My heart horse hurt himself! :(

[Hrtofau2]

I am very glad that your guy will not lose the eye. Those horses man...sometimes they are so nutty! I agree with others though, sounds like something really spooked them. You mention living out a ways, and having coyotes and such. Is it possible that something a bit bigger could have spooked him? I only ask as having been around lots of horses in the past, usually when there is one horse acting nutty you pretty much be assured that they are just being nut jobs. BUT if more then one is acting off, there is usually something going on in my experience.

When my Ex's family had horses I mentioned one morning after I did feeding that they where all acting a bit off. A lot spookier then normal, even Sweets the calm gentle mare who was bomb proof was acting odd. His father told me if I did night feeding that night to not go alone. I asked why, he told me if his suspicions where right I would figure it out for myself soon enough. Later that night I did do the feeding, and sure enough I figured it out. Bobcat had been hanging around in the back turn out....Most likely feeding on or neighbors chickens. I almost missed him, except the dogs caught wind of him.

Anyway point being, might want to do a double check around and make sure you dont have something a tad bigger lurking around, even if they are "unusual" to have around, you just never know!

 

[SallyQZ]

I've seen fresh droppings around the barn that have to be from a fox or a coyote, but nothing bigger. And no scary prints in the mud. But, it honestly wouldn't surprise me if it WAS something bigger. We're rural enough that it could be just about anything, esp. with all these exotic game ranches, etc in Texas.

Now, Courage is the biggest scaredy cat in the world. It could have been something as simple as one of the chickens squawking in the dark. When he panics, his itty bitty brain just shuts down and he will do anything to get away from the object. Often the tiniest of things set him off (flowers blowing in the breeze) and I used to get so frustrated with his inability to learn that certain things weren't dangerous. He would jump a certain fence (let's say, a blue & black striped wall) and would be fine with it. Then the trainer would rearrange the jump course, moving the blue & black wall 30 ft across the arena. Courage would notice the change and would be SO upset that he would refuse to enter the arena! Head up, snorting in fear, dancing sideways.

That's why he was so good at shows (all the fences were new to him, hence he didn't know what to be frightened by) and so volatile at home (whoa ... did that fence MOVE 10 ft over? Did someone rearrange the flowers near the jump? Eeeeeek!!!!!)