Thursday, August 7, 2014

The Dreaded News

I'm sure you all remember Cricket...
Who, me?
The favor for some friends... 
She went from zero:
ok, maybe a tad above zero...
To Awesome:
Awesome number 1

Awesome number 2
...in 3 months!

But there were some sticky spots that had us concerned...
For one, once she started to "un-compress" herself, she got so far, then one side sort of stopped getting better.  Or at least, it got better more slowly than the other side.  Her stride seemed to get a bit uneven and we didn't have the same level of push on both sides in the trot...

She still swapped behind at the canter, but it got better on big, sweeping turns...
No jumper turns for this pony!!

Her toes started dragging...
Enough to wear them clean and shiny at the bottom!!

Well, they had the vet out to look at her.  We figured at this point, it wasn't an "out of shape" issue...

We expected to hear "sticky stifles" or "arthritis" or "she needs hock injections"...
The preliminary diagnoses came back as EPM.
The dreaded news that rocked my world a couple weeks ago.

Gut-wrenching!  I know!!
Just when we all figure out the Cricket actually LIKES this jumping thing, we wonder if she will actually be able to do it.  Can we make her any better?  Can we prevent it from getting worse?

The uncertainty of it all is the worst part...  Only time will tell!
I welcome your stories and experiences with this perplexing condition.




7 comments:

  1. Oh no! Does sound like typical EPM signs. I've heard of a lot of people having good luck with the Oroquin treatment, which is also way cheaper than Marquis. Some I know of have returned completely to normal, especially if it's caught before it goes "too far". Hopefully that's the case for you, sounds like you were pretty on top of things.

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  2. Those do sound like signs I have heard ppl talk about with horses that have EPM. Second the treatment above. Have heard good things about it. Hope she makes a full recovery. Sounds like the earlier you catch and treat the better the chances with EPM from what I have learned about it.

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  3. I'm so sorry. But there are definitely good recovery stories out there, EPM is possible to beat! ♥

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  4. I'm sorry and hope that it isn't EPM. The one horse I dealt with that had EPM was a different type of experience. They thought she had EPM then the tests came back negative, she continued to get worse and they tested her again only to find out she did have it. By that time the treatment didn't help. So if she does have it, at least it was caught early. This was almost ten years ago too, so they weren't as advanced in treating it then like they are now.

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  5. I know nothing about EPM but anything you learn I will appreciate the information journey. :( sorry for the diagnosis.

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  6. Wow, I am so sorry to hear that! I hope that isn't the final diagnosis, but it does sound right, from the symptoms. Please keep us posted.

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