Milo’s Eyes: How a Blind Equestrian and Her “Seeing Eye Horse” Saved Each Other

Buchner grew up around horses—she won her first blue ribbon when she was five. But she developed uveitis and became blind in one eye at age thirteen. With more than 60 surgeries over 23 years, she battled her fading sight. Determined to continue her show jumping, she bought a horse from Germany. Milo wasn’t what she expected—rough around the edges, with an attitude problem. He was frightened and neglected but she worked patiently with him in the show ring. Along with her trainer, she devised ways to navigate the jumps and protected her remaining good eye with goggles. When she finally won a competition, she mused “Not bad for a horse nobody wanted and his rider who can hardly see.” In a forthright and unsentimental style, Bachner writes movingly of her search to find cures to stave off blindness and her fears that she would become dependent on others.