blind foal

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sulphurfire
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blind foal

Postby sulphurfire » Wed Feb 16, 2005 12:42 pm

This is something I saw quite a few years ago, a mare produced a full term foal that was born with undeveloped eyes. The farm manager where this occured said that this was a genetic defect, even though the mare had had other healthy foals out of the same sire. Could there have been any other factors that caused this?

DreamersPrincess
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Postby DreamersPrincess » Wed Feb 16, 2005 7:03 pm

I'm dealing with a blind horse that was allowed to run as stud in a group of mares. He's a nice horse, but one eye is a genetic defect (also has a mouth issue that appears to deformed)... anyway, I tried to find any research on the incident of genetic defects of the eye in horses (or any other animals) and came up with nothing solid. I didn't find any references to nutrition or other influences creating eye deformities (e.g. similar to low copper effect in mare/foal causing OCDs). It seems to be an area the no one has researched. If you find anything, I would like to know as well.

None the less, the horse is now a sane, sound, happy 4yo gelding who is well adjusted to his blindness and will soon be looking for that special home to bring out his potential.

Kami