Back to Work with Megan

Life with this horse is definitely a roller coaster, but we're riding up again! After a year of muddling with her, we went to see a big dog and finally got some answers that make sense. It was a 7 hour trek up to Lexington, KY and the Beast gave us some drama by dripping (small) puddles of fuel whenever we stopped, but Megan did great.

She should have been happy as she was staying in nicer digs than we were! The Taj Mahal of vet clinics it was. She was taken off Sunday evening for her spa treatments and we went to find our Courtyard Marriott and some food.

Our 9 a.m. appointment came and went as the vet had been delayed with mechanical problems on a flight out London the night before (feel the dollar signs adding up, yet?) We were called in at noon, but had to cool our heels another 45 minutes or so in the lobbying drinking their private labeled water, surfing the net on the complimentary connection, and watching the news on the flat screen tv. Yep, Miss Megan was in high cotton! We watched several horses getting lameness exams and each was lovelier and more athletic than the next. Finally it was our turn.

Megan held her own in the classy company. She comported herself as very much the lady and walked and trotted about while 2 video cameras (ours and theirs) recorded her every move. The vet, who is quite renowned on dealing with Wobblers Syndrome, was SUPER nice. He took all the time in the world with us and listened closely (there's a novel approach) to my descriptions of her behaviors/issues. After hearing me out and observing her, he felt very comfortable taking a conservative approach to her treatment and seeing if fitness and maturity would resovle the issues.

We took some more x-rays of her neck and he went over each of them with me and explained in detail what he was looking for in doing measurements to determine if there was any narrowing of the channel for the spinal cord. He explained that he was looking for factor of less than 50 and did the math on each of her neck vertebra. The narrowest two sites each had a factor of 51. He also went over the myelogram that the other clinic had done with me and showed me the area that had him concerned and explained why and also why the film wasn't conclusive in his mind.

All that said, he DID see neurological deficits during the walking/trotting tests with Megan, but he didn't feel that she presented like a typical Wobbler. Sooooo, the program is to treat her for EPM again and also to put her back into work and push her to develop fitness - Lots of riding out up and down hills and work in heavier footing. Doing this will not hurt her or make her less fixable if it turns out that she can't work out of her weakness. She can always have surgery at a later date if we decide to try to pursue that option. But he really felt like she'd be able to be the event horse that I had hoped she would be. I wanted to hug him, but settled for a handshake!

I also got the green light to breed her if I want. She would need to be suplemented with trace minerals in the last trimester of her pregnancy to help the foal store copper and zinc in its liver that it can then draw on while it is nursing to maintain strong bone development.

So to recap, in the course of year we've gone from put her down, she's going to fall and kill you to she needs a $10,000 surgery to ride her and get on with life with a few ups and downs in between. I think the vets that looked at her initially were very well intentioned, but there is no substitute for the experience of decades of working with and observing horses with a particular malady to have a better grasp of the implications of that malady in terms of degree/severity. It was worth every penny and every mile of the 14 hour round trip drive to gain the benefit of that experience.

When I climbed on Megan last Wednesday after not sitting on her for 2 months, I wished with all my heart that she would be cleared to be rideable. It just felt like coming home to sit on her; she suits me to a T. My wish came true; we're back on track and now I have TWO lovely girls to ride. I'm still pinching myself a bit after all the gloom and doom...