‘Endo’ the blind horse gets ready to perform at Desert International Horse Park

THERMAL, Calif. -

A unique horse has come to the valley to perform at the Desert International Horse Park in Thermal this weekend. News Channel 3’s Caitlin Thropay got the chance to meet “Endo” the horse and shares why he’s so special.

Meet Endo. He’s a 20-year-old Appaloosa horse from Oregon. But he’s no ordinary horse. Endo is completely blind.

We spoke with his owner, Morgan Wagner who was born here in the valley. She shared with us Endo’s story.

“Around 8 years old Endo started to have flare-ups with the sun and his eyes were very weepy and painful and the vets diagnosed him with equine recurrent uveitis,” Wagner said.

They removed both of his eyes to reduce the pain he was in.

Today, Endo’s disability isn’t holding him back. In fact, he’s quite famous, with over 200,000 followers on Facebook.

He uses sound, smells and vibrations in the ground to know where he’s going.

“He knows about 50 or 60 words right now and I also use sound cues like the whip tapping on the ground,” Wagner said.

You can come see Endo perform this weekend for free at the Desert International Horse Park in Thermal.

He will be performing around noon on Friday, Feb. 7 in the Grand Prix Stadium.

On Saturday, Feb. 8 he will do a meet and greet at 3 p.m. in the Hunter One Arena.

“We’ll be demoing some of the liberty work that he does," Wagner said. "We have a choreographed musical routine that tells his story and we act it out,” she added.

Once a month endo travels around the country to perform and compete.

“He was the national champion last year for working equitation in the U.S.” she said.

And this champion will surely win over your heart.