I often get called to look at a horse for an eye problem. But this one was a little different. The owner called my office and told my receptionist that, “her horse’s eyes just turned green!” My initial response was, “That is impossible!” but I didn’t say that. I said, “MMM, that’s interesting. Maybe I better take a look.” When we arrived, Ren, a 10-year-old Appaloosa gelding, indeed was standing in the yard with green eyes. Normally, Ren had non-pigmented eyes in his wide blazed face that appeared blue. The iris is the part of the eye that has pigment around the pupil. Often in a horse with a wide white blaze, the pigment will be missing from the iris and cause it to look white or light blue.
A common condition of Appaloosa horses is called “Moon blindness” or recurrent anterior uveitis. This condition causes the inside of the eye to become inflamed. The pupil constricts, the eyelids swell, and if left unchecked, the lens will turn opaque and the horse can become blind. One aspect of severe inflammation is that fibrin, a yellow substance in the blood, can leak out into the inside of the eye. In this case yellow fibrin leaked into the fluid inside Ren’s eyes. Blue and yellow make green, so his normally blue eyes had turned green. This was the most severe case of uveitits I had seen in a while that was affecting both eyes. We immediately administered anti-inflammatory drugs as well as started him on atropine and dexamethazone ointment. Eventually, Ren went to North Carolina State Veterinary Hospital for a work-up by the veterinary ophthalmologists. They put him on long term anti-inflammatory therapy and well as antibiotics for Leptospirosis, as sometimes this condition is associated with that bacteria, common in cattle and deer. Ren is doing very well now and his eyes are back to their baby blues again. Ren’s owner is very aware of the possibility of blindness and calls me the minute she sees any change in his eyes. This is always a good idea, but especially if you own an Appaloosa.