Drastic Measures?

No, necessary measures.

Two years ago, when we first heard of Fitz, then 25 years old, he was living in Maryland and looking for a place to go. He hadn't had any dental attention for some time and his pictures showed he was a little thin.  TREES arranged for an equine dental technician, accompanied by a veterinarian, to examine Fitz' teeth, thinking that if he had his dental issues addressed he would gain weight more easily and be easier to place in a new home.

Addressing Fitz' dental issues, however, was more easily said than done.    At first glance, it was easy to see one incisor jutting sideways from between his lips.  A few other teeth were loose, periodontal disease was out of control and Fitz whole mouth seemed unstable.  Meredith Barlow, the attending dental technician, called TREES from Fitz' side and asked "just how much dental work does TREES want to cover?"

Uh-oh.  Fitz' immediate needs were to have three teeth extracted: two incisors and one canine.  It was agreed to remove the "sideways" incisor and canine and return for the second incisor and a re-evaluation at a later date.

In the meantime, it was becoming obvious that this would be a very "special needs" horse and not one easily placed in a new home. 

Over the next few weeks, space at the Sanctuary became available and the process to bring Fitz here as a resident began.  Fitz arrived in August 2008.

By November, we were looking at this odd sight:

Fitz' gum was deteriorating, exposing the root of this incisor.  The root itself was covered by what was indentified as a "cementoblast."  Cementum is normal material covering the roots of teeth, but this was cementum gone wild.

At about the same time, we noticed that Fitz was very lethargic, and experienced some respiratory distress with very little physical exertion. 

Off to the vet clinic, where ultrasound found a significant bacterial infection in Fitz' heart.  At the same time, the incisor pictured above was removed, revealing infection in the tooth itself and in the jawbone behind it.   Not uncommon in dogs, cats, and humans, it appeared that the massive infection in Fitz' mouth led to bacteria entering the blood stream and lodging in his heart.

This tooth and one other were extracted, treatment for infection was started, and several other teeth were identifed as abnormal, requiring close monitoring.

Meredith, meanwhile, was finding bits and pieces of information about other horses with dental problems similar to Fitz'.  Then, at an AAEP convention..........PAYDIRT!  We finally had a diagnosis.  Fitz suffered Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis.

As study of the syndrome advanced, most researchers agreed the only way to get ahead of the infections and other complications was to remove all of the horse's incisors.  According to all reports, the patients were immediately more comfortable after having affected teeth removed.

But, that seemed drastic!  As time went on, though, it became obvious that might be our only choice to preserve quality of life. 

Fast forward to July 7, 2010:

We could see that the angle of Fitz' incisors were changing drastically.  During our annual Summer Dentathon, xrays showed that none of the incisors were "viable."   None.

Below, the odd angles and exposed roots are easily noticeable.

Even more obvious at this angle.  Notice the small area of root becoming exposed in the area above the little wad of grass, up toward the lip attachment.

In this photo, again notice the tooth exposed the full length of the root.  Areas of decay of the teeth themselves are also easily seen.

Sedation and a little local anesthesia were administered and nine incisors were removed in less than 25 minutes.  That alone is evidence of how unstable and "unattached" these teeth were..

On this tooth, note the cavities at both ends.  Everything in between was decayed.

This tooth was also decayed from one end to the other and broked apart under very little pressure.

This one was completely hollow!

Here - on the left - is an incisor (not from a TREES horse) with a more normal, tapered, appearance.  Note that Fitz' incisor - on the right - is not tapered at all, due to extra cementum layers.  All nine of the incisors removed had the same "fat" appearance.  It is, in part, this extra cementum that pushes the teeth out of their proper positions in the gum and bone.

Fitz is on Day 6 of a 10-day course of antibiotics.  He is already more comfortable.  Naturally, we'll need to make hay available year 'round since he can no longer graze.  Is that in itself a big relief to him?   He is no longer trying to pull grass with extremely unstable teeth. so it may be.

