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  Discussion on Training a Blind Horse
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New Member:
Jenny

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 10, 2002 - 3:56 pm:

Does anybody have any experiernce working with and training blind horses? I have a fifteen year old gelding, Majic, that has lost most of his sight to Uveitis. We had our last ride together this summer. It's past time to work with him seriously on voice commands. We did a little work this summer on stepping and stopping but it was hard to keep his attention in the grassy ring (I am leary of working with him outside of the ring lest he spook and bolt) and with the constant irritant of horse flies. Now that the grass and the flies are both gone I would like to begin a new.
The command I am most interested in teaching Majic is "Ho!" To ho! when he's not attached to reins or a lunge line or a lead line. To ho! if he's headed for trouble in the field. Right now if I holler to him he will break stride but that's about as good as it gets.
I'm sure many might say that I should go about training Majic the same way one would train a sighted horse but the difference is that he can't read my body language. Take away body language and it's whole new world. So if you have a blind horse that you have been able to sucessfully train to stop on a voice command I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Thank you, thank you. Jenny
Member:
Hwood

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 10, 2002 - 8:14 pm:

Hi, Jenny,
I also have a horse that is losing his sight. It may be due to an old injury as he has broken bones in his face . . . . he is an ex-polo horse . . . . I've been told that many polo horses are blind in at least one eye due to injury. My gelding can't read body language either, so I have to be sure to use touch and pressure and voice to give him cues. I especially have to protect my head and face from him swinging into me. I try to keep one hand stretched out toward him when I am near him and I use my voice to clue him that I am there. If he swings toward me, he runs into the palm of my hand instead of my nose or cheek bones :-)

I think a crop or dressage whip will help along with hand and consistent voice cues.

I would also be interested in the suggestions of other trainers who have worked with blind horses.
Holly
Member:
Jenny

Posted on Thursday, Dec 12, 2002 - 9:06 am:

Hi, Holly,
Good to hear from you! I'm sorry to hear about your horse. I didn't know that about polo horses but it does seem to make sense they could substain head trauma during the course of a game. Do you still ride your horse? I found that for a long time Majic was better with me on him than he was alone on the ground. I was his guide. Even toward the end his stay at his old barn, before retirement, people often couldn't grasp the degree of his vision loss. Yes, he looked o.k. but I knew that if I relaxed the reins he would walk right into the wall.

I too, use touch and voice when handling Majic. Majic's left eye is completely blind and he has "minimal" sight on the right. I am always conscious of which side I'm standing on when I'm with him. I always speak to him as I approach. I, too, catch his nose in my palm as we meet otherwise he might swing into me. When I walk him I have the lead rope in my left hand and I keep my right palm open against his face so he knows where I am. I think this contact also gives him a sense of security.

When Majic is outside he can see movement (sometimes) and can sometimes pick out objects if there is enough contrast between that object and the surrounding area. If a pat of hay is thrown on the ground for him, forget it. That's brown on brown. He will either find it by smell, or by listening to the munching sounds of his pasture buddy.

When Majic is in the barn not enough light gets into his eyes for him to be able to see anything. Here his blindness is most evident.

I think your suggestion of a lunge whip is a good one. I think I need something for him to come up against when I say "ho!". I think that the trick might be consequence instead of reward. I tried giving him treats everytime he stopped but that just got me a pushy, mouthy app who was more interested in what I had than in what we were doing.

Do you find that your horse has gotten more mouthy as he's lost his sight? Majic doesn't get a whole lot of treats because of this and the one's he does get often go into his feed bucket. He gets a lot of hands on attention instead.

Jenny
Member:
Hwood

Posted on Thursday, Dec 12, 2002 - 10:16 am:

Hi, Jenny,
It sounds like you have found a rhythm in the handling of your horse. Yes, I still ride PeDrO sometimes, but never at a canter . . . . He can see SOME things . . .. most of the time he THINKS he sees things that aren't there . . . .last time we cantered alone, I was relaxed and following his movement when he stopped short on his forehand and I went flying over his head . . . :-)
That's one of the first clues I had that he was having problems. He is with pasture mates, so he just sticks close to them to find his way around. He can see some movement, but not enough for me to trust his judgment as well as I used to. I take him out riding alone or with other horses. He is definitely a follower, so seems much more relaxed and secure when we are with other horses. He looks as healthy as a horse :-) and seems to have a good quality of life, so I think he will be around for some time.
Enjoy your guy.
Holly
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