Kelly and Aurora
On September 10, 2001, I had a vet come to the farm, because, Aurora, was lifting up
her left rear foot. Every time she lifted the foot, it would twitch slightly and
hang there limp. There was also noticable swelling in the ankle and lower leg. The
vet came out and said that she must have kicked the barn and hurt herself or fell
down and twisted something or suffered neurological damage. He recommended
steroids. He also gave the 1st shot for the West Nile Virus on this day. On
September 12, 2001, I had another vet come out to see Aurora, because the swelling
had spread further up the leg and the twitching and leg lifting had spread to both
legs. Vet #2 took a blood test and told me that he thought that she had EPM (Equine
Protozoal Myelitis). Definitive testing required a spinal tap that he would not
perform on the farm, but rather at his facility. Due to her condition, I did not
want to put her through the stress of hauling her to some place unfamiliar. She had
also been neglected and abused when we got her one year earlier and she still
suffered from fear of men. Vet #2 gave her steriods and antibiotics and said he
would bring out the EPM medication to get her started on until the blood results
came back.
On September 14, 2001, Vet #2 came again and gave Aurora more steroids,
antibiotics and the first of the EPM medication. I gave her the old formulation of
EPM medication for one week until the new EPM medication (Marquis) could be
received. The blood tests came back and showed low white cell counts and results
consistent with a protozoal infection. I gave four tubes of the Marquis. The leg
movements became so extreme that she was pounding the ground with her feet every
time she stepped and she smacked her belly picking up her feet. At one point,
Aurora seemed to improve and then reverted to exagerated legs movements. The vet
says that she is in no pain, but the feeling is similar to having your leg or foot
fall asleep. She does not know where her back feet are and she has twitching and
jerking when the legs are picked up. In November, we started another round of the
Marquis because the symptoms were still existant.
During December 2001, I had the
vet take another blood draw and get the results. The Blood results showed that all
of her blood counts were in the normal range and by all accounts appeared to be
healthy. During the previous months, Vet #2 was in contact with the Veterinary
School at Ohio State. It was suggested that she possibly could have Lower Motor
Neuron Disease. LMND could be managed by giving vitamin E oil on a regular basis.
I gave Aurora 2 ounces of vitamin E oil on a daily basis for approximately 3 months,
with no apparent change in her condition.
After the second round of Marquis, in January 2002, I put Aurora on Heavy doses of Wheat Germ Oil, one entire bottle of Coral Calcium, Grape Seed Extract and MSN. Aurora exhibited a slight improvement; however, the winter weather appeared to bother her considerably. She would not venture out of the barn and seemed to have considerable trouble on very cold days. By spring, I was still talking to everyone I could find to get more ideas. Then I went to PBS and was given your name. During June 2002, Aurora was given the ASAP-10 poured directly into her feed. We tried to feed it to her straight and she accepted it for awhile but then she began to refuse and it became very difficult. I then poured it over her oats and gave it to her that way. During the summer of 2002, Aurora seemed to improve quite a bit; but, still had exagerated leg movements and slight twitching. The Winter of 2002 - 2003 was again very hard on her. By spring of 2003, I began to notice that she moved fluidly and didn't have the rigidity or leg twitching. My Horse Shoer noticed a change also. In June 2003, I had the vet come out because Aurora had a possible urinary infection and/or colic. He seemed impressed that she had improved to the degree that she could possibly be ridden. In June 2003, I rode Aurora for the first time in two years. Her movements were unhesitating and smooth. She appears to not have any symptoms at this time. One of the helps to Aurora's improvement was the fact that she has three other horses in the pasture with her. We did not limit her movements in anyway or keep her in a stall. The other horses would push her and forced her to keep moving during the entire time of her convalescence.
Kelly Overcasher
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