110 SIDELINES DECEMBER 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
and the next thing I knew he had fallen
back and was having violent seizures
thrashing on the foor of his stall in the
shavings, completely out of control.
Jon grabbed me and must have
thrown me out of the stall to get me to
safety. The seizure lasted for several
minutes as Bert struggled to try to
get up but
did not have the use of
the left side of his body. We quickly
called our veterinarian, Dr. William
B. Ley out to our farm. Dr. Ley was
there within minutes, examined him
and told us that it looked like he
had a “moderate cerebral vascular
rupture” which meant a stroke.
Bert was aware of his
surroundings, responsive to noise
and movements; but he did not
have use of his left side. The
prognosis was unfavorable but
since Bert had stopped thrashing
and trying to get up we decided to
watch him for the next few hours.
Dr. Ley administered Banamine,
Dexamethasone and Diazepam.
After Dr. Ley left, Jon and I
stayed with Bert and had his best
friend Emma next to him in the
adjoining stall where she was
softly nickering to him. About an hour later,
a miracle happened. Bert, with all his strength, tried to stand
up and brace himself against the wall that separated him from
Emma so he could be next to her. He fell several times trying
to get up but fnally was able to brace his trembling legs against
the wall.
The next day Dr. Ley came out and both Jon and I knew in our
hearts that Bert was not ready to leave us and we were willing
to help him with whatever we could do to get him well again. Dr.
Ley was completely onboard and thanks to his incredible wisdom
and knowledge we started a regimen of medications to bring our
sweet Bert back to health. For the next three months Bert was
on Banamine, Dexamethasone, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, 5 Zantac
daily to protect his stomach from all the medications and Platinum
Vee with Emma
(left) and Bert
Per formance
Equine.
We also discovered that when Bert had his stroke and was
thrashing he was unable to close his eyes, which left his corneas
scratched from the shavings in his stall. It required months of
eye medications including a catheter for his left eye, which was
damaged the worst. Eventually Bert did lose the sight in his left
eye.
I can’t tell you the hours Jon and I spent with Bert day and night
as we administered his medications, monitored all of his vital
signs, hand fed him, administered syringes of applesauce with
his vitamins and Zantac and syringes of Gatorade to encourage
him to drink water. Within the frst few days of his stroke we had
a vet, Dr. Catherine Gray, start
acupuncture on
Bert. With each
treatment we would notice a
positive difference including
the tilt of his head. Eventually
the acupuncture helped to
strengthen the muscle control
on the left side.
After three months of being
in his stall we fnally felt he was
strong enough to go out for his
frst walk. It was scary but Bert
was able to walk out and nibble
on grass, albeit on wobbly legs.
Eventually we let him out in a
small grass paddock behind
his stall with his mare Emma
and he was able to start moving
more on his own, although he
would occasionally still fall.
By the end of summer Bert
was starting to test himself with
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