The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread 11

[FrogInABlender]

Man, whatever kind of mower that is needs to hire you as their “Torture Test” person!

“Let’s see how bad we can abuse this mower and it still run!” ;o)

[HairOfTheDog]

It’s a John Deer... and an old one. My dad’s hand-me-down. :~)

[MissTargets]

Good Morning.

Happy Friday all!

Still too hot and humid to do anything much outside. It just takes your breath away.

[HairOfTheDog]

Good morning... we’re a little cooler and lower 70s for the next few days... Just about ideal for a ride tomorrow. :~)

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

My DIL got some bad news about her horse Rowdy yesterday. He has EPM.

She called me Mon. and asked me to come look at him something was wrong. I went and told her I’d take him to the vet, she was considering a chiropractor. He seemed very wobbly in his hindend.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh dear... What’s his prognosis?

[FrogInABlender]

Man, I hate to hear that. I sure hope he makes it. I’ve known of several around here that have died from it or had to be put down. She needs to vaccinate all the rest of hers ASAP and if any of yours have been exposed to him then vaccinate them too.

[FrogInABlender]

I was just reading and apparently EPM is not transmissable from horse to horse, so that's good, but if one of her horses got it then that means that the bacteria is somewhere on her place where the other horses could injest it so I would vaccinate them immediatly just to be safe. Here's a link with some info about the most current treatment. I didn't know there was a treatment for at all, so that's really good to know.

[MissTargets]

PJ (the horse Alison shows) has/had EPM. As you can see, he is fine. I am not sure when it was and what the treatment was. The only thing his owner said, was not to give him really rich hay.

[MissTargets]

Sounds like my kind of weather. I do hope you get a chance to ride. It just feels so good to get out and on a horse :)

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

According to our vet, there is no vaccine. He’s been running on 40 acres, how do you keep him from being exposed to it???

The prognosis is pretty good for him at least surviving, as she caught it very early. But, there is a good chance he won’t be a barrel horse after this. The vet said that if he is responding to treatment after 30 days, she recommends continuing the medication for 8 months.

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

There is definately a vaccine because I give it to all my horses every year. ????

[FrogInABlender]

I use the Fort Dodge EPM vaccine. Here's the label info on it.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well I hope he recovers well. Is the time frame till you’ll know 30 days?

[FrogInABlender]

You’ll have to let us know what it is that she’s treating him with because that link I posted listed several different ones. As for keeping one from being exposed to it, that’d be really hard. The best you can do is to not leave out any food that would attract possums. But other than that, I don’t know what you could do. I just vaccinate and hope that that works.

[BladeRider]

I didn't know there was a treatment for at all, so that's really good to know.

I heard the treatment is pretty costly.

[BladeRider]

There is definately a vaccine because I give it to all my horses every year

I have not vaccinated against EPM. In the 6 1/2 years I have lived in this house I have never seen a possum near the house. I know they are probably in the woods back by the river but that is about 3/4 of a mile away. Probably the coyotes keep the population down too.

[Beaker]

Hey everyone.

Just checking in. I skipped out early to come home and write cover letters and touch up resumes. Things are awkward and messy at work through no fault of my own. I'll get into it later when it's safe to talk about it. I'm also still not feeling well. Called the doc. and she said that this could last for weeks even after I've gotten rid of the Lyme with antibiotics.

But the good news is that I rode on Wednesday and I'm going to ride tomorrow. Going to try to keep it up as long as I can.

[FrogInABlender]

Well at least you’re getting to ride some, so there’s a partial silver lining in your black cloud. I’m sure that things will work out for the good in the end, but I’ll keep praying for ya ‘til they do.

[FrogInABlender]

Your dogs probably keep the possums scared off from your place. I see them fairly often after dark around the barn where Bob and Hope and Grace are. They eat the dry catfood I leave out for the cats. And my FIL has trapped a bunch of them at the barn where Truly and Bluebell are when he was trying to get rid of all the coons that were getting in his cow feed. Apparently they’re everywhere around here.