Hot Shot was a normal, healthy, young Racking Horse. In January of 2011 he contracted EPM. After having a great ride on him just a few days earlier where he had done his fastest and smoothest racking gait yet, we began to notice him dropping a lot of grain and trying to drink water, but that too was falling back out of his mouth. He started running a fever and had a snotty nose. I called our vet and he came out. The vet diagnosed "cutting teeth" as the issue and left me with instructions for giving pain meds (bute) and antibiotics. The next morning, my husband let Hot Shot out into the paddock and he laid down to have a roll with his pasture mate. He was unable to get back up on his own. This was obviously not a tooth problem!
I called Dr Sean Strain, a vet that my friend Sherry recommended for a second opinion. Strain Equine Services got us in that same afternoon. By the time we got to the clinic, Hot Shot was unable to walk normally and had paralysis/numbness in his mouth and face. Dr Sean diagnosed him with EPM, hospitalized him at his facility, started an IV and began treatment that night. Two days later we got a call that Hot Shot was down in his stall and unable to get up. Dr Sean, his wife Kelly, Dr Laura Hellman, and the clinic staff got Hot Shot part way up, but he was so weak and neuro-impaired that when he struggled to stand, he flailed around and eventually fell out of the stall into the exam area several feet away. He was still flat out on his side and unable to raise his head. They hooked him up to the bucket on a tractor with straps and hoisted him to his feet. He had been down for several hours and he just dangled there totally out of it. Eventually we got him to "wake up" and stand on his own. He was able to swallow very little food or water because of the paralysis from the EPM. Nearly every night for the next 3 weeks, he would lay (fall) down, flat out on his side, and then be unable to raise his head and neck to even come up to a normal "head up" or sternal position for a horse to lay in. Every med possible was given to help pull him out of this horrible disease. Every morning Dr Strain and/or his staff used a chain hoist and straps to get Hot Shot back up on his feet again to keep him alive. My husband and/or I were there every day to spend time with him to keep him from giving up. There were days when he was standing there in a daze with his head hanging down. He was out flat on his side nearly every night for anywhere from 6-12 hours. Most horses would have died from that alone! He had about 18" of bedding in his stall and at bedtime he was also hoisted up after he had already laid down, so extra bedding could be packed under him before lowering him back to the floor trying to keep the bed sores that he now had from getting worse.
Week three, Dr Strain is now to the point of giving us "the talk" about having done everything we could and, well you know the rest..... I knew in my heart that Dr Sean was being kind and letting us know it was ok let go, but I just couldn't do it. Dr Strain called Dr Emily Long in for a consult. She evaluated Hot Shot and did a chiropractic adjustment trying to improve the neuro-impairment and fix all the subluxations in his spine from falling so many times. The next morning the miracle happened! Hot Shot was not only able to raise his head up, he got up on his own for the first time in almost a month! There was finally hope that he was going to live! Dr Emily adjusted him again a few days later and he continued to improve.
That was 7 months ago. Hot Shot still has remnants of the healing bedsores, but I am now beginning to ride him again. Dr Emily has seen him for a couple of follow-ups and has nicknamed him her "Rock Star"! Dr Sean also continues to do follow-ups on him, calls him "The EPM Poster Horse," and considers him family! He kisses him on the nose when he sees him! :) Hot Shot would not be alive today without them!
Suzie & Dave G
