# How my horse survived the equine atypical myopathy ?



## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

A very interesting topic. Thanks for sharing your experiences, I look forward to reading more.


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## Hynder (Feb 27, 2017)

Thanks Jaydee, 

I want to make this sad story something beneficial and share it to help as many people as possible


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## Hynder (Feb 27, 2017)

*Repatriation*

In two kicks, my young horse is transfused. He had two perfusions quickly, coal and clay syringes, anti-inflammatory. He urinates very dark. When the vet see that, he is now sure of it, it’s the EAM (Equine Atypical Myopathy).

He takes a blood sample and rush into the veterinary clinic.
The horse can’t be transported to the clinic. It’s up to us to watch him and we will, while the veterinarian, on the other hand, will “bring the clinic to the horse”.

For me, all went a little bit fast. I don’t really understand what is happening while my fiancé is painfully carrying the perfusions up in the air to rehydrate my horse. The perfusions become empty very quickly, ones after each others, like if we were trying to rehydrate a dry raisin. My poor horse is more and more absent.
200 meters separates us from the nearest box, and the night is coming quickly…

The long periple starts.

We stop every three strides, rewarding the horse with hay, it’s a pleasure for him to eat it. Walking is painful for him, I push him while my fiancé pull him. We took more than two hours to cover the full distance. Now the horse is in a box, exhausted. We look closely after him this all night.

*Death and life*

The day after, my animal is more and more absent. The hours pass and the evil seems to take more and more over him. My horse don’t reacts anymore. His head is very low. His lips, his nostrils and his face are swollen due to all the perfusions’ water. We pull up his head to try to decrease this unwanted effect, his head weighs very heavy. Decidedly, he is no longer himself.

I can put my fingers in his mouth, ears or eyes, this does cause any reactions from him. His eye are inert, the eyelid is heavy. I go behind the horse and tighten his tail in my hand. It is so flabby like if he has no vertebras anymore. It’s in this state that I come back to my home two hours, to eat, take a shower, warm up a little bit, while my fiancé is keeping an eye on the horse with kindness.

When I come back, Cali is always in a vegetative state, here in flesh but not in soul, without vital energy. My partner looks disturbed, the horse has a strange reactions.

In reality, horse has spasms. His ears tackle against his neck like pointed horns, the head passes within the verticality, his eyes twitch at each contraction. It is no longer a sick horse, it is disease disguised as a horse. An ugly theater scene, a remake of The Exorcist but in reality this time.

In front of this sad show, I take the decision to call the vet and stop this macabre scenario. I'm afraid that muscle tetany will take me short and that it will stifle under my eyes my friend with four legs.

When the veterinarian comes, he hesitates. He is too pessimistic to ignore euthanasia but, he still has hope and he decides to wait a few more hours, as long as the horse is standing, we keep fighting!
He lets me a small syringe. The promise for me that when the time comes, my horse will not suffer.

We stay with him one more night.

My heart leaps up at every sign of weakness in the forelimbs. His limbs looks to be weakening but he is still well standing.
I crush him bits of carrots that he refuses to eat since 24 hours now. I take it to his mouth, no reactions, below his nostrils for him to smell, no reaction, to his mouth once again, his big misshapen lips finally takes a small bite, the day begins.


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## Hynder (Feb 27, 2017)

Have you got this desease in your country too? I heard about "negundo" maple, it's the same symptoms than sycomore maple?


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

Apparently it does occur in North America but this is the first time I've heard of it. It never entered my mind that those little whirley gigs that we used to play with as kids were fatal to our equine friends. I'm really happy for you and your boy that he survived such a grim diagnosis.


