Vision in equine athletes is critical for performance as well as horse and rider safety. Cataracts are opacities of the crystalline lens of the eye that result in significant vision impairment or blindness. Our recent retrospective study identified that American Quarter Horses (AQH) are significantly over-represented for the development of primary cataracts that are either present from birth (congenital cataracts) or develop early in life (juvenile cataracts). Primary cataracts occur as a primary problem without predisposing factors such as intraocular inflammation or ocular trauma and are most often bilateral in AQH. This information supports a genetic basis of primary cataracts in the AQH breed. The only vision restoring treatment option for cataracts is surgery, which is expensive and generally has poor long-term visual outcomes. Currently published reports on cataract surgery outcomes in horses indicate as few as 26% of operated horses retain vision at 2 years post-operatively. As such, primary cataracts, whether they are operated or not, often result in a horse not being usable as a riding horse. Given this poor prognosis for use, euthanasia of foals born with large congenital cataracts may be pursued. The high cost and risk of cataract surgery particularly in young, unproven horses makes this a disease with a high financial impact. Uncovering the genetic mechanism of primary cataracts in AQHs would allow for informed breeding through marker-assisted selection and a reduction in the frequency of this blinding and costly disease.