We don't know what to expect next, but we do believe Fitz, now 27, is past the worst of his problems now. 


Big Big Big thanks to Meredith Barlow for researching this very odd issue and to both Meredith and Dr. Tracy Brown for setting our big bay Thoroughbred on the path to better health!

The Reunion

Happy Day!

Ten days ago, we had to separate Mona and Fitz when Mona became ill.  We don't have a specific diagnosis, but believe Mona contracted a virus of some kind.  Her fever, at the height of her illness, was 104.9 degrees.  Our Diva was one sick girl.  While we could not "cure" her as quickly as we might have liked, with supportive care through a combination of conventional veterinary medicine, energy work and prayer, Mona is fully recovered and, this morning, was reunited with her man.

(Keep in mind these are 27 and 30 year old horses!)

Loose Teeth Be Gone!

Today was Dentist Day for a few of TREES' residents.  The team of Dr. Tracy Brown and Meredith Barlow, C/EqDT, paid a visit to Sherman, Mona, Nate, Delphi and Fitz.

Both Nate and Fitz need some attention, but will require a little advance planning.  More on them as we get them taken care of.

Delphi and Mona both had "routine" floats.  (In quotes because every horse is different, but meaning all they required was the removal of sharp points.)

Here, Mona is being "floated."  Note that the speculum is open only wide enough to allow Meredith to work.  It is not cranked all the way to its widest position.

Delphi had to give her opinion of the idea before even getting started.

But Sherman........Sherm needed a little extra attention.  Not surprisingly, Sherman had a few loose teeth.  We've heard from some owners of senior horses who were told to leave loose teeth in the mouth because the horse had so few to spare.  Aside from the discomfort that must cause, here is an excellent illustration of why that may not be a good idea.

These two teeth are shown exactly the way they came out of Sherman's mouth with little to no effort.  You can see no blood, no tissue, nothing that would indicate these teeth had any kind of physical attachment to the gum.  They were, more or less, just sitting in the socket.

The teeth are shown sitting on their chewing surfaces, roots pointing up.  Notice the green-ish material packed between what is left of the roots?  That is food that had worked its way under the tooth, between the tooth and gum.  This can cause irritation and enlargement of the pocket around the loose tooth.  If something as large as food particles can become lodged under the tooth, so can something as small as bacteria, leading to infection.  Untreated infection under and around a tooth can eventually lead or contribute to infection in the jaw bone itself, or even in the sinuses.

With all this in mind, our rule is "If its loose, its gone."

Reiki Level 1 Workshop Nov 15

A few shots from the Reiki Level 1 Workshop at TREES today, conducted by Janet Dobbs.

Senior Spa Day!

Thank you to all the members of the University of Mary Washington Pre-Vet Club who spent the day grooming geezers. Other than a slight wind, the weather was perfect.  Most of the horses loved the attention, though a couple  of grumps would have been perfectly happy keeping their hard earned dirt.

Perhaps most importantly, our new resident, Sherman, was partially bathed to remove evidence of a light digestive upset from his hind legs.  The New Guy seemed completely relaxed during this procedure, a far cry from a few other residents who declare they've never seen anything resembling a water hose or sponge in all their 30+ years.

Here's Sonny, age 38, following his spa session:

And Rienzi, who is in his mid 30's:

Lizzie's (24) new coif:

Fitz, 26, absolutely ate up the extra attention, looking like he might take a nap during his grooming session:

Miss Mona, 30+, from neglect to diva in just 3 months:

Jubal, 29, also made some new friends:

And our last photo for this post............NATE!  (who was one of the grumps, but did a little of his signature "scampering" afterward, so the experience must not have been as tortorous as he let on in the beginning.)

Thank you, all!  Please come back any time.  We'd love to see you again.

What's Wrong with this Picture?

"OK, this is just wrong.

Where are the feed buckets that are usually in this thing?"

(Mona, 30-ish and Fitz, 26)


"Do you know how to drive this thing back to the
feedroom and reload it in the correct manner?"
(Fitz, 26 and Jubal, 30)

The Universe must love old horses.

