Eternal Sun Stable
Lauren and Jane
8 years ago I started taking riding lessons. Jane was one of the top
lesson horses at the barn- it was small with mostly senior horses. Back then
she was jet black and in top shape, she was stunning! She had full sight at
the time. When she was young, she was a show horse. She loved jumping and
she excelled at it-her favorite jump was the table jump!
After about a year, the barn stopped giving lessons because the
instructor was moving. My dad and I decided to do stalls and help out taking care of the
horses every Saturday. At the time, I was working with an Icelandic
Horse Chelsea that was blind in one eye. One fall, Chelsea passed away.
At about the same time, Jane started losing her eyesight. No one really
worked with her anymore, as there were still 3 more horses that had their
sight and were in good health. Jane is the type of horse that needs a job- when
she is stuck in a stall she is very unhappy and gets very sick. No one at the
barn had ever worked with a blind horse, including myself.
I decided to start grooming her and giving her attention, and she kept
losing more and more sight. What we didn't know was that she had a
disease called Equine Recurrent Uveitis (ERU). This is a condition that does
not go away, and can get worse over time. Inflammation of the eye causes
scarring, or cataracts, that can blind the horse. With a horse Jane's age (we
have been told that she is at least 45 if not older) it is not a good idea
to do cataract surgery, so we did not treat her eyes in that manner.
Over the last 3 years or so, I started working with Jane on the ground.
I taught her voice commands such as "up" or "down" for a step, "wall" for
if she was about to run into an object, etc. After she had adjusted to
her loss of sight, I started riding her again. She needed a job, so we
started with walks around her paddock, progressing to some trotting. Because
of her age, we didn't want to stress her body, so we kept the work light.
As of about this year, Jane began to lose her hearing. Because of this,
the voice commands were basically useless, and her balance wasn't as good.
I had to stop riding her, as every time she would shake a fly off she would
lose her balance. Now, I am starting to teach her commands through touch.
By applying pressure to her shoulder or her neck, I ask her to move over
or turn. To ask her to turn towards me, I apply pressure to the opposite
side of her chin. When I want her to pick up or lower her hoof, I tap the
top of her leg.
Now in her ripe old age, she is happily retired to her field where she
insists on keeping busy. She does serpentines, collects and extends all
on her own. She can feel the ground under her feet where she is and where
her buddy Mayflower is.
Lauren Berrouard
IAABC Student Affiliates Coordinator
