Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors. Visual disabilities depend on the degree of lost of sight. In a person, if someone has to stand 20 feet (6.1 m) from an object and another person with normal sight (20/20 vision) is able to see the same object at 200 feet (61 m), the person standing closer would be said to had 20/200 (6/60) vision. Total blindness is the complete lack of form and light perception, also known clinically as "NLP" or "no light perception".

Once a horse has lost their eyesight, they need to learn to focus on their conventional senses; hearing, touch, smell, and taste. They also need to tune into other senses, such as body awareness, balance & acceleration, pain and temperature.

Body Awareness - Proprioception, the kinesthetic sense, is a sense that people are not frequently aware of, but rely on enormously. Proprioception is the "unconscious" awareness of where various body parts are located. Close your eyes and wave a hand in the air. You will not see your hand but you will always be aware of where it is.

Proprioception -
Perception governed by proprioceptors, as awareness of the position of one's body. Random House Dictionary
The unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

Kinesthesia -
The sensation of movement or strain in muscles, tendons, and joints; muscle sense. Random House Dictionary
The sense that detects bodily position, weight, or movement of the muscles, tendons, and joints. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

Another key factor with working with a blind horse is gaining their full trust and respect. If you were unable to build that bond between you and the horse, while the horse still had their eyesight, you need to do that before you are able to safely mount and ride them.

Susan talking to Buffy, after losing her sight completely, before mounting for a short ride.

A blind horse needs to be better disciplined than a sighted horse. Without their sight, if they do not pay attention and respond immediately to our voice and touch signals, they could cause injuries very quickly, either to others or themselves. I need the horse to pay complete attention to me, while at the same time I need to be aware of who is around us, so I can ask Buffy to move away from the other person before she hits them with her body. Buffy weighs over 1250 pounds. We always need to remember this when we are working her around small children, other disabled persons and seniors.

At the beginning, when Buffy first started losing her sight, we talked to her constantly, so she always knew where we were. So as not to startle her, we always talked before we touched her and kept our hands on her as we worked around her. Buffy was learning to focus on all her other senses during this time.

We teach the horse to move away from our touch by touching the horse on the side, where we would place our heel, with our finger. The horse should move away from the pressure immediately. We do this until the horse does move away, and then we repeat this on the other side. We keep practicing this each time we work with the horse.

The most important verbal command we teach all the horses is 'whoa'. This command has saved Buffy from injuries in blind flights several times when she first started losing her sight. We have found it useful, especially when someone was standing in her path of travel. Buffy is normally a gentle horse, who enjoys her interaction with people, but like all horses, when they panic, they lose all cognitive thought. Their instinct is to run away from danger.

As Buffy was losing her sight, we taught her verbal commands; 'step', 'up', 'down', 'easy', and of course 'back' and 'walk'. While teaching these commands, we learned that timing was very important. As Buffy lost her 'form perception' she would step over imaginary objects when given the 'step' command. The 'up' command told her she was about to step onto something or maneuver up a hill or bank, while the 'down' command would tell her she was going down. She has learned 'easy' means she is crossing rough ground and needs to step carefully, while 'walk' means the way is level and clear of obstacles.

We have also taught Buffy to stop and stand when someone places a hand on her chest. This has come in useful when we were catching her in the field to give her her medications or even just to work with her. During the process of going blind, Buffy had a lot of anger, frustration and pain, which she had to deal with. Although I could always work with her, we needed a method to catch her, which would always work. She wouldn't always come when she was called during this time. When she panics, I still use the hand on her chest, with my hand on top of neck, by her withers, to calm her down. As soon as she relaxes, I remove my hands.

Bringing Buffy through the narrow gate can be an adventure. Walking up to the gate I stop her with the 'whoa' command. I then turn Buffy's head in each direction, touching her muzzle lightly to each gate post. When I first started this exercise, I would place my hand between the post and Buffy's muzzle so she wouldn't hurt herself. At the same time I pause the pressure on her halter, telling her it is time to stop the sideways movement. I can now show her objects without keeping my hand between her and the object, although if the object could hurt her, I still hold my hand against the object until her muzzle comes in contact with my hand, then I remove my hand so she can touch the object herself.

