Kiowa the blind horse
Kiowa
is a 5-year old Appaloosa who came to us from a rescue group
near Helena. He was also - uh oh - a stallion.
Despite his small, scrawny body and blindness, someone thought Kiowa was 'breeding stock.' Given the fact that he is almost the size of a pony - not to mention his total lack of vision - this was hard to imagine, but we've seen strange things in the horse world.
Of course, we had him gelded ("fixed" in every sense of the word) before he arrived at the ranch, but it still takes a couple of weeks for the testosterone to get out of the system. So for two weeks this small, blind horse tried to pick fights with every horse here.
It didn't matter that all the other horses were bigger than he was, or that some could see. No sir, little Kiowa would show them who's boss!
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Eventually the testosterone filtered out, just about the time one of our big blind geldings put Kiowa in his place. He finally realized he's actually a very small horse who can't see a dang thing.
Testosterone always trumps brains, and Kiowa was a perfect example. This is also why our equine vets say gelding a horse is like giving it a brain transplant. Now Kiowa is a calm, easy-going guy who doesn't have anything to prove. (Ladies: Please, don't get any ideas.)
