Ophthalmological Examination

Horses have considerably bigger eyes compared to other land animals. Due to the fact that their eyes are located on the two sides of the head and are wide apart, the horses' visual angle is very wide. They can simultaneously perceive objects and happenings on opposite sides. The eyes of horses differ from human eyes in terms of anatomy and visual physiology.

Research revealed that horses can only see yellow and blue hues. They also cannot see any objects at close-range clearly and the farther the objects are, the clearer they can see them.

Due to the structure of the eye, it is not always easy to perceive still objects from afar. For example: while hacking, you may spot a bird that is on a branch of a tree. However, your horse probably will not notice it. Therefore, the sudden movement of the flying bird may cause your horse who is not prepared for such a situation to spook.

In some cases, your horse's reaction could be due to a visual problem. Horses suffering from visual problems may sometimes overreact, or stay unresponsive to some stimuli. Conditions such as anxiety, spooking only by things happening on one side (right or left), acting nervous when turning to that side could be the symptoms of visual and perceptive problems.

Some eye conditions and symptoms such as a foreign object in the eye and purulent discharge from the eye may be easily noticed by the horse owner. But sometimes the symptoms are not that obvious and as mentioned above, they may only reflected by the horse's behavior. The reactions of the horse could be due to either a visual problem or the horse's character or riding and training. A detailed ophthalmological examination demonstrates whether such changes in behavior are due to a visual problem or not.

Numerous ophthalmological diseases can be detected in horses.

Such diseases may be due to numerous causes such as bacteria, virus, fungi and traumas.

An early intervention to the problems diagnosed through detailed examination of the internal and external parts of the eye increases the chance for recovery.

Detailed examination of the eye with ophthalmoscope.

In which cases should ophthalmological examination be conducted?

• Injury of the eye, existing or suspected eye problems.
• This is an essential part of the pre-purchase examination. Thus, in the event that an eye problem is detected in the future, it will be possible to know for sure whether such problem has been existent before the horse was purchased. This would prevent any issues that may cause suspicion and disagreement.
• Even if there isn't any suspicion of disease, this examination is regularly conducted within the scope of routine checks.