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## Caledonian (Nov 27, 2016)

I was used to checking for poisonous plants such as ragwort and foxglove but when I moved my horse to a field that was partially in woodland I was warned about the toxicity of certain trees including sycamore seeds and leaves as well as others such as oak. I had to wander the field and the surrounding trees outside the fences looking for them. 
I’ve since moved but I’m not sure that I was fully aware of the seriousness of the disease at the time and although I could deal with plants I wouldn’t have been able to remove the trees. I'd avoid wooded grazing in the future.
Thanks for sharing.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Hynder - Was the field new to your horse or had you kept him on it for some time and had other horses been grazed on it for a long time without any problems?
This disease seems to be as unpredictable as grass sickness. 25+ years ago we lived next to a large livery yard that had been used for horses in one way or another for a long time. A perfectly healthy mid aged horse there went down with grass sickness and unlike many he survived. The field he was on was shared with other horses that didn't get it and they'd never had a horse with it before and as far as I know never did again


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## Hynder (Feb 27, 2017)

It's very weird because...5 horses were in the field before my boy, with visibly 0 problem.
I put Cali in the new herd and 10 days after he was very sick.

Only one other horse was intoxicated too , 14 years old but we saw it in blood test, no clinical signs. 

3 days ago a new horse was put in the field and for the moment all is ok. (It's incredible the owner put an other horse, during than mine is again tied in a box because of everything...)


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## Hynder (Feb 27, 2017)

PART II
The slow rise

I am so excited. The horse ate the five carrots that patiently awaited for him to get out of his apathy. I run to wake my fiancé who sleeps in a room, above the clubhouse that has been turned into our headquarters for the surveillance of Cali.

"He eats ! Bring me carrots, get everything you can find "(Understand: go and search your mother's fridge at this early hour and rob whatever you can!). "He eats! “

Cali is in a phase of quasi-bulimia where he eats crushed carrots and apples, sugar, a little moist hay and pellet. Everything must be given to him in a small handful because he does not have the strength to crush his carrots himself, everything must be lifted up to his nostrils so that he can smell it, then to his lips to eat. But he eats!

He does not move an inch to catch the food by himself. He also drinks. His eyes are half closed, his head always heavy on the halter. The night before, both his ganaches paralyzed in violent tetany. This morning, he seems to regain slowly possession of his body.
And then suddenly, without warning, the machine stops. Cali is no longer tempted by my delicacies; his eyes closed. I put a few granules at the corners of the lips but the food falls and no longer triggers any chewing or swallowing reflex. I offer some water, no reaction. I try to make him smell to tempt him, to solicit his instinct, to provoke something; but still nothing. I renounce to drown him in 15 cm of water to convince myself that he is still among the living and content myself of his breathing, still strong. Though he is standing, this is the only sign of his being alive.

The veterinarian arrives around 9:00 that morning. He looks hesitant, scrutinizes my reactions and discovering my smile, confesses that he has waited for my call all night long.
I told him about the state of awakening my horse had, that it was incredible; but from what he sees, the horse hangs on its ropes, inert and absent. Like the day before.

I try to convince him, without any success. He seems sorry for me to not be able to notice any improvement. The head of my 4 year-old is laying low. The vet takes the heartbeat which still high, his breathing rhythm still forced; he verifies that the catheter does not spoil the vein of my little horse, slaps his hands close to the ears of the animal , without any effect. He leaves, smiling timidly.

During this day, my horse gets alive from time to time, but I can no longer be entitled to that real glimmer of hope which he gave me in the early morning. It is visibly painful for him to urinate and defecate, his ears lie down, his eyes wrinkle and he is seized with violent spasms when he is relieved. His tail rises again tough.

It perspires in spite of the cold temperature. An edema, due to incessant perfusions, spreads over the entire bottom line.

We are entering our third night of scrutiny.

We have improved our strategy with my future spouse; and we split our watch in two half-nights. Half-nights rest are much more beneficial than taking turns every hour. I start the first round. There is another owner of a horse who is suffering from EAM too, in the box next to mine. She must stand alone. We chat while checking on our equine companions.

It was about two o'clock in the morning when Cali came out of his starvation mode again. He eats and drinks like a starved man! If only the veto could see this …


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## Hynder (Feb 27, 2017)

On the Way to Healing

The awakening and abatement phases last about 72 hours. The episodes of Cali's activities are multiplying and extending over time. The horse is more alert to his environment and the veterinarian can also see.

Ten days and nine nights of non-stop watch have been necessary for my horse to recover normally colored urine, so that it can escape the phases of depression and to stop the perfusions.

Cali has lost a lot of weight and has been attached since 17 December.

