not dispense them without seeing the horse unless you have a client / Vet relationship well established. This is the main reason that it is so important that EVERY horse owner has a Client / Vet relationship with a nearby Vet.

Does this horse happen to be an Appaloosa?


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

You can try and flush it with saline and a syringe BUT you want to do it gently and have someone restrain him as he isn't going to like it. Also if you want you can get a fly mask with the bug eyes that bulge out.


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## Saddlehorse1978 (Jul 7, 2011)

Cherie said:


> He will probably be blind in much less than 2 weeks.
> 
> He either is having an episode of Uveitis or has and ulcer/ abrasion.
> 
> ...


Where I live there is 2 horse vets close by , one is a real dumbbutt that I would not let him look at dead horse because he would swear he is alive and the other is booked up solid . The next one is about 1 1/2 hours away and doesn't like to come this far and my old vet retired . I have had a client/vet relationship with him for 20 something years and he retired a few months back..
He is a Spotted Saddle Horse ...
Not alot I can do unless I want a vet that would cause him more damage than good for now


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

also instead of bute there is previcox which doesn't cause any stomach trouble like bute will if you are to use it a lot.


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## Saddlehorse1978 (Jul 7, 2011)

I have tried the bug eye looking ones , his eyes still run with them too . The reason I leave them off now is on advice from a vet that he could be allergic to something in them , best he could figure


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## Saddlehorse1978 (Jul 7, 2011)

I try to stay away from bute , it can cause alot of stomach trouble . Ony use it if have to . 

He doesn't act like it hurts at all , it just doesn't look right to me . He will even let you touch it .


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

usually if a horse were in the stages of losing their eye sight there isn't much people can do other than prescribe some pain killers to help ease the process. A horse can slowly lose their eye sight or quickly. Can you wave your hand infront of his eye..if he reacts he can see,if he is losing his eye sight his reactions will be slower...We had a horse that went blind. His cornea seperated.He has weepy eyes for 3 weeks and then he went blind.We thought maybe he scraped it and it was clearing so we called the vet but it already was a done deal.


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

can you wipe the gunk out with a soft rag or your hands? He might have just got dirt and eye goop and got it irritated. Try flushing it was saline...very gently so you don't scare him or take a wet rag that's soft and clean around it. Just try and do the best you can. I am not going to be one to tell you to get a vet out if you know you can't.


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## Saddlehorse1978 (Jul 7, 2011)

He can see out of it just fine . I noticed me at a long distance waiving my hands . 

To me it looks like a stye (spelling) when people get them
Will try to clean it tomm night after work .. 

I know we need a few more vets around here , they all move 2 hours away where the walking horse people are due to the tremendous amount of horses there . Gotta go where the money is I guess


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

stye..you reminded me...it could very well be a cyst as well. I knew a horse who's eyelids would drop and he had cysts on them.Didn't bother him. The vet can remove them. I'm not sure about styes and how you will treat those however I imagine it would be with antibiotics....I need to move to TN and get a vet. assistant job =D


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## Saddlehorse1978 (Jul 7, 2011)

There is plenty of them needing help , my fiance used to be a vet tech , but not for large animals . I do know they pay very good here due to the amount of work they do , this is walking horse and SSH country here ...Plenty of work


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

One of my mares had a slightly runny eye. I had a vet out & she had the start of uveitis. It fully recovered with treatment & has not recurred. Treatment depends on what is wrong & the eye needs to be stained t orule out abrasions or tears. The wrong treatment can spell big trouble.

Is there any way to take your horse to a vet?


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## Saddlehorse1978 (Jul 7, 2011)

Not right now , sold my trailer with plans to buy a new one and then they sold the one I wanted before I got there .


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

How is your horse's eye doing?


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## Saddlehorse1978 (Jul 7, 2011)

It is just fine now . It cleared up in 2 days and looks like normal with no problems at all . He just poked it so it cleared up on its own . Thanks for asking


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## Tuff 337 (Jul 10, 2011)

Try Vetericin gel for the eyes, its some really great stuff.


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

Saddlehorse1978 said:


> It is just fine now . It cleared up in 2 days and looks like normal with no problems at all . He just poked it so it cleared up on its own . Thanks for asking


Good to hear. He must have poked the sclera area instead of the eyebal itself.


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