Is it common for a white horse to go blind?

Question

He had no pigment. His skin was mostly pink except for a few Appaloosa spots on his chest and rump and one streak down his hoof. He had blue eyes and slowly went blind. He was my horse Sam when I was growing up so this was quite awhile ago. It has always bugged and was just wondering if anyone knew.

Answer 1

aww! I am so sorry, i have horses and i am growing up around them, and i had a friend once that had a all white show horse that eventually went blind. So i can assume that it might be normal. You could probably research that topic.

Answer 2

i dont think it makes a difference what coulor they are  

Answer 3

I'd say so. Him having basically no pigment makes him VERY sensitive to the sun. If he was outside all day, the sun could have been slowly damaging his cells. Watch out for his skin as well, he may develop some problems there too.  

Answer 4

Yes, white horses, especially those with blue eyes have a noted propensity for going blind.

It may partially have to do with increased vulnerability to sunlight, but it's more likely due to linked genes that are present in the recessive alleles required to express the white coat and blue eyes in those horses.

Similar links in recessive traits in cats lead to a higher than average tendency for white cats with blue eyes to become deaf and develop feline leukemia.

Answer 5

Whether an animal is an albino or not has nothing to do with being blind.  if you sincerely think that he was blind than he probably was.