16/11/2023
Lunas Story....
After over 300 shares (wow!) from my ulcer post and a few people asking about her symptoms & history, I thought I would do a post dedicated to her. I am glad she did not suffer in vain and that she can help others with her story.
Luna joined me in May 2022, as a rising 2 year old. She was a Welsh D x New Forest and was to become my next forever horse. Benson my old boy, who is now 32 and been with me 25 years, is not getting any younger and I was hoping she would be with me for an equally long time. She had huge shoes to fill, not to replace, but eventually take over the ropes.
She was opinionated, with spice, and I loved that about her. During our first summer we did a few inhand agility sessions, some inhand walks and I taught her to long rein. All very low key and as/when, but she loved doing things, and she loved being with me. We built a bond and she trusted me.
Around October/November time she started getting tricky. I was unable to do much with her without her exploding, but each time there seemed to be a reason for it (windy, spooked at something etc) albeit a bit extreme. I put it down to her being young, weather turning and decided to give her a few months just being a horse in the field.
This leads us onto the end of January 2023....She started randomly pawing and spinning on the spot in her field. She made a few craters by spinning for around minutes at a time. This was concerning and like nothing I had seen before so I called the vets and as a starting point they took some bloods.
She lived out, with hay 24/7, good grazing and a low stress life. She had friends in her field, and next door, and a very stable field life.
Timeline below:
27th January – bloods taken, nothing showed up. Full panel taken, including hormones
Test for PSSM - Negative
9th Feb – scoped for ulcers, found grade 4 glandular ulcers
21st March – scoped clear but behaviour in field still remained erratic (spinning/rearing/generally frenzied)
29th March – Took into clinic. Lameness work up x 2 vets, neuro specialist exam (x 2 different vets to lameness vets), ovaries scanned (different vet). Started on Regumate (nothing found on o***y scan, so plan was to trial Regumate just incase). She saw 5 vets that day.
11th April – weird behaviour still and colic type signs. Vet out and started on Danillon for 2 week trial. No difference noted.
No difference on Danillon.
13th May – Stopped Regumate – no difference noted on / off it.
16th May - First acupuncture session – huge difference within a few days
17th craniosacral session – really enjoyed it, relaxed for around 25 minutes solid - amazing to watch
25th May – Second acupuncture session – huge difference within a few days, behaviour started to creep back after 2 weeks
15th June – Third acupuncture session – again, huge difference, but massive revert at 4 weeks post session.
12th July - At 4 weeks post her last acupuncture session, and after doing quite a few sessions of groundwork as per vets advice to try and strength her body (walks out, long reining in field etc with NO signs of her being uncomfortable / unhappy) she turned on me in the school. Completely out of nowhere - she went frenzied, pinned me against the fence and was trying to get me with all 4 feet – almost like a seizure but not - Lights were on but no one was home. I managed to get away and, after some time, give her some CBD oil and Sedalin which helped to calm her down enough to go back in with her and take her back to her field.
-In-between now and back at the vets, multiple conversations, monitoring. She also started being aggressive in the field towards me (never towards the other horses that I saw), but my boys started running her out of the herd, biting her, not allowing her to stand with them / kicking out. I had to start opening gates to put her in another field whilst I poo picked. She was devastated to have less attention, as was I not being able to risk being with her.
-2/8/2023 – Full lameness work up, including flexion tests. Nothing found. Xrayed neck and back – clear. Had to be sedated at the vets as became difficult.
15th August Craniosacral treatment – was not happy and barely relaxed this time
Beginning of September started painkiller trial & ulcer meds to support her guts as high risk of ulcer flare up - huge difference after 24 hours on painkillers
6th October, after such a profound difference on painkillers, we decided it was the kindest thing to say goodbye.
Making the decision to say goodbye was not taken lightly and I consulted multiple professionals, all of those who I have the utmost respect and trust for. She was becoming increasingly difficult each time we tried to do anything with her, and she wasn't giving us much to go on / area to investigate. The next step might have been to do a body scan, but given how potentially deep rooted and complex the issue was likely to have been, the vets were concerned nothing may show up, and if it did, the chances of it being treatable was quite slim. As well as her having to stay in the vets for up to a week to have more tests and scans, I just didn't feel it was fair to put her through it, to likely be in the same place we were prior. She wasn't able to stay on the high dose of painkillers long term, and when we tried to reduce them there was a marked difference in her behaviour.
If she was a different character maybe I would have pushed for answers and done a bit more, but she was tricky and was finding life difficult. I still question my choices and it is something I am sure I will battle with for the rest of my life. Even though I know I did the right thing for her, it still was one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make, given she was so young.
She taught me so much in the 18 months she was in my life, and I will try and use my experiences with her as an advocate for others.
