When everything becomes clear

Like Sprinkler Bandit said... I do understand Dandy better, since I have confirmed her blindness. I'm still sad about the news, but I know she can jump, run, race, pack and ride the way she always did. When I bought her 2 years ago... Dandy was two years old, lead like a monster, wasn't broke to ride, had a really hard time getting her feet off the ground for cleaning and trimming without firing a few kicks. She would charge, rear and would basically run you over. I believe she was blind when I bought her, because, thinking back, she was always putting her head sideways when leading and would often step on my heels (I lead from the left), she would constantly turn her head and bump into things (me, a tree, a fence, a door...) which led me to think that she might have a problem with her eyes, or she was just a clumsy two year old.

Since training was really starting to go great, I forgot about the eye, but she would spook at things on her left that wouldn't even phase her on her right!!! So I shrugged it off as being young. After that, she abcessed and her eyes got really cloudy, so I had another excuse for her clumsiness, then, she got that darn Upper respiratory infection and just recently did her eyes clear up enough to actually have a look into them. What I saw then confirmed everything I ever suspected. She can't see from her left side.

I often did the hand waving frantically close to her eye, but she never reacted to any of that unless I slightly touch her... nothing phases her and she has great trust in me, so she knows I wasn't going to actually hit one of her eyes, I can throw anything her way, from the left or right and she doesn't even move, even if it is a big blanket, she never spooks and probably never will.

I have really taken a different approach with Dandy lately, I try and stay as calm as possible around her and she works great with that. I am also trying to sensitize my family that Dandy is blind on the left, I don't want them to spook her or surprise her, or discipline her if she accidentally bumps them with her head. Dandy is a pretty steady horse, but sometimes, she can get playful and crazy in the pasture and I don't want anyone to get kicked... one person having been kicked by Dandy last year (about this time) is enough!!! She did make great progress in that field over the year so I am less worried that she would do something crazy. She is still unpredictable, like many horses.

So much things are bumping in my head that would explain some then-unexplained panic... like a few weeks ago... when she spooked at my uncle's truck when I was trimming her feet, I scolded her pretty bad since she had plowed into my sister and I and knocked a whole bunch of stuff down, but I understand that it must've surprised her when the truck took off.

I rode a horse that was blind in one eye for about 3-4 years now, she is a great mare, a tiny bit nervous, but she is now 12 years old, she runs, jumps and will go anywhere at any speed. Her blindness was caused by an accident at the age of 1 or 2 years old, she had hit her eye on the edge of the water trough. One of the horses that is stabled with that mare is now completely blind (Moon Blindness) and she is getting along pretty good in the pasture. She went from seeing to blind in the span of 6 months, so she was pretty much hobbling around to find her food. She was stalled for about 3 weeks until she learned to manoeuvre around without sight. She's doing good today... Unfortunately, she is bred for a 2010 foal that is due in May, she will never see him.

On a personnal note, I seem to be gaining more energy, I still think about my grandfather every second of every day. He was like a father to me and thaught me a whole lot of things in life, like fishing, gardening and he had great farming tips! He loved horses and never got over how proud he was of me, my sister and my brother. We were planning to have a sleigh ride especially for him this month, since he loved horses and the outdoors so much, but was too sick to enjoy it on his own... unfortunately, he didn't make it until then.