128 SIDELINESMAY 2014
FORHORSEPEOPLE • ABOUTHORSEPEOPLE
The vet informed her there
was little chanceAerowould
survive. Hehadulcerative
colitis andwas unable to
efficiently absorbwater and
nutrients due to severe damage
to his intestinal mucosa.
DespiteAnna’s efforts, he
was slowly becomingmore and
moredehydrated –andhewas
starving. The vet suggested it
might be best to putAerodown.
The oddswere not in his favor.
It was aheart-wrenching
decision, butAnna decided
shewould do everything inher
power to ensure his survival. In
all her years of nursing she had
never lost a patient in her care.
Shewasn’t about to start with
Aero.
She treatedAerowith
medicineas needed and looked
intoequine nutrition. Knowing
how nutrition can affect
humans, shehoped shemight
findanswers tohow tohelp
Aeroby altering his diet.What
she found shocked her.
“What I found is that
traditional commercial horse
feed consistsmainly of by-
products of human food
manufacturing, ethanol
manufacturing, artificial
vitamins, fillers, soy and soy
by-products, andmolasses to
mask it all,” she said.
Despite having little time
and a depleting bank account,
Anna set out to improveAero’s
nutrition in hopes it would save
his life.
Twice each day,Anna
headed to the barn to hand-
feedhim shredded carrots,
apples and cabbage, which
wasmixed inwith chamomile
tea, brewers’ yeast, probiotics
andManuka honey. Shewould
feedhim papayabefore he ate
his hay, which appeared to be
theone thing that wouldmake
him eat it. If hewouldn’t eat the
grain,Annawould head to the
pasture equippedwitha pair of scissors to cut grass tomix into
his feed.
She recalls being in the pasture one day cutting grass
forAero, exhaustedandemotionally drained, when agroom
approached her with awater bottle inhis hand. He told her, “You
are crazy,Anna. I hopewhen I am sick, somebodywill fight for
my life asmuch as you are fighting forAero’s.”
At least the fight wasworth it.
Aero began to drastically improve. He gainedweight,
his tail grew out andhe finally had the energy a 6-year-old
Thoroughbred should have. Hewouldbuckwildly and take off at
agallop, in trueThoroughbred style. Hewas far from the sickly
horsewhohobbled off the trailer only a fewmonths prior.
His personality even changed. “When I first got him, he
hated everybody,”Anna says. “Hedidn’t want anybody inhis
stall.Althoughhe never actually kicked at you, hewas adamant
about not wantingpeople around him. But then he started being
affectionate andactually enjoyedmebeing in his stall.We got to
the point that hewouldn’t want me to leave. Hewouldnuzzleme
upanddownand became very affectionate.”
But, this did not last forever.
His suffering from beforehad takena toll on his body and the
CryptoAero enjoying life.
PhotoCourtesy ofAnnaFrensemeyer
Anna’swhole food feed.
Photo byAndrewSargePhotography
