nature
A blind horse won Royal Windsor for the eighth year
He lost both eyes. He kept winning ribbons.
Milo, a 15-year-old Appaloosa gelding in England, has returned to competitive dressage despite losing sight in both eyes to an incurable condition at age 13. He now navigates the ring using rider cues, hearing, and a technique his owner compares to braille. "He interprets my pressure on him, but he also uses his own pressure, hooves on the ground surface, for his spatial awareness," said Megan Share, 28, who runs Debdale Riding School in Worcestershire. She has owned Milo since he was three, back when she was still a schoolgirl. "We almost grew up together." His hearing sharpened after the blindness set in, and he reacts faster now. Milo won the Royal Windsor Horse Show for an eighth straight year, including last year, unable to see the ring. Share describes their bond as brother and sister. She talks to him like a human, and he trusts where she points him.