If we can just get through this . . . has been Slewy’s story. I’ve had Slewy for 10 years and I’ve ridden him very, very little. Which makes me sad because he’s a very, very pretty horse.
But dear Slewy has had one major medical problem after another. We’ve chased lamenesses (non-horsey people think “hurt leg” or “limping”), x-rayed this and that and ultrasounded everything else. We’ve run So. Much. Bloodwork. I’m on a first name basis with all the vets at the vet clinic. The front office ladies know my voice; I don’t even have to say who’s calling any more!
If we can just get through this lameness. . .
The one thing we do know Slewy has is EPM – Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis. EPM “is a neurologic disease in horses caused by infection with the protozoan Sarcocystis neurona (SN). SN infects horses when they ingest the organism in contaminated feed or water. The definitive host of this organism is the opossum, which passes the organism in its feces.” (irongateequine.com)
For those of you who like charts, here’s how it works:
By some accounts, 50% of horses in the United States have been exposed to the organism that causes EPM. Some never show any neurological symptoms. Some respond to treatment to varying degrees. In some horses, its fatal. We lost our kids’ first pony to EPM.
Its a dreaded, dreaded, diagnosis.
So, Slewy . . . Slewy has had acute neurological episodes – complete loss of proprioception (doesn’t know where his feet are), walks like he’s completely drunk and loss of “tail tone” (tail is limp). We treat it and he gets better.
If we can just get through this flare . . .
And then he has another flare 6 months or so later. Sometime last month, Slewy started tripping again. He had two bad falls – they started as slight trips, but, Slewy being Slewy, resulted in a full somersault. Watching your horse somersault is really not a pleasant experience.
So I had decided that I was really going to put a ton of effort into rehabbing my horse. I know that he needs to strengthen his hind end. I did a ton of research of rehabbing neurological horses.
And then, Slewy somersaulted again. This one resulted in a large hematoma (fluid-filled lump) on his upper, right hind leg. The vet came out to look at it but was hesitant to drain it because we also think Slewy has some sort of auto-immune disease. Even the slightest scraps take months to heal. But I remained positive.
If we can just get through the hematoma, we can get to work on rehab.
A week ago Wednesday, I was confronted with this when I went out to feed:
Slewy was down and unable to get up on his own. I promise you, as a horse owner, this is a sight you never want to see.
If we can just get through this turned into “Can we get through this?”
Of course, we called the vet right away. It was decided to try to flip him over to his other side. You do that by putting ropes around the front and hind leg that he is lying on. Then, you literally pull him over to his other side and hope he gets up on his own.
It took four of us (he’s a big horse) but we got him over and after a minute, he got up on his own! Once we got him back to his stall, the vet checked him over. He was upset and stressed but otherwise seemed fine. The vet gave him some electrolytes and went home.
Yay! We got through that!
Of course, Slewy had been lying on the side with the hematoma. Over the next few days, the hematoma grew and grew and grew until it was probably 4 inches x 8 inches across, wrapping all the way around the inside of his leg. It finally got to the point where the vet felt like we had to drain it.
Monday the vet came out to address the hematoma. I’ll spare you the graphic pictures. Literally a couple of gallons of fluid came pouring out of the cavity. The good news was that there was no indication of infection. The next step was to pack the cavity with betadine-drenched brown gauze. To everyone’s amazement, the vet was able to pack four(!) rolls of 3 inch brown gauze up inside Slewy’s leg.
It was sort of tough to watch so, again, I’ll spare you the pictures. My daughter, who is planning on being a vet and has no problems with any of this stuff, excitedly recorded the entire event.
So now Slewy has a large, at least 1.5 inches x 1.5 inches, hole in his leg. The vet left it open so it can continue to drain. The plan is that we’re supposed to pull the gauze out (shudder!) Friday morning. Then, we flush it with Betadine and warm water once or twice a day for 4 days. And an antibiotic paste goes in it for 10 days. Then, we wait for it to heal, which will hopefully only (!) take 6 – 8 months.
If we can just get through this . . .
StoriLines 