Blind Horses: Getting The Word To Vets

One of the things we do here, in addition to directly taking care of 80 animals, is communicating our basic message that disabled animals can have a wonderful quality of life.  (Regular blog readers don't need to be convinced of that, of course!)

The biggest challenge we have is helping people in the horse world understand that this is true of blind horses, too.  Most people assume that a blind horse is going to be dangerous, hard to handle, and miserable.  Of course, we have 25 blind horses who prove this isn't the case.

Now, we're the first to admit that there are some horses that just won't adjust well to blindness.  If you have a high-strung, spooky stallion, for example, that animal might not cope with blindness.  But the fact is that most horses, if given time to adjust, can and do adapt very well to being blind.  How well they adjust has everything to do with their personality, not the disability itself.

Our most important target audience for our blind horse message is the equine vet community, because too many vets still buy into the old myths about blind horses.  We hear, far too often, that an equine vet has told a client that the "most humane thing you can do is put the animal down."  What we want is for the vet to discuss all the options for a blind horse, not just recommend euthanasia as the first and only course of action the owner should take.  We think many equine vets do this because they honestly just haven't considered all the other options, and they may not know what else to recommend.  We want equine vets to be the "first line of defense" for a blind horse, not the first one saying, "better to put it down."

This is why we participate in the annual convention of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, the equine vet association, with an exhibit booth and materials promoting our BlindHorses.org Web site.  But even though we reach a good number of the vets who attend the convention, we realized we needed to do more to get the word out. 

So tomorrow, on Friday, we are stepping up our education campaign with a mailing to all equine vets in the U.S., as well as those in Canada and overseas who are members of the American Association of Equine Practitioners.  This is a sneak preview of the postcard we're sending out to these vets to promote our BlindHorses.org Web site.

By the way, that's our beautiful blind Lena on the cover of the postcard.  You can see why I call her the "prettiest horse in the universe"!

(Click on photos for larger image.)

Comments

[Nina]

Great idea for a campaign to save the lives of these beautiful creatures! Here's hoping many blind horses will be saved from unnecessary euthanasia.

[Karen]

Steve, you there are beyond the greatest. I wish the world could be filled with more of the two of you. Thank you for taking the time and keep us all informed.

[Nancy]

I just found my new screen saver!

[Nicci]

wow, that was wonderful reading tonight...makes me smile to think how many that card will save. blessings....

[ginger & Tobias (the greythound)]

Bravo! You are doing a marvelous service to get the word out! I applaud you in sending out these beautiful cards because they will definitely get noticed!
Big hugs for all you do,
ginger & Tobias