MY ONE-EYED UNICORN

About two years ago, I noticed that my wonderful Thoroughbred, Kit, that I have had for twenty years and trained and competed up through second level in Dressage, was doing some strange things. On trails, he was running into trees and running up on the heels of other horses. This is not normal for him. He had become a perfect trail horse and is the cover boy for all three of my trail guide books:

 He had also become afraid of getting in the trailer...now this is a horse who had ridden in the trailer a couple of times a week for years! One day, while standing beside  him on his near (left) side he ran right over me! When I got up, I put my hand up to his left eye and he didn't even blink!

I called my vet and told him I thought Kit was blind. He said it was probably just a cataract that could be removed and he'd be fine. However, when he came to inspect his eye, he realized it was optic nerve damage. The cause????

So, my sweet Kit had to adjust to a world where half of it is missing. I had to learn to be his left eye and ride him while always being conscious of what he couldn't see.

About nine months ago, his eye started bulging out of the socket.

After X-rays and ultra sounds, we discovered that a large tumor was growing behind his eye, thus causing the blindness. We tried to shrink the tumor with steroids. This seemed to be working for a couple of months. But, eventually, the eye started bulging out again.

Fortunately for me, Colorado State University has a Veterinary school that specializes in cancer/tumor research. They agreed to take him. Thank goodness they did. Otherwise, I would not have been able to afford the surgery to remove the eye and the tumor.

This is Kit in his stall at CSU before his surgery.

You can see from the first two pictures that his eye is now gone and that he has healed well. We do not know the long-term prognosis. It turns out that my special horse also has a special tumor. There are only 6 recorded cases of horses with this type of tumor. One lived for 6 months, one lived for 6 years. So I really don't know what to expect. But I had to do what I could to give him a chance. I love this horse so much!

I am excited to announce that my newest book: "The Stone of Mercy, Book 1 of the Centaur Chronicles," won the Gold Medal/First place award for Juvenile/Young Adult Fiction from the Feathered Quill Awards!

This fantasy is about the land of Crystonia that has been without a ruler for a century and a half. By tradition, the rightful heir to the throne is the one who wears the Silver Breastplate. No one expected the breastplate to be given to a young Duende girl, a descendent of the Fairies who once populated the land. Now she must complete the breastplate by gathering the four Stones of Light! You can get an autographed copy on my website: www.dancinghorsepress.com It is also available wherever books are sold. You'd have fun reading it!

MY BLIND HORSE-HE WILL BE ABLE TO SEE AGAIN WHEN HE BECOMES A UNICORN!

Kit in the Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, CO

Kit at Fox Run Regional park in El Paso County, Colorado

My precious thoroughbred, Kit, is now 24 years old. I found him in a pasture in northern Colorado as a barely trained six year old. I began training him in dressage and on trails. I competed with him through 2nd level in dressage and he was the RMDS champion twice before I retired him from competition and just used him as my main trail horse. He is the cover boy of all three of my "Riding Colorado" trail guide books. I love this horse with all my heart.

On Halloween, 2014, I was on a trail ride with my friends and Kit ran into the horse in front of me. "Weird," I thought. Then,  on another ride last fall, he ran into a tree. "Weird," I thought. Then on the trail ride at Fox Run pictured above, I was standing beside him and he ran right over me! I knew something was very wrong. I started swinging my hand toward his left eye and he didn't flinch or even blink. I called my vet, Dr. Marc McCall and told him I thought Kit had lost his vision in his left eye. Dr. McCall said it was probably just a cataract and he could remove it, making his as good as new.

When Dr. McCall checked him, he discovered that it wasn't a cataract, that it was optic nerve damage and that there was nothing we could do. Kit would be blind in that eye for the rest of his life. I was heartbroken for him.

So, I started re-training Kit to get used to half a world. At first, he appeared to be super sensitive to sound and they would spook him, but now he seems to be adjusting and coping much better. I ride him knowing I have to be his left eye. I have been riding him with a slight flexion to the left in order to center his right eye more. When I approach him from the left (the "near side" where we equestrians do most of our work) I make sure I talk to him so as not to startle him.

Kit, like all of us, needs to be allowed to accomplish all that he can. None of us is perfect so we just do our best with what we have.

I found this youtube video of a completely blind dressage horse being competed at 2nd level dressage. The horse is in Oregon, my old home state.
Click here to watch it:
https://youtu.be/NS0TqVafEeI

Horses are healers for people but people can also be healers for horses!