In the very early days of Traveller’s Rest, we asked our vet how people would know we were here. How should we go about letting people know we were here to help with elder care issues?

Doc laughed. “If you build it,” she said,” they will come.”

Very funny.

But she was right.

At first those who came were almost entirely people wanting to “donate” their older horses to TREES. (At some later date, we may post about why we don’t consider our residents “donations.”)

Gradually, as the community became aware of “the place that takes old horses,” other people began to visit. One here, one there. Then, a few years ago, a visitor got out of her car and commented “Oh! I’m so glad to see a horse rescue that’s not completely depressing.”

That took us by surprise. We’ve never thought of horse rescue in general as “depressing,” and we certainly don’t see TREES as depressing. We started asking all new visitors what they expected to see when they got here. About half answered that they expected to see a bunch of old horses, basically standing around waiting to die.

Whoa! First of all, why would anyone even consider visiting a place he or she expected to be that sad? But more than that, how could we begin to break down that misconception of an Elders Sanctuary?

Simple. Tell the Elders’ stories. These horses are spirited and vivacious. Dynamic, interesting and gregarious. They form friendships and other herd relationships just as younger horses do. They roll in the mud, play in the water, rear, crowhop, prance and scamper. They cuddle, present themselves for scratching, and demand attention on their own schedules. Not at all models of “waiting to die.”

In other words, the Elders speak for themselves. And as they speak, they draw more people to them. When Doc first said “If you build it, they will come,” we assumed she meant that horses would come. Horses have come, obviously, with more always waiting in the wings, but more than that, people are coming. People who are interested in giving elder horses better lives, both in sanctuaries and at their own farms.

Is it just because we tell their stories? Or is something bigger at work? Sometimes it feels as if we – the humans managing the sanctuary – are only here to keep a foot on the gas pedal, but something larger is doing the steering. There seems to be no other explanation for some of the things that happen.

The Universe just seems to love these old horses. And who are we to argue with the Universe?

Fitz, 26, and Josh, 38-ish

Freddy, 26

Lucy, 30-ish, and Delphi, 29

Fitz, 26

If you would like to meet TREES' exceptional elders, please shoot us an email at info@equineelders.org !

........and Upward

In the previous post, Mona had just been turned out with a small group in a big field and looked a little lost. The photo in that post was taken Tuesday at approximately 10AM.

By 6PM Tuesday:
(Mona is the small dark mare wearing the red halter.)

Shots of Summer

As August comes to a close and the kids head back to school this week, here are a few random Summer Shots:

Group Meditation

Oracle

Fitz & Josh

Emma and her boys

The ultimate "Nostril Shot"

Weather and Communication woes

Jeesh! Just when we got dried out after last week's record rainfall, Mother Nature gave us another big Wallop a few days ago.

Early Tuesday morning, just as we were preparing to start feeding the horses, a line of unexpected thunderstorms came roaring through. Our poor Red Maple tree, which stands virtually just outside the front door of the house, took another lightening hit. The proximity to the house took out our phone lines, the satellite and a couple of electric outlets, all on the front of the house.

We now have one phone line working, but must switch between email and telephone on that line to keep up with daily communications. Verizon has been dealing with a large number or storm damage calls for weeks and won't get to us unti June 24!

So...until then, we ask your indulgence and your patience. Email may be the best form of communication for now. We can answer e-notes during "after-business" hours when our telephone is not needed as much. And...as you might imagine, even distant thunder now sends us running to unplug everything, at least until we replace all the surge protectors. (Bless whoever invented those little gadgets....they saved the computer, the phones, answering machine and television. )

The horses are all fine, though a little addled immediately after the big storm. Fitz wouldn't come into the shed to eat breakfast and a few others ate only parts of their meals and wanted back outside. Everyone is relaxed again now. but more storms are expected this evening.