Questions I have been asked since Buffy's story went public, are whether you can teach an older horse, which is going blind, to use these commands; or when a person should start teaching a horse, which is going blind or lost sight in one eye, verbal commands. My suggestion is; yes you can, and start verbal training immediately. I taught my 10 year old Rotty to catch a treat, which I toss to her with a 'catch' command, just recently. I also re-trained an ex-racehorse with a bad attitude and temper, to become a calm, steady trail horse (which I have put a 10 year old girl onto), doing mountainous rides, when he was in his mid teens. It is also easier to teach the horse verbal commands when they can do a visual association with the command.

The large front paddocks are used for sick, foaling or new horses. Her hay is kept in relatively the same place, while she is grained in the same place each day. The horse' water trough is made specially for horses and enclosed in a wooden box for the winter, which is insulated and partially covered, to keep the water from freezing. The water heater is used as it is needed. Buffy has learned to relax in the stable situation and with the daily handling, we are able to work around her without having to constantly talk.

I put the bell on my ex-racehorse, who spends most of his time at the hay, but Buffy is content to follow the sounds Kris' 3-day-eventer, Merlin. Merlin is constantly pacing, and Buffy keeps him company, much to his chagrin. When Buffy is tired or hungry, she joins Keno at the hay pile.

During feeding time, we have learned to keep Buffy's feed tub in the same location. If it is moved, we have to let her know where it has been moved to or she will step into it, or bump it with her head, while trying to find it. Buffy is a very easy keeper and doesn't need as much grain as the boys. Once she has finished her grain, she moves on to the next horse, which is usually Keno (unless the boys have changed positions). Keno pins his ears back at Buffy, but she continues, totally unaware of the threat. As Buffy lowers her head into Keno's tub, Keno skillfully takes hold of the tub in his teeth and pulls it out of Buffy's way. Buffy targets Merlin's feed tub as she searches for more grain. The game continues until all the tubs are empty.

Although the boys will threaten Buffy with their ears and periodically picking up a hind leg, they seem to realize that she is unaware of their reprimand. Keno and Merlin have both learned to be gentle with the blind quarter horse.

Working with Buffy as blind horse means I have to constantly watch her.

Walking down the road, I am teaching Buffy to lead properly. Each time she swings her head towards me, my hand is steady, blocking her path. As she feels the bump on her cheek or muzzle, she swings her head back to the forward position. Each time she steps over to crowd me, she comes in contact with the end of the whip handle, held steady, telling her this is my space. Whenever I get tired, I let my sister Kris know, and she clips on the second lead rope. Buffy learns to maintain a steady pace while at the same time, she learns not to pull on either line. As she progresses I need Kris' assistance less.

Buffy's confidence is growing in leaps and bounds each time we work with her. She no longer whinnies for the other horse's as we go for our walks. Each time she feels comfortable with a lesson, we add another task or travel a litttle bit further. These lessons seem to teach her more self-confidence than taking her for rides with the horses. These lessons also give us the chance to work only with Buffy, teaching her to rely more on humans.

Buffy learning to lead properly again. Walking off Christmas dinner gives us a wonderful excuse to work with Buffy as a family.

Working off a delicious Christmas meal was a good excuse to spend time with Buffy as a family. Off we went, all bundled up against the snow and wind, mother with her walking stick, the dogs with their bones. The dogs all enjoyed the walk down the long winding driveway and Kris was able to take some pictures. After the walk, we watered the horses and fed the entire herd carrots as a Christmas treat. Making sure the three horses in the front paddock all had their heads in their grain tubs, we went back inside to clean up and relax in front of the wood fire.

Loud noises around Buffy disorientates her as they echo off the tree line bordering her paddock. She still panics when we feed the horses with the tractor, but I am hoping that we can eventually calm her by working with her in hand while the tractor is running. As she is handled during this time, she does gain confidence around the loud noises.

