Your horse comes in from the pasture with a weepy, puffy eye. It looks like he’s got some sort of allergic reaction going on, so you decide to treat it yourself with medications that you may have around the barn for a previous problem. Unfortunately, this can make a potentially salvageable condition much worse.

An irregularity in your horse's eye or eyelid may not seem like a big deal, but some ocular diseases can very quickly progress to blindness and even loss of the eye itself.

Any abnormality of the eye should be examined immediately by a veterinarian. You may think you know what is going on in the weepy eye, because you have “seen it before,” but different eye diseases may produce similar signs.

The worst thing that you can do is to try and treat the disorder yourself. The second worst scenario is providing no medical attention at all, since only two to three days are required for some eye lesions to produce permanent damage. A veterinarian should examine the eye as soon as you see something wrong with it.

Different symptoms may include an obvious lack of vision, or a suspected impairment of vision due to an increased "spookiness" in the animal to ordinary objects. Excess tearing (where the side of the face is wet), holding eyelids closed, aversion to sunlight, redness of the white part of the eye, a small pupil, or a white, hazy cornea (corneal edema) are all signs of an eye disorder. Owners should not hesitate to contact their veterinarian when their horse is displaying one or more of these signs.

Almost all horse owners have heard of the dreaded “Moon Blindness.” Also known as Equine Recurrent Uveitis, this condition is one of the most common, and its hallmark is an inflammation of the eye that comes and goes. Signs of moon blindness may be invisible the first few times the horse has the inflammation, but each time it occurs, a little more damage to the eye is done. By the time signs are evident, it may already be too late to do anything about it, and cataracts commonly result. The disease can be present in one or both eyes, and has many causes. Treatment may involve oral medication for the rest of the animal's life to decrease the number and severity of the attacks.

Another common eye injury is the Corneal Ulcer, which is a scratch or abrasion of the corneal surface. They may be serious by themselves, but can become even more critical if they become infected. Oftentimes, a special light and dye are used to determine if there is a corneal ulcer, and how serious it might be. Bacterial infections can set in quite quickly, while fungal infections tend to develop slowly. Either can be very serious problems that can cause permanent blindness. In severe cases, surgery may be necessary. Even without surgery, medical treatment is aggressive, requiring horses to stay in the clinic two to four weeks with hourly dosing for the first three to five days.

The third eye disorder that horses are likely to acquire is an injury or laceration to the eyelid. The eyeball may have been involved as well, so a careful examination of the lid and globe is important.

In conclusion, it is imperative that horse owners take eye conditions and injuries extremely seriously. Only a veterinarian should be trusted to treat your horse’s all-important eyes!