This message is from: Beverly Weston <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi Sheri,
Sorry for being so long winded with this, but wanted everyone to know this is a horrible disease and something to be concerned about. I had a hanoverian mare that was one of the first horses to live thru EPM in CT. This was almost 14 years ago and most Vets didn't even know how to treat it or what to look for. Luckily, at the time I had one of the best vets in Conn. when I called him and told him she couldn't walk and she was being held up by the cement wall in her stall, he and a few of his staff members came to the boarding facility where she was being boarded. At the time, I couldn't get up to see her everyday..she was about 45 minutes from me at a boarding stable, I was working a 40 hour work week and I was 81/2 months pregnant!! It took 12 people to literally carry (they wouldn't let me help for some reason!!) her down the aisle and into one of the grooming stalls. The first thing my vet did was pump her full of DMSO thru an IV for 4 days/24 hours a day to get the swelling down. I slept on a cot in the grooming stall next to her for 4 days (being 81/2 months pregnant was uncomfortable enough~try it for four days on a cot in a barn!!). The whole ordeal was horrible. The vet did suggest that I think about putting her down because she was so far along with the disease. I didn't have the heart, in one way I felt it was my fault for not visiting more often and catching it early on, I felt I owed it to her put up a fight and that is what we did!! After the four days of IV she had improved and was actually standing straight up instead of on an angle....She was put on a 6 month combo. pack of drugs to try to rid her of the disease completely. I honestly can't remember the cocktail of drugs they used back then but they seemed to work pretty well. She was one of only two horses that had actually lived thru the EPM in the state back then. My vet warned me that EPM is truly never gone from the horses body (killed, so to speak). He told me I needed to understand that it could flare up again. We had to keep close watch on her for the remainder of her life. He said doing blood work may not show the disease but it could still be there. He also told me the neurological damage was almost impossible to measure. He did tell me I could get back to riding as soon as I was ready after the baby. When I finally did get back to her, I will tell you myself she was never the same horse again. I had a champion hunter and a solid 2nd level dressage horse, who at home was schooling 3rd level. When I returned to riding, I had a horse who was VERY sore backed, Very uncomfortable to ride, her gaits had gone down the drain and she swished her tail horribly she was never relaxed again to have someone on her back. She was not able to travel in a straight line, which might sound odd but she always had her tail cranked and she would travel concave or convex all the time. The neurological damage was evident, so from that point on I never jumped her again, I felt it wasn't fair to do that to her so we stuck with dressage but had to start at the bottom of the barrel. I had a 2nd level horse getting great scores turn back in to a training level horse barely finishing a test without going bonkers in the ring from me riding her. After a few shows I decided enough was enough and retired her. She was never ridden heavily again, A friend of mine who owns an estate in Virginia outside Washington D.C. adopted her as her lawn ornament and kept her in her heated barn with her top hunter/jumper horses to live out her life. She died at age 28 from what the vet's called neurological "shutdown" her brain got tired of sending out signals to the rest of the body. After an autopsy (at my request) they did find traces of the EPM virus in her brain and spine. I don't mean to sound depressing or to upset you. I think you should just really keep an eye on it from here out. I am sure that the advances in 14 years time have come a long way against attacking this horrible disease and that your horse will be just fine I will keep my fingers crossed and my hopes up that they figure out what exactly it is. On another note, I received my Herald here in CT. and it is wonderful!! I loved it. I didn't even notice the NFHR minutes weren't there!!! And by the way, it's not the end of the world folks, just a bump in the road. There are many things and many people worse off right now in the world and I think missing the minutes truly isn't that big of a deal. I am sure if you need or want a copy of them someone would be more than happy to email or send them snail mail to you. :-) Have a great day and enjoy the warmer weather, Beth Gerst President Northeast Fjord Horse Association