Whenever the farrier comes to work on the herd, we put the entire herd into the front paddock with Buffy and the senior geldings. Buffy does still get confused but is ecstatic when this happens. She buoyantly greets each horse and follows the 'gruesome threesome', of which she was the 'fourth muskateer'.

While feeding Buffy, we insure her feed tub is always in the same location. We tap the side of it while Buffy reaches forward trying to follow the sound. Once she finds her tub, we give her a rub on her shoulder and leave her to happily eat her grain. Buffy is easily confused if we move or change her grain tub.

As we walk by her, we will run our hand down the length of her body. Sometimes I will stop and scratch her areas she has enjoyed in the past. One day, while scratching her favorite spot inside her leg, she kicked out. I gave her a sharp slap with the flat of my hand, on the leg which kicked out, and proceeded to scratch her. Afterwards, we would stop and give her scratch, although she has never kicked at us again.

To calm Buffy, we have found she enjoys her forehead and ears rubbed. While on her back, we rub her withers. We don't always make a verbal sound when we touch her, but we insure she is aware of our presence.

While mounting Buffy, I prefer to have a handler on the ground holding her head, although I have mounted without one as well. I always keep in mind the horse is prey animal and although Buffy is very trusting, instinct may take over at any time, as she proved with her kick. Buffy has been trained to mount from both sides, though at this time, I mount her strictly from the left or near side. I rub her withers and talk to her briefly as I put my foot into the stirrup and swing up. If I rub her croup as I am mounting, I don't worry about it. She needs to know this is still acceptable.

Kris always works with me as I work with Buffy, especially when I ride her. Buffy has lost her confidence to move forward with a rider, so we let her follow the bell on the horse Kris rides. When she gains the confidence to move forward, we praise her. At this time, we work her mainly at the walk, with short jogs, staying on the quiet road. The horse's have not been worked this winter, so we are working on building up their strength and stamina for the summer. I always keep a lead rope attached to her halter, tied on the saddle, in case I might need to quickly hand it to Kris so she can pony Buffy for a short while, although Buffy is willing to follow the soft tinkle of the swiss bell, attached to one of her buddies, when she starts to feel insecure.

As Buffy is worked, she periodically wears her mask from Race-Pro Manufacturing and on nice days, she carries a saddle or a set of paniers if the weather isn't so nice out. Other days, we take her out without anything on her. As she advances, we will start ponying her down more of the trails, especially ones with more obstacles.

Buffy boldly takes the lead for the first time since she became blind.

Although Buffy has been ridden since she lost her sight, we have decided to ensure a firm foundation. We are starting from the ground and working up. This winter we will lead her, either with the boys or while we enjoy a walk ourselves. I plan on riding Buffy down the road during the winter but won't work her on the trails until late spring.

Blind horses need time to adjust to their disabilities. As we work with Buffy, we watch her interaction with the other members of the herd and her ability to maneuver around the front paddocks. As she becomes more confident in her movements, we decide it time to take her training one step further.

Buffy is now coming on rides with us more often. I rode Razkel for the first time this spring, on Good Friday, while Kris rode Buffy. My ride was rather challenging, while Kris enjoyed a relaxing one on Buffy. Periodically I had to remind Kris about Buffy's lack of sight, as they both relaxed and started wandering towards the deep snow banks or ditches on either side of the road. Friends rode three of our horses, Peppy, Merlin, and Keno, who was sporting the swiss bell.

On Easter Sunday, I opted to ride Buffy when we had some other friends come over for a ride. Cathy rode Keno, while her 12 year daughter rode Peppy, Kris' 9 year old Quarter Horse. We enjoyed a relaxing ride while Buffy built her confidence with her new found freedom. Buffy enjoyed her rides this week-end and seems to have gained a sense of usefulness.

Buffy is not concerned when Tinsle runs up behind her, as she weaves in amongst the horses.

Buffy aware of something crossing her path of travel. We learned to used an association Buffy was comfortable with. Each dog is now called Brumbles, after Kris' dog, Brumby, who lives at my parents ranch.

