09/10/2026
Let's talk about eyeballs 👀 The vast majority of eye problems we see are pretty straightforward. A horse rubs its eye, scratches its cornea, we come up with a treatment plan and the eye heals without issue.
Sometimes things get a lot more complicated. Pictured above is one of Dr. Daly's recent cases. One look at the eye and she knew it needed to come out. Why?? Well a couple of reasons actually.
1). The fluid you see dripping from the cornea actually originates from inside of the eye. Meaning the cornea has ruptured. Trying to save the eye in cases like this is difficult and gets expensive very quickly, with no guaranteed outcome.
2). This horse lives on an island requiring a ferry boat or airplane ride to provide veterinary care. This makes close management of this case more difficult, more complicated, and more expensive.
So Dr. Daly took it out. Not exactly what anyone planned for on a Saturday morning, but something we're completely prepared to do. Everything Dr. Daly needed was already in her truck.
An enucleation is a procedure that can be performed standing in a horse. The patient is sedated and given pain meds. The area is numbed and the eye is removed (we'll spare you the gory details of the actual surgery). The entire process takes about an hour or less.
After 3 weeks Dr. Daly removed the sutures and this little lady is doing so well! She's no longer in pain and is adjusting to life with one eye.
It's truly amazing what veterinarians are able to do, especially horse vets (we may be a little biased 😍).
