Here's the story of some nice folks who started a ranch in Montana to care for disabled cats and dogs and now...blind horses. From the Missoulian:
Can a blind horse have a good life?Lots of people say no. But at the Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary east of Ovando, the answer is an emphatic yes.
That's not to say the sanctuary's owners could have said that four years ago when they began their nonprofit venture as a home for disabled and elderly animals. They were thinking "dogs and cats." Then their first animal, by acts of fate, was a blind horse.
Lena, a quarter horse, was the victim of a training regimen that would force her to fall over backwards if she reared up. The blows to her head damaged her optic nerves until she went blind.Steve Smith and Alayne Marker, alone on 160 acres on Kleinschmidt Flat pursuing their dream, knew "absolutely zero" about blind horses, Smith says today. Even Marker, who grew up with horses, had no experience with them.
The simple fact is that most blind horses are put down.
"I think there's a lot of myths, a lot of misunderstandings, a lot of misconceptions and a lot of ignorance about what it means to care for a blind horse," Marker said. "I was really ignorant about them until we started getting them."
Then Smith and Marker, married 10 years, got another going-blind horse. Shasta, a 20-year-old Appaloosa, had spent his life being leased to dude ranches and outfitters as "seasonal stock" and was being sold for being too old. Then another blind horse came to them. And more. They came from around the country, saved by chance by people who couldn't keep them but had heard about the Rolling Dog's work.
Today, 17 horses with disabilities are at home at the Rolling Dog Ranch. Eleven are blind. And Smith and Marker find themselves, by accident, in the position of national "expert," even though their experience is brief.
"The blows to her head damaged her optic nerves until she went blind." In a training regimen? The asshole that would do such a thing and call it a training regimen needs to be shot. There are many more gentle ways of training a horse and need to be used.
I have never had an experience with a totally blind horse. I have had some get so old they go almost blind but they aren't a problem to take care of.
I have had blind cattle before and I was able to keep running them with the herd no problem. As long as they weren't pressured they got along just fine.
Posted by: Sarpy Sam at December 22, 2004 12:23 PMWe have a blind horse at our place, and he is enjoying life and doing just fine...I thoroughlly agree with the previous comment about anyone who would "train" a horse in such a way.
Posted by: Pat Hejny at December 22, 2004 02:56 PMWe have a blind horse at our place, and he is enjoying life and doing just fine...I thoroughlly agree with the previous comment about anyone who would "train" a horse in such a way.
Posted by: Pat Hejny at December 22, 2004 02:57 PM