QUESTION: 

I have a four year old mare, that just lost her eye, she was being trained to be a heal horse, the right eye is the eye that she lost, how do I retrain (or train) with one eye?

ANSWER: 

Hi Tracy,

I have ridden horses with one eye. They adapt well. The heel horse issue is one that is of more concern. I don’t heel, I only head, and I am not a rope horse expert. However the horses that I have had in the past hold their head a little different so that they can have a better field of vision, so you might not feel that they are holding their face even when you ride them. On the upside, in the box your horse will see everything and most of all the run he will be able to see. The corner is where he will lose the steer because he will obviously need to be at the steers left hip and he has vision in his left eye only. You might just have to play around with this and see how he handles it and not get yourself in the danger spot, (right behind the steer). I would rope with some experts and get a feel for how he will do. Ease into this and your horse might be just fine.

Thanks…

Mark