Ladyhawk is a 10 yr old Paint mare. I got her as an unbroke two year old, with the plan of having my son put some time/training on her and then find her a different home. The day we went to look at her, and ultimately bring her home, you could immediately tell there was something special with her personality. Even as a rather young unbroke horse with only a little handling to that point, she was quite level headed and mature. It didn't take long to find many situations where this maturity showed through. As my son was able to spend time working with her, he would often comment how good she did with the training, and will still comment about her being one of the best, if not the best horse he has worked with in his years of training many horses. So, needless to say, she is still with me to this day, and my son has mentioned many times over the years that she will never go anywhere.
A little more than two years ago, my son would end up moving to Maryland. Since I didn't always do a lot with the horses, he would end up taking her with him to Maryland. Only a few months after moving out there, Ladyhawk would sustain an eye injury. At first, it seemed to simply be a minor abrasion, easily treated with some ointment. After a day or so with no improvement, and possibly even getting worse, he would call the vet. The vet in Maryland would prescribe a more aggressive treatment, and after some consultation, would conclude that it was a condition that, at the very least, would result in diminished or loss of sight, to possibly even losing the eye. Having continued on this course of action for approximately a couple of weeks, but not feeling right about the treatment(this includes my son's feelings as well), I borrowed a truck and drove to Maryland and brought Ladyhawk back to Ohio to get her to Dr. Anders.
Dr. Anders immediately sewed the third eye-lid shut to give the eye protection as well as aid in the body's ability to heal(something the vet(s) in Maryland never mentioned or even considered as part of the treatment). It seemed that this sewing the eyelid shut was possibly the most critical part of the treatment. Of course, even with this eye-lid sewn shut, I still had to treat with ointment and eye drops, as well having herbs in her grain(which was no easy task in getting her to eat given how she was feeling). Under Dr. Anders care from that point forward, Ladyhawk would not only recover from this injury, but also, seem to end up with best case scenario in regards to the injury/eye. After being faced with the possibility of worst case scenario where she might lose the eye, the only remaining noticeable change is a small bluish scar on the surface of the eye no bigger than the size of a pencil eraser. Without going to the extent of specialized tests that can determine the percentage of eye sight either lost or remaining, there is no noticeable change in vision as far as how well she can see. Even with the small scar causing a very small blind spot(dot), there is no apparent change in vision. I truly feel that without the care and treatment of Dr. Anders, we would not have had anywhere near the good outcome that we did.
HAPPY TO HEAR ABOUT LADYHAWK -thank you for your story.