Sterling's Second Start

Once upon a time way back in 2007, in a land far removed from Georgia, a little Thoroughbred colt was born. With wide brown eyes and a taste for wood, "Dixie Jammin'" wasn't your typical colt. We don't know everything, but we do know he learned enough about racing to earn his gate card and Jockey Club tattoo. But from that point until September 2010 the story gets muddy. Why September 2010? Because that is when Blue Skies Riding Academy heard about the West Virginia seizure of 52 horses from Hidden Meadows Equine Rescue for starvation and neglect.

This is what our instructors Heather and Sami found when they first saw "Dixie". Scoring only a 1.5 on the Henneke Body Scale, the poor gelding was deemed fit by the on site vets to travel; and so with two other survivors Connor and Ella Grace began the journey to a new life. When I arrived the next morning and took their liquid breakfast out to the West Virginia babies my heart broke at the lack of spark in their eyes. Even food didn't perk their interest. At the so called rescue they were freed from, the animals were eating acorns and rocks just to fill their bellies.

It was agreed by one and all Dixie did not fit this gelding! He was shy, introverted, a cribber of unparalleled determination, and afraid of his own shadow. I don't remember who first came up with "STERLING", but it stuck. As the weight slowly came back and his rehabilitation progressed, it was time to find Sterling a person. Many of us took time with Sterling, working with his wood addiction, teaching him ground manners, and giving him more love than he could handle. Due to starvation, his growth was stunted. As he gained strength, he popped out abscesses, strained muscles in his rump and was butt high more months than we could count. Now, at 5 years of age he is over 17 hands and all horse. But he still needed a person. Enter Tiffany -

Tiffany works at the barn part time, as an instructor and volunteer. While her background is in dressage, Tiff couldn't help but fall for our little "Ster-Fry". His movement, when correct, was beautiful; his legs long and delicate, and keeping him at a trot for more than 10 paces a joke. And so, the long-legged dressage rider became the person for a green hunter prospect.

Sterling is technically grown up now. At 5 his size might not change, and his cribbing obsession is just as strong as day one, and he is still afraid of his own shadow, but what a magnificent horse he has become. Tiffany is finishing up her art degree, and Sterling has become the model for many of her school projects.

With Tiffany at school, another person has stepped up to love on our "Chicken of the Barn", Kim. Kim has been riding ponies at BSRA for many years, and when it was decided Sterling needed another rider to help train him, Kim happily volunteered. The pairing is awesome, and they have already made quite an impression together in the local shows. Sterling is still green, and sometimes it shows, but he is all heart!

This weekend, Kim and Sterling will be competing at the GHJA finals, and Tiffany will be there ringside cheering him on. Our little Thoroughbred has come a long way from the dull, ragged, neurotic baby I first met sucking on the top rail, but I know his future will be brighter still with the love of two good women, a barn full of friends, a round bale to dive into and a piece of wood to suck on!

If you would like more information on Blue Skies Riding Academy, our rescue and retraining program, or our riding lessons, please visit our website at www.blueskiesridingacademy.com.

The Happiest Little Pony in the World

This week has been a good one for my Blue Skies babies.

Connor, a rescue from West Virginia, who arrived at BSRA in September of 2010 at the ripe old age of 18 months, has an adoption pending. Connor hasn't had an easy life since birth. We don't know where he came from or when he entered the slaughter pipeline. We do know he was saved from slaughter and sent to a facility in West Virginia. When the police and animal control stepped in to save the dying and starved horses at this 'rescue', we took three home to Emerson.

When Connor arrived, his weight wasn't too bad, but it was obvious he was at the bottom of the herd. His sides were covered with bites and kicks. Luckily with only two other horses in a very large pasture he was able to perk up much quicker than his two companions: Sterling and Ella Grace.

From the first we didn't try to ride Connor much, especially being unsure of his age. When he was ridden or worked with from the ground, he proved to be a very bombproof little Quarter Horse. Still growing we were excited for his future when disaster struck our beloved 'Khan'.

One summer night, while the herd was in the pasture, Connor ended up impaled on a wooden fence post. The barn manager came quickly, hearing the commotion in the barn, but the damage was already done. Connor's chest was split from top to just behind the front legs. That was June 2011.