The presence of muscle enzymes will only diminish very slowly in the blood samples, but the horse has regained normal respiratory and cardiac rhythms.

After about 15 consecutive days, I am allowed to release him in his boxing, he moves very clumsily with his backhand and he still seems very weak. I have prevented him from sleeping for about two days and mobilize him by passive movements to solicit his proprioception.

A month and a half later, the horse was allowed to lay down again. He unfortunately did not bear the violent efforts necessary to lie down and get up, he now suffers from tendon and bicep muscle lesions. It will have to stay attached for an extra month, with - surprise! - an infiltration. There is long to say about the consequences of the infiltration but it is another story...

Duration of the estimated rehabilitation: 1 year.

Cali had a nice style in obstacle jumping, potential for speed events 120/125, a lot of balance and sense of the bar, honest. The veterinarians do not pronounce themselves regarding his sports future, they already save so few horses!

A constructive exchange

Here are some excerpts of exchanges that I had with a veterinary researcher specialized in atypical myopathy and active member of GAMA (Atypical Myopathy Alert Group).

Bold: my questions
In italics: his answers

Today, I try to re-educate him gradually by massaging him gently and making him do passive movements. We pulled the perfusion yesterday morning and released him a little in his box but I do not think he would have enough strength to get up if he laid down (because he seems to want to sometimes but I prevent him from doing it). He still does not use his posterior very well in my opinion.
He must be extremely tired; If he has emerged from the disease, he should be able to recover by himself.

Last Saturday, the toxins in his blood were still not quantifiable.
You mean muscle enzymes were still high? Only a few research laboratories measure the level of toxin. It is necessary to wait until the muscular enzymes return to normal to begin to restore the horse very gradually to work.

Would you have any advice on rehabilitation? Veterinarians do not always seem to know this part, in view of the number of deaths ...
It is true that information is lacking, the survival rate being very low. Therefore, there is no standard protocol scientifically tested for the return to work of survivors of atypical myopathy. Nevertheless, following a survey of twenty-three survivor owners, here is some information.

The procedures for returning horses, based on this survey, were of the same type: walking one to two times a day, starting with five minutes a day, and gradually increasing the duration during four to six weeks.
Then the horse was traced or raised by gradually increasing the trot and canter time. Generally, the owners report that two to six months have been necessary in order to be able to rework the horse normally. Obviously, this protocol must be adapted according to the horse.

Two owners told us of the fatigue and shortness of breath of their horse during the first weeks of the protocol and therefore the return to work had to be even more progressive. It is therefore necessary to do according to the capacities proper to each individual.
It would be ideal for your veterinarian to follow your horse by performing locomotive examinations, muscle enzyme testing and even cardiac monitoring (electrocardiography and echocardiography) within four to six weeks after the atypical myopathy episode to guide you in your return to work.

A slimming of horses compared to the pre-disease period is frequently reported. Thus, nine horses (9/23) emerged strongly emaciated from their episode of atypical myopathy. For four of them (4/9), this weight loss was transient and lasted only a few weeks, even a few months after their episode of atypical myopathy. But for the other five horses (5/9 forts), their body score was always lower (at the time of the survey) but these horses were rather fat to too fat before the disease.

The majority of the owners usually find their horse (19/23) similar to what it was before the disease as if it had never been affected by atypical myopathy and therefore without apparent clinical sequelae. Four owners find their horse less well than before (4/23), two horses being calmer and less energetic, a foal has stunted growth compared to another foal of his age and a sports horse that keeps weakness in the muscle mass of the neck.

Of the 23 horses, seventeen work again, the others are not worked because they are not yet deboured, used for breeding or are retired.

Among our survivors, a horse pursues an international show jumping career.


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

I had never heard of this, but it is definitely concerning as we have those trees around here and all of my friend's horses (including the ones I work with) are on 24/7 pasture. From what I understand it is not particularly common and therefore not something to panic about, but I'm glad I know about it now.


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

Hynder I hope your guy is doing better. Sadly Most trees are toxic. There are safer trees. 
Maybe you can video your horse to show the Vet. 
I hope the other makes it also . I am surprised that there are horses going back into this pasture.





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