| MadSci Network: Zoology |
Dear Paul, Horses most certainly have differing color eyes, although they are not common. The following text is quoted from Dr. R.M. Miller's book "The Revised Health Problem of the Horse" published by Western Horseman Inc. 1988. "When horsemen speak of a glass-eyed horse, they refer to an eye that is any color other than normal [brown], but the eye is usually some shade of blue. A 'china eye' is blue, a 'wall eye' is part blue and part white, and a 'watch eye' is a mixture of yellow and blue. Glass eyes are hereditary and may be seen in any kind of horse, although they are most common in Appaloosas and paints. A horse may have two glass eyes, or one glass eye and one normal eye. Horses with glass eyes have perfectly normal vision. There are a lot of old wives' tales around about such horses having poor vision or being susceptible to snow blindness. A glass-eyed horse is no more susceptible to snow blindness than a blue-eyed man as compared to a brown-eyed man. One often hears that glass-eyed horses are night-blind. This is not ordinarily true. …. Another popular fallacy is that glass-eyed horses are spookier or wilder than other horses. This is simply not true. The white around the eye, or 'staring' effect, often makes them LOOK wilder, but the glass eye is not related to disposition. There have been many well known horses with glass eyes." There also is an explanation of glass-eyes and some OK pictures at the following site. http://www.ara bian-horses.com/feature/margo/glass.htm Sorry I couldn't find any other pictures. Hope this answers your question. BK
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