His recovery has been slow, with forward progress and a few relapses. Last March we took him along with Vince to Auburn to have the slow closing wound ultra sounded to make sure there was no wood still caught in the chest. Once they gave Connor the 'all clear', we began using him for pony rides, walking only. He has spent his days growing (he is approaching 15 hands while we never thought he would go over 14), eating and regaining his strength.

Connor's personality is pure Quarter Horse. He got a little nippy when on stall confinement for 8 months, so you have to remind him not to grab for treats, but other than that his personality is all sunshine. Now, he has met a little girl who adores him, and it is easy to see he loves her too. The happy ending we all were afraid might never happen for this miracle horse is now becoming a reality.

I will miss him greatly. In the pasture he was the quiet companion of any horse who felt alone. Everyone loved on him, but we all wanted so much more for him than the life of a sanctuary horse. Thanks to all of those who have prayed for this little guy, brought him treats, hand walked him during the rough early days, and to Heather and Sami for bringing him into our lives. I cannot imagine our barn without him, but I wouldn't change this adoption for the world.

He's earned it.

Into A Completely New Day

Late on Thursday afternoon, Dr. Groover and the Neurology team referred the case to the Surgical Department. The biggest break in our case was the really bad attitude Vince had developed in the preceding weeks. Always a little head shy, he had become down right unsociable. Not even AJ was immune to his poor view on life. His behavior was more irritated than would come from pure EPM, I was informed.

Vince had lameness issues.

When he was purchased in July of 2011 from Florida his feet were not in great shape. They were bruised, dry and he was almost walking on his heels. Since then we have been slowly balancing his feet. But when he moved, ever so gradually it became apparent there was something going wrong. The Surgical team repeated all the trotting motions the Neurology team had performed but they added another component - flexation.

First the front legs and then the back were pulled and tucked and after each time, the tech would trot him down the lane, stop at the end and return. With the front legs no amount of flexing or pulling made a difference. But as soon as they came to the back legs it was a completely different story.

The resident, whose name I will not attempt to spell because it was Italian and I never got it right, believed the problem was in the hocks. As the owner of one horse with bad hocks, from a first career as a reining horse, my immediate response was, "Are you sure?" She assured me the final decision would come from the head of the Surgical department, who name I will not attempt to spell because it was strange and I never got it right.  To confirm the decision a block would be injected into Vince's hock to measure the difference in pain when trotting.

More needles! But first we had to have our hocks washed to make sure no dirt could get into the injection site. While the cleaning portion wasn't too bad, they did have to sneak a calming shot into my boy to prevent their heads from getting caved in. Waiting for the block to take hold, the Surgical head came in from his afternoon classes.

The entire parade moved outside. Between the techs, the residents, the students and us there were about forty-eleven people watching my gelding trot back and forth. After three strides, the Surgical head proclaims, "It's not the hocks, it's the suspensory ligament." So back we go into the procedure room for another shot. (Did I mention there was still blood on the floor?)

After waiting inside everyone then troops back outside for another trotting session. Another down and back and Dr. Surgical Head announces that his problem moved from the left leg to the right. Amazing - my horse is so talented. Now the call is to sonogram the suspensory ligaments in the back legs. This means more sedation and a shave for each back leg.

To make a long story short (I know, too late!), we discovered three things:
1) - Vince has a lesion on his left suspensory ligament.
2) - His right ligament is inflamed.
3) - My horse can snore and drool while on drugs.

The lesion on the ligament is not new. It can be caused by repetitive off-balance motion, especially at high speeds. Vince is a jumper. They are prone to these injuries. It is treatable. Vince received a PRP injection. PRP stands for Platelet Rich Plasma. Basically they took Vince's blood, again, and spun it inside a centrifuge to separate the platelets. These are injected into the injured ligament to promote healing. It is very successful, though he might not be as enthusiastic about jumping all the time anymore.

Both horses spent the night, as the procedure was done on Friday morning before all the vets had to go either teach or be in class. After dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and a good night's sleep we awoke and drove back out to the Large Animal Hospital. Vince was just coming out of his sedation haze when we entered the barn. Connor had been wonderful, even feeling safe enough to lay down and sleep overnight.

With clouded skies and too warm temperatures we loaded, paid the bill and left. We ran into rain around the state line which at times was so hard you couldn't see the road in front of the car. Closer to Atlanta the sun came out and the ground dried up and at long last we were back at Blue Skies.

