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HORSE EYE PATCH
John Henline
407-451-5154
They say that necessity is the mother of all inventions. Well, I found myself desperately needing a way to protect one of my horse's eyes so I came up with a very easy and quick way.
Sara, my high strung Arabian mare, caught her eyelid on something in the pasture. Probably was rubbing on something and when her eyelid got caught she jerked and ripped her eyelid half off. We got Dr. Roberts out, who stitched it back on. Got through about 5 days and she started rubbing it and ripped the stitches out. Dr. Roberts stitched it back on again and said that we were going to have to cover the eye with something, but that the "store bought" patch that they usually use had been broken and it being Sunday it would probably be at least two days to get another one shipped in.
One idea that the Vet suggested came from one of her colleagues. Supposedly, back in the "good ole days" they would take a ladies nursing bra and strap it on the head of the horse (I still can't get the visualization out of my head). Leaving one side open and the other side could be opened when the eye needed cleaned or looked at. Well, I was flat out of nursing bras (no pun intended). I also thought that I would need something with a little bit more protection considering the horse I was dealing with. So, we eventually decided to use a fly mask as a starting point. We knew that we needed to attach something to the mask that would protect the eye, not injure the eye, and allow air for the wound to heal. After several failed ideas, I was even going to use an old athletic cup, I remembered that I had an old pair of knee pads that I used for laying tile. They were padded on the inside and made of a hard but pliable plastic on the outside. I cut the straps off and attached it to the fly mask with plastic lock-ties. Walla, it worked perfect.
 Darth Vader
We were thinking of painting it black and calling her Darth Vader, but she has been through enough without adding insult to injury.
I hope you never have to use this idea but when you're in a bind and you need something that will help, maybe you will remember this.
Happy Trails
John Henline
407-451-5154
John@JohnHenline.com
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