Any tips on how to get eye drops in horse eye?  My 13 yr old presented 12 days ago with a half masted eye and slight tearing.  no swelling, no pusy discharge - no temp. I flushed it out with clear eyes a couple times for two days, I got a good look and didn't see anything in the eye or stuck in third eye lid.   I put Terrimycin opthalmic  in twice a day for 3 days - I have had a scratched cornea and it takes a few days to a week to heal.  It wasn't looking any better/or worse after a week so Wednesday I hauled her into the vet where we got a good look at it, she has a small scratch (ulcer) about the size of a small grain on rice, the vet said it has started to knit already, it started to turn cloudy in that corner but did not look infected.  She said it would get more cloudy grey before it cleared up. She sent me home with Remend drops three times a day and NePolyBac Triple Antibiotic Opthalmic Ointment, and a tube of Bute.  My Mare stands still with her feet but she is getting worse at letting me get the drops in. she clinches her eye shut and squirms, I have used 25% of the drops in two days just trying to get -one- drop in. With the greasy ointment it is almost impossible to hold her lid open.  So asking you old pros out there if anybody has any tricks you would like to share? 

Are the tear ducts open?

Best way is to put horse against a wall, tied up very very short, with a helper talking to and petting horse, while you, standing on a step stool in order to get up high enough, pry open the eye lid and put medicine in eye.

It may be a situation where the cure is worse than the problem.  Best wishes to you and your horse.

I have smeared the greasy ointment on the edges of the slammed shut eyelids in hopes that with blinking the stuff would get into the eye.  My girl's eye healed up a long time ago but I really doubt that it was due to anything I did.

I once had to help my neighbor doctor his horse's eye. Talk about a fight! There's no holding the head of a 1,200 pound horse when he chooses to quickly jerk his head.

Over the years, I've had to administer ointment. What I've done is to make sure my hand is clean, fingernail cut short, squirt the ointment onto my finger and then pull the bottom lid down and quickly run the finger along the bottom lid leaving the glob of ointment on the inner side of the lid. When you release the lid, the ointment spreads across the eye. Although now I'd use rubber gloves on the ointment hand.

Some horses, like people, make better patients than others! Good luck.

And we'll see how well one of my horses accepts eye ointment~I have the vet coming this morning to check on an eye that is gunky and running. I'll keep all of you posted.

Gee, now I think I'm afraid to read/comment on any other horse ailments! 

Rose, You called it! The vet determined that the duct was almost entirely blocked. He flushed it several times, and we should be "good to go". No ointment needed at this point.

It's best to check with the vet as opposed to "self medicating". I had a friend offer me some ointment, but am glad I used my better judgment and had the vet come. He first put a flourescent stain on the eye to see if there was an ulcerated cornea~which there wasn't. Then he watched to see if the stain drained into the nasal passage~which it didn't except for a very delayed small trickle. So he then went up into the nasal passage and flushed the duct 3 times. Quiz didn't particularly like that, but we should see a marked improvement.

Note that Quiz only has a partial upper eyelid on this side, so I am always very observant about its condition. The former owner said it had been an injury from when he was a colt. I took this pic after treatment to show the green stain. BTW, when first applied, the stain colored the entire eye. It's a tad gross, but am including it to perhaps be of help to any others who might be tempted to self diagnose.

Z, I'm assuming that it was a blocked tear duct, too? My vet put a twitch on Quiz, which he didn't particularly like either. But I'm also glad that he didn't sedate my horse just to make it easier on himself. It's interesting how different vets approach varied approaches to similar problems.

I recently had a horse at a university vet hospital for 54 days and were fortunate to witness all sorts of medical situations during our stay. It was a super experience not to mention a costly one. I came away from the two months aware of so many potential health issues.

Just want to give a "heads up" (no pun intended) about what happened to us with a very similar situation.I  had a beloved gelding,I had sold his mother to buy him,to go blind from such an incident.He had a tear duct that was blocked.We pasture boarded our horses at the time,and,even though we followed the vet's instructions to the letter twice a day,this horse did go blind in that eye over the course of the winter.He developed a cataract on the other eye,that's how we discovered he was blind,because,you could not tell by looking at him.We had it removed by a top equine opthamologist,but,he was ruined as far as riding went and we were not able to keep him.He now lives at an equine rescue facility.Sad story,but,a horse can go blind in about 48 hrs,so,a vet is always consulted for anything other than a plain clear teary eye at our place.Hope your horse is doing well by now.

PS you were very wise by not using something that somebody else recommended.My vet said that the wrong type of eye medication can actually CAUSE blindness.(cortisones when they are not indicated.)

Sorry about your unfortunate outcome with your gelding's eye. I think it's a common misconception that people (mainly non-horsey) often regard horses as big study rough tough animals when actually they are such delicate animals and so vulnerable to disease/injury.

And you're right on target about using the wrong medications.

Aceliberty

Glad it was only a clogged tear duct