I confess to a large sigh of relief that our worst fears were not confirmed, but there is still a long road to rehab and recovery. For the next 30 days Vince is on stall rest with hand walking. Then we go back to Auburn for a recheck and further instructions. We could tell he already was feeling better because he was cribbing again and his sweet goofy attitude was back today. It was nice to see.

EPM is a horrible illness, and I learned so much I didn't know before. While he does not have an active case I feel for those who are going through the pain and frustration of this disease. I wholeheartedly recommend Auburn University Large Animal Teaching Hospital and its staff. The entire experience, from initial phone call through the on-site process was excellent. At times I felt frustrated, with the trotting and the shots, but most of that is the teaching aspect of the hospital. And no outrageous expense.

On a different but related note - Sneaky is going strong. The swelling to the butt and sheath are still there, but he is hanging in there. He gets walked a little every day, just to assess his movement. We take off his blanket, check the swelling, see how much he ate and how much he drank along with his poop and pee levels, which are still good. So that leaves Sneaky and Vince, two good friends, in slow motion rehab.

While originally this was going to be about Vince and EPM, I have decided to continue this blog. Sneaky and Vince still have a long road to walk and they enjoy being the subject of their own blog. Every person who owns a horse is never amazed when something out of the blue happens. I hope that we can help others who are treating their own brave and loyal companions. You aren't alone, although sometimes it feels that way. We all share the pain.

A Long Days Journey...

We left for Auburn University early on Thursday morning. Of course we were stuck in rush house traffic. Our appointment was 10:30 Central time, so we had allowed ourselves for this circumstance, but with a car as well as the truck and trailer it was nerve wracking for AJ as well as Vince and Connor.

Connor had come along for two reasons. First and foremost he appeared to have a possible ulceration on his right eye. A month previous he had injured the eye, and after the medication had cleared up the large pimple, there was a small white cloud in his lens, resembling an ulcer. Second, he had impaled himself on a fence post last June and we were never confident there wasn't something left in the wound.

I know it sounds strange that would be the lesser issue, but after more than seven months, the wound was closed and scar tissue had closed the large gaping chest piercing. The possible ulcer was more urgent - we were afraid on top of his other scar Connor would lose his eye as well. Our little rescue had already come through so much none of us could bear more loss.

Once past the morning chaos of Atlanta our trip passed uneventful. Gaining an hour when we crossed the state line we arrived in Auburn at the Large Animal Teaching Hospital at 10:20am. Check in was similar to any vet, excepted the part where the trailer drove into a gate controlled parking lot and vet techs and students descended upon Connor and Vince, separating them into two different areas: Surgery and Neurology.

While AJ went with Connor, as she was more familiar with both his issues, M and I went with Vince. The resident in Neurology began asking questions as they ran their hands over his legs and back, then began trotting him back and forth over the asphalt parking lot. The students conferred and muttered and did more trotting and then the decision was made to draw more blood for more significant testing.

Bad move - the only living thing I have ever seen more afraid of a needle than myself was my horse! As AJ was walking up to join us and attempting to tell them not to come at his face with a needle, Vince saw the offending implement. What followed could only be described as a cluster. Somehow they managed to get the needle into his neck but before they could connect the collection tubes, he took a cue from another of our horses and played "Spin A Pony"! For as long I as I live I will never stop snickering every time I think of him spinning the tech and newbie veterinarians with the needle hanging out of his neck.

Next the Surgical team came to tell us Connor didn't have an ulcer, all the while the Neurology team was attempting to load Vince into the exam chute. Another bad move - having lost all respect for everyone around him because of the needles, Vince had decided this wasn't any fun and took a page from the mule handbook and refused to cooperate further.

Taking Vince back outside Dr. Groover, the Neurology vet and AJ and I have a further conversation about Connor. The clouded spot in his eye is scar tissue, which is fusing a portion of his lens to the cornea. The eye is functional and his vision does not seem to be affected. They took a sonogram the chest area and there were no foreign bodies or pus pockets in the chest. For the first time, we are given an official okay to let Connor have a job.

Vince's journey, however was about to take a wide detour.

After more conversation and conferences Dr. Groover decided to bring the Surgical team into Vince's case. The key to the was becoming something we attributed to the EPM - a bad attitude. What we discovered was a long step in a couple of other directions.