Equine vision

An understanding of equine vision is important for a number of reasons. Equine practitioners are frequently asked to judge the suitability of a particular horse for specific uses, ranging from the visually demanding (e.g., identification and isolation of a calf) to those that can be performed by nearly blind animals, such as a broodmare walking in an enclosed pasture without injuring herself. Additionally, effective therapy of equine ocular disease requires that the clinician possess a good working understanding of not only the normal visual capabilities and visually guided behaviors of the horse, but also how various ocular diseases alter the animal's vision and hence its utility. An understanding of equine vision also allows the clinician to provide a more accurate prognosis prior to initiating therapy and to more intelligently select from a range of potential therapeutic options for a particular disorder to maximize the probability of optimally preserving the eye's visual capabilities. After preservation of the globe and achieving a comfortable result for the patient, the clinician's therapeutic strategy must be one that best preserves vision.