I am sad to report that I lost Flirt to colic January 19, 2007. It was finally time to say goodbye. I still miss her terribly and tear up at the thought of losing her. There will never be another like her.

Johnny is doing well and getting along as best as he can. He now spends time with Awesome, a 23 year old paint gelding with severe arthrtisi in his knees. Awesome requires corrective shoeing every 8 weeks ($300!) at the Ohio State University to help him with his joint degeneration. The vets have given him 1-2 years until his legs give out, but for now they are happy to see that I am content to keep him around while he can still run and get up and down, even if it takes him a bit longer than the other horses.

Made it to Ohio

Johnny made it to Ohio. We stopped overnight at a neat Bed and Breakfast in Michigan after 12 hours on the road, and he actually looked better than when he got in the trailer. After another 4 hours in the morning, he was still doing well. Unfortunetly, after being at his new home for a week he suddenly went into his leaning and ataxia thing again. I don't know if at this point he simply has some perminant damage and he once in a while triggers the ataxia, or if he's still relapsing. He was started on Marquis at a double dose yesterday. He does not seem any worse today, but nor does he seem any better.
His new home is fairly relaxing. Ohio is flat, which is helpful for my arthritic horses, although it is mud season.

Snow day!

Winter Trot
Originally uploaded by Elusive Elegance.

Today is our late winter snowstorm. Several inches. This is Flirt today in the snow; she's doing well and hasn't had a colic since her episode a couple of months ago. We're prepairing for our move to Ohio at the end of the month.
Johnny's medication finally came in on Friday and I went to pick it up, but only 2 tubes came rather than 8. I was about to start him back on the Marquis on Friday but when I went out to give it to him he had a fever and was very sore on his ataxic leg. His heart rate and respiration were also up, and he seemed in immense pain and didn't even care to pay attention to me. I gave him some banamine and called out the vet, who did blood work on him.
He went on antibiotics and likely was harboring some sort of bacterial infection. I do not know what; perhaps some form of cellulitus, which he's had before. His temperature was down to normal within 24 hours and although his leg had doubled in size, this morning his leg was back to normal. He still is limping just a little bit, but appears much better. Hoping to start the Marquis soon.

Snow day!

Winter Trot
Originally uploaded by Elusive Elegance.

Today is our late winter snowstorm. Several inches. This is Flirt today in the snow; she's doing well and hasn't had a colic since her episode a couple of months ago. We're prepairing for our move to Ohio at the end of the month.
Johnny's medication finally came in on Friday and I went to pick it up, but only 2 tubes came rather than 8. I was about to start him back on the Marquis on Friday but when I went out to give it to him he had a fever and was very sore on his ataxic leg. His heart rate and respiration were also up, and he seemed in immense pain and didn't even care to pay attention to me. I gave him some banamine and called out the vet, who did blood work on him.
He went on antibiotics and likely was harboring some sort of bacterial infection. I do not know what; perhaps some form of cellulitus, which he's had before. His temperature was down to normal within 24 hours and although his leg had doubled in size, this morning his leg was back to normal. He still is limping just a little bit, but appears much better. Hoping to start the Marquis soon.

Today's update

Well, Johnny's medicine was supposed to come yesterday but they didn't mail it until yesterday, so it won't be coming until early next week. That has me worried, because Johnny is just getting worse and his relapse wasn't nearly as bad as last time. But if he has to wait another few days, it may end up being so.
He has a vet appointment scheduled March 27th at Ohio State with Dr. Reed...13 hours trailer ride, then a vet appointment. Sorry old boy...I do it because I love you!

Johnny in May

Blustery Day
Originally uploaded by Elusive Elegance.

This is a photo of Johnny and Ella in May of 2002. Ella is in the back. I lost her a year ago, after having to move my horses when my rental house burned down. She had a heart attack from the stress of moving (she was an old girl) and was dead less than a day later.

Today's update

Johnny's relapsed. I am going to try to get ahod of the vets to find out what to do now, but today is a holiday so nobody is at work.

Johnny's update

Johnny finished his last double-dosing of Marquis two days ago. He had a vet appointment for a neuro exam which he did very well on, except he was still doing some mild leaning. Today he seems a bit worse, but it could be my imagination or it could be due to the fact that it's below zero outside and maybe he's a bit stiffer than normal. I am really hoping that he's finished with this EPM thing. We're both getting really tired of treating it.
To recap:
He got a very acute case in October of 2005. He was tested for EPM, which came up positive, Se deficiency, Vitamin E deficiency, west nile, and EHV/Rhino. Those were all negitive. His spinal tap came back positive and he had radiographs done of his neck, which showed some mild arthritis but not likely anything that would have caused neurological problems. He was hospitalized for a week. He was started on a 28-day round of Marquis. After about a week he got acute laminitus and was hospitalized for another week. About 4-5 days before the cessation of the drug he was completely back to normal.
About 2 weeks later he relapsed. He was put on antiinflammatories and then Navigator paste. After the 3rd (?) day of treatment he got laminitus, so he was taken off the drug for 3 days. He completed the 28-day dosage. He then relapsed 36 hours after his final dose.
He began treatment on Marquis again immediatly. He once again got laminitus, but the treatment was continued. Three weeks into the process, he relapsed, but without getting laminitus. He was immediatly bumped up to a double dose of Marquis, which we continued for three weeks.
Two days ago, the final day of his double-dosing regiment, he was taken in for a neuro exam and evaluation. He could walk, trot, canter, gallop, and buck.
The entire time he has been off hay and on complete feeds and sweet feeds only. I have been adding fat, vitamin B-1, Selenium, and vitamin E to his diet daily (all of which are supposed to promote nerve health, and the fat is supposed to hold the drugs in his system longer), and some days he is on banamine or bute. He is also on a glucosamine and vitamin/mineral supplement. He has been kept isolated in a small paddock, and is blanketed so he can invest more energy into killing parasites rather than keeping warm.
Wish us the best of luck. He's sick and tired of all of this, and so am I. EPM isn't supposed to take so long to treat when it's being treated this aggressively!

Elusive John

Elusive John
Originally uploaded by Elusive Elegance.

A picture of my thoroughbred gelding.

Today's update

Johnny is moving fine, but is still leaning a bit. Today is his last day on the double dose of Marquis, so we'll keep our fingers and hooves crossed and see what happens. He had a neuro exam today with Dr. Ott at Cleary Lake Equine, which he passed with flying colors. He had a good gallop around the arena and several hard bucks! Wish us luck!