What is a wall-eyed horse?
A wall-eyed horse is one with an excessively pale eye, or with two eyes of different colours.
A wall-eyed horse is one with an excessively pale eye, or with two eyes of different colours. The Yorkshire Historical Dictionary, compiled at the University of York, defines it as “used generally of a horse with both eyes excessively light-coloured, or with different-coloured eyes”.
It’s an old word, and the dictionary dates it: a West Stonesdale record of 1618 lists “a mare, wall-eyed with a starr, value 30s” — a description doing the job a passport silhouette does now, identifying one animal by its eye and its face marking.
It describes appearance, not a defect. A pale or blue eye is a pigment matter, and sight is not affected by the colour itself. Why some horses have blue eyes covers what actually produces it.
It’s also the first thing an owner looks for in a picture. Our portraits are made from your own photograph, so an odd eye stays an odd eye.
Written by Craig Fearn, Stable & Hoof.
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Questions, answered
Does wall-eyed mean a horse is blind in that eye?
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No. It describes the colour of the eye, not its function. The Yorkshire Historical Dictionary defines it as an excessively light-coloured eye, or two eyes of different colours.
How old is the term?
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At least four centuries. The Yorkshire Historical Dictionary cites a 1618 West Stonesdale record: "a mare, wall-eyed with a starr, value 30s".
From the journal