When Buffy loses her confidence, she follows a horse she is familiar with, in this case Keno.

After a few strides Buffy decides it is safe to take up the lead again.

Praise always goes a long way.

As we work with Buffy, we also expand her vocabulary. During our recent rides, we found Buffy was startled by the dogs on several occassions as they jogged or ran around the horses. As Brumby passed at one point near the beginning of the ride, Buffy started to get nervous. I told her 'it's ok, it's just Brumbles' Buffy relaxed immediately, so I tried naming the other dogs, or using the word 'dog'. This didn't work, so I used the name 'Brumbles'. It worked each time! Now all dogs are called 'Brumbles'!

Using the phrase 'It's ok', also seemed to relax Buffy. When Buffy smelt the strange aroma emitted by the neighbours Bison, she hesitated and questioned me. After a quiet 'It's ok Buffy', encouraged her to travel on, she still snorted with each stride, but moved forward with the long, relaxed stride I have become so familiar with. Sometimes, the only outward sign Buffy shows us when she is worried, is the stiff upper lip she is carrying on the picture to the left.

Once Buffy had relaxed, I started working her with some basic leg yielding. I asked her to move away from each leg alternately. She quietly moved away in the direction I asked each time. I will continue this exercise during our rides and eventually ask for leg yielding at the jog. Once we are able to start working her in the riding arena, I will start asking for more advanced movements, as well as working with obstacles.

I look forward to the day our riding arena is clear of snow and ice and we are able to work the horses on the soft, springy footing. We will set up the obstacles and work Buffy and the young horses over them. Each horse is trained like our senior horses, when we trained horses for Search and Rescue.

For now . . . Sweet dreams Blind Buff.

Merlin and Buffy, with her Poll Cap, waiting in the trailer.

This is Buffy's first trailer ride since she has gone totally blind. We loaded Merlin into the trailer and then loaded Buffy. After I led Buffy to the back of the trailer, I stood at the door prepared to assist as needed while Kris took the lead rope. I slapped the floor of the trailer and then gave the up command. Buffy lifted her leg but the first attempt was to low and she had to raise it higher, which she willingly did. Without hesitation, she was loaded.

Unloading Buffy at the Exhibition Grounds was not much different than unloading a sighted horse. After the down command Buffy took short steps to the edge of the trailer and then stepped down on command.

We changed Buffy's halter to her regular leather one and took the horses for a walk around the stables and horse paddocks. Coming upon a horse with its blanket wrapped snuggly around and under its hind legs, we stopped to assist. After putting his halter on, I looped the lead around the fence post and carefully unwrapped the straps from his legs. After replacing the blanket, I let the gelding loose, secured the gate and walked back to Buffy, Merlin and Kris.

Cars passing by Buffy as she is ridden beside Merlin, does not seem to bother her.

Riding Buffy alongside Merlin down the busy road, didn't seem to bother her. The first curb we had to navigate, surprised Buffy (even with the down command), and doing a roll back onto her hauches, she launched herself in the air and cleared a fair portion of the road, before calmly proceeding onto the next obstacle. We crossed the 4 lane intersection and started down the wide grass shoulder on Foothills. With each curb, Buffy started to understand what was expected of her and we no longer had 'airs above the ground', which suited me fine!

After riding about 3 or 4 blocks, we decided it was time to turn back. Buffy prefered to stay close to Merlin during this ride, which I didn't mind. During the ride she bounced between tense and relaxed. For the better part of the ride she walked forward with her long swinging stride. She learned to accept the uneven terrain and loud noises all around her. Even the forklift we passed within 30 feet of at the Exhibition Grounds didn't faze the gallant young mare.

Merlin and Buffy being ridden down Foothills Blvd.

During the ride we encountered numerous cars passing often within meters of the horses. Buffy ignored the moving traffic, although encountering a parked car on our side of the road caused Buffy to stop about 20 feet away from it. I could not convince her to move forward until I agreed with her to give it about 15 feet of clearance. Kris and I were intrigued by this fact, and I must admit, totally baffled. We only encountered one parked car, so we were unable to try this experiment a second time.

