Prevalence of owner-reported ocular problems and veterinary ocular findings in a population of horses aged ≥15 years.
Authors: Malalana F, McGowan T W, Ireland J L, Pinchbeck G L, McGowan C M
Journal: Equine veterinary journal
Summary
Whilst equine practitioners recognise ocular disease as prevalent in aged horses, owners frequently fail to detect or report these conditions; Malalana and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional survey of horses aged 15 years and over, collecting owner-reported ocular histories from a large population and subsequently performing complete ophthalmic examinations on a subset of 327 animals to quantify this discrepancy. The contrast between owner awareness and clinical reality proved striking—veterinary examination identified abnormal ocular findings in 88% of examined horses (287/327), yet only 3.3% of owners reported ocular disease, with poor agreement observed across all disease categories. Several risk factors emerged from the data: increasing age and Appaloosa breed predisposed to cataracts, advancing age associated broadly with ocular abnormalities, whilst horses in active work paradoxically showed lower prevalence of eye disease—notably, owner-reported ocular discharge was the only subjective observation that correlated with veterinary-identified vision impairment. For practitioners, these findings underscore the unreliability of owner assessment in identifying ophthalmic pathology in geriatric horses, suggesting that routine veterinary examination rather than reliance on client history should inform clinical decision-making, particularly given that many age-related conditions may progress insidiously without obvious external signs or functional impairment apparent to the untrained observer.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Do not rely on owner reporting of ocular disease in aged horses—perform thorough ophthalmic examinations as owners consistently underestimate and miss eye problems in horses ≥15 years
- •Consider breed predisposition (Appaloosa) and work status when assessing cataract and eye abnormality risk in older horses; ocular discharge history warrants careful evaluation for vision loss
- •Educate owners of aged horses about the high prevalence of clinically significant eye lesions that may not be obvious without professional examination, particularly in horses not actively worked
Key Findings
- •Abnormal ocular findings were detected in 287/327 horses (87.8%) aged ≥15 years during veterinary examination, but only 3.3% of owners reported ocular disease
- •Agreement between owner-reported ocular disease and veterinary ophthalmic findings was low across all categories analyzed
- •Increasing age was significantly associated with increased odds of eye abnormalities and cataracts; Appaloosa breed had increased cataract risk compared to other breeds
- •Owner-reported ocular discharge history was associated with increased odds of veterinary-reported diminished vision; horses in work were less likely to have eye abnormalities