We rode back to trailer, untacked the horses, and after another good brushing and several treats, put Buffy's halter with the Poll Cap attached, on her. We loaded the horses up and drove to a fast food outlet for a meal. I had to coax Buffy to put her head out the window and she was quite happy to listen to sounds, between falling asleep.

Both horses were glad to be back home and Keno and the rest of the herd greeted Merlin and Buffy enthusiastically.

I was able to acquire a short video clip of Buffy navigating a low curb. I will try to get it onto this site soon.

Until next time.

Happy Trails

Stopping on the trail to pose for a picture. Buffy with Susan take the stage, while leaving Bryan on Roxy and Tanya on Donovan in the background.

Another breakthrough with this gallant came this summer during a trail ride on the Giscome Protage trail. August 24, 2008, we drove out to Huble Farm for a pancake breakfast, which was starting off River Mania. Boats were launched into the Fraser River while we were eating a tasty breakfast of pancakes with berries and real whipping cream, and sausages and ham. Desert was more fruit, enjoyed with a cup of hot coffee.

After breakfast, BJ, Kris and I wandered up to the trailer and met up with Tanya and Bryan. We all saddled up and mounted our horses. Buffy was excited and moved forward with the others. I sensed her hesitation with the new surroundings and horses. She lost her confidence with a steep ditch we had to cross so I dismounted and worked her through it. Once through the ditch, over the low fence and through the ditch on the other side, avoiding the cattle guard, I mounted and we were on our way. The next ditch I managed to ride her through and onto the trail.

The trail consisted of corduroy, swamp, muddy ditches, often full of water, and soft footing. We had to avoid several obstacles, some of which I dismounted for on the way out. Buffy's confidence was nourished with each stride. Three point two kilometers down the trail, we came upon a road crossing the trail. We decided to turn around at this point. This turned out to be a good idea as the weather turned on us shortly after we loaded the horses into their respective trailers.

Buffy trying to check Bandit out during our lunch break. Donovan and Roxy are tied in the background.

Buffy decided it was her time to shine. She quickly passed the lead horses and struck out in the front. I felt this was only temporary, but was pleasantly surprised when she led the entire ride back to the road. She traversed ditches full of water (avoiding broken bridges), corduroy, swamp, and the wonderful soft footing. She lost her confidence on the road but willingly followed the others, even passing the stragglers. I rode her up through the ditch and over the low fence, but she lost her confidence on the last ditch.

The following week-end, we rode the Cranbrook Hill Greenway. The first bridge posed no problem for Buffy, but the second one was longer, with water on one side and swampy ground on the other. I opted to lead Buffy when a horse in front fell off the bridge into the swamp, landing on its side. She decided not to follow me like she usually does. Off she went on the swampy side near the end of the bridge (in the same location the horse fell). Fortunately she didn't fall onto her side but stayed on her feet. The footing proved to be solid, so Buffy stopped and waited for my next que, which I gave without hesitation. She walked out onto the trail and we mounted and continued. One more bridge, without incident and we were on our way. Buffy led a few times. After about five kilometers, we stopped at a picnic table for lunch. We then turned back and rode the seven or eight kilometers back to the trailers.

Buffy enjoying some attention from Bryan during lunch on the Cranbrook Hill Greenway.

On the return trip, Buffy again took the lead several times. I led her over the narrow bridges, but boldly rode her over the short, wide one. We passed many people who were asked to talk to the blind horse as they passed so she wouldn't be startled, but they could never find her. I think many didn't believe us when we told them she was blind. She moves forward with such confidence.

Next week-end will be Buffy's first Poker Ride. The trail is familiar to us but not without some serious hazzards. A long stretch of the trail rests on the top of a cliff with a several hundred meter drop down to the Fraser River. I am hoping that I can avoid being this close to the edge by riding in the forest beyond. Hopefully others riding the trail will be respectful of Blind Buff and her needs.

The Poker Ride proved to be another stepping stone in Buffy's ability to cope with new challenges. At the start of the ride, Buffy was excited and not listening as well as I would like her to. She hadn't been on a ride with other horses since she lost her vision. The Poker Ride organizers had heard Buffy was coming out, so had kindly posted a sign cautioning other riders, and bringing their attention to the blind horse.

Buffy was leading the ride when we came upon the high, steep cliffs. Kris immediately took the lead with Merlin and I asked to follow. As soon as Buffy sensed the drop-off, she settled down and listened to me. I could feel the breeze and the sound of the Fraser River far below us as we proceeded. Buffy lost her nerve once during a short distance when we were right at the edge and tried to get away, although there no place to go. The bank climbed abruptly up our right, covered with wet, slippery weeds and grass. I pushed Buffy back onto the trail with my leg and she responded.

We climbed hills and filed down narrow trails. All was going well until a long steep climb, which seemed to go on forever. Buffy started to tire as she couldn't see where to place her feet and exerted more energy than the other horses. As we got to the top, I could feel Buffy's legs get wobbly. My geldings saddle had slipped back, so it was a good excuse to give Buffy a break. I dismounted and re-set Keno's saddle. We both remounted and continued on.

The next obstacle was a slippery, muddy, steep climb down to the bottom of a gully. This proved to much for Buffy with my added weight and I opted to use the assistance offered by the organizers. The sure-footed mare was coming up to the end of her endurance. Trusting both the men ensuring safe passage for all the riders, I dismounted and handed the lead line to one of them. Buffy followed the handler with confidence, while I picked my way through the mud in my riding sneakers.

After compliments on Buffy's trust in people, we finished the ride. My only concern, was a small group of people who didn't seem to understand or appreciate that Buffy was blind. She travels like any other horse on the trails, having been bush raised. She was never taken away from her element, so has learned to travel in rough terrain. The only clue is her elevated knees while moving forward, when she she is unsure of the terrain. Periodically she does stumble, but that is even rare!

A couple of weeks from now, we are going to try another Poker Ride, this time held by Dusty Trail Riders. Should be a walk in the park compared to this last one!

My Own Disabilties a Major Factor

Although something I prefer not to mention or even acknowledge to myself, I also have a disability. I have had two back surgeries and live in constant chronic pain. A fall could land me in a wheelchair and although I still work full-time and care for and ride my horses as often as I can, I always have this black cloud hanging over me. My husband is also disabled, and although he is still able to work full-time, there will be an unavoidable day in the near future, which will also put him into a wheelchair. He should have been in one two years ago, according to the doctors. We are both proving the doctors wrong . . . so far!

I am not looking for sympathy, but am looking to explain my more cautious training methods with Buffy. I still get on my young gelding, who is very green and has been known to buck and throw riders. Fortunately, when I ride him, he has managed to keep his feet closer to the ground. Falling off his now imposing 17 hh body is not an option I look forward to, and I have lost the strength in my legs to use them as effectively as I would like. I have ridden Razkel on trail rides and have even jumped him since my injuries. Fortunately my balance on the horses is still good.

I am still debating whether I will do the first ride on Keisha, who is getting older. I would have prefered to start her last year, but circumstances denied me the chance. This year when I take my holidays, I will start working with her and see what happens. Who knows, I may even be jumping her by the fall. Then again . . . , maybe not!

I have considered other trainers for my horses (all of whom are also my buddies and my shoulders to lean on, as well as my sense of freedom), but having trained horses for most of my life, I find it hard to let go. I am very fussy about who handles my horses, especially when I am not around to watch they are treated as I would treat them. Very few trainers in this area have proven to me that they are worthy of my trust and several have shown they are not.

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Created on December 27, 2007
Most recent update September 10, 2008

copywrite© 2007 - 2008 Susan McDonald All Rights Reserved

There are many ways to train a horse and we are not suggesting our way is the only way. You need to take ideas from several different sources and use what will work for you and your individual horse. I have always encouraged my students to take clinics and lessons from other instructors and clinicians. Then a person can sift through this knowledge and use what is needed when required.

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