Mom N.........we are in awe of your power and even these lightening storms are beautiful in their own way.....but we would be more than a little grateful for just a short break in the action!

Fitz' Story

One of our resident Thoroughbreds has shown up in several recent photos, but we’ve never posted his story.


Fitzhugh Lee (left) is a big, hefty 26 year old Thoroughbred gelding. He arrived late last summer, but its only in the past few weeks that he’s really come into his glory.

Fitz’ road to TREES began when his owners could no longer pay to board him at a stable in Maryland. Early in his story, the sanctuary had no space for another horse, but arranged to pay for a dentist visit to check his teeth. The big gelding was a little thin and had trouble gaining weight. The initial idea was to give him a good float, make sure he didn't have any cracked, loose, or infected teeth and hope that might help him gain weight, making finding a new home easier.

The dentist called while she was with Fitz to ask just how much work we wanted to fund. His needs went way beyond a routine float. (In the end she donated most of her time...he made a big impression on her.) He had several infected teeth and she said his whole bottom jaw felt somehow unstable. The supervising veterinarian even theorized that Fitz’ jaw may have been recently fractured. At that visit, one tooth was removed and the dentist and vet returned several weeks later to extract a second. That helped and Fitz began to gain some weight.

As several months passed, space became available at TREES, and arrangements were made to accept Fitz into the sanctuary.

Soon after his arrival, based on the unstable jaw comments, we had Fitz’ jaw x-rayed. Some areas looked like they could have been healed cracks in the jawbone, but it wasn't clear what might have happened or when. More significant was that Fitz’ teeth, particularly his incisors, were not normal and he had serious periodontal disease.

During the first several months he was here, Fitz just seemed "not right" in general. He sweat a lot when it wasn't very hot. He had a serious systemic reaction to vaccinations (sweating, colic, fever, etc,) he got very winded after trotting only a few yards, and his gums became bright crimson with a tiny bit of exercise. And he had a significant heart murmur. When we spoke with the vet about these symptoms, she immediately scheduled a cardiac ultrasound. Nothing appeared to be wrong with the heart valves, so the vets kept looking for the cause of the murmur. Finally, they got to the "bottom" of his heart and there was a large bacterial infection in one of his ventricles.

Meanwhile, since he was sedated for the ultrasound, the vets took a closer look at Fitz’ teeth. His gums were receding so much that the roots of two teeth were almost entirely exposed. One had a huge tartar cap on it that was so hard it took a Dremel to drill through it and break it apart. (We've since heard this abnormal tartar buildup called a "cementoblast.") As the vet drilled into the cementoblast, the bit went right through what should have been tooth behind it and into dead bone. The infection in the tooth had moved into the bone and caused some decay. A second infected incisor was also removed, but there was no bone involvement in relation to that one. That left one more incisor with most of the root exposed, but it still seemed to be firmly in place and not infected, so it was left alone for the time being.

We treated Fitz’ heart infection for the first time the last half of December and all seemed well. Last month, however, during a routine exam at vaccination time, the vet was not happy with Fitz’ heart sounds, so we treated again, this time for four weeks. Somewhere during the third week, Fitz suddenly started to pack on weight. So much so that we've cut his food back by half and may need to cut back more. He’s confident, full of energy and showing a playful side we hadn’t seen before.

All of Fitz's problems ultimately related to his teeth. As happens in dogs, cats and humans, it appears that the infected teeth, gums, and bone led to a systemic infection that led to the bacterial colony in his heart.

All the information the dentist was able to find on similar cases points to this periodontal issue being chronic. Fitz will need to be monitored for that frequently, and may eventually lose more incisors. Theories say it’s likely related to an underlying endocrine abnormality, (Cushings would be one possibility, though we haven't seen any other symptoms of that) leading to a suppressed immune system in general.

For now, though, our big Thoroughbred is feeling better than he has in some time.

Once again, thank you to our incredible vets who don’t view age as the primary reason behind things like lethargy or weight loss. Older horses may be more prone to certain illnesses than younger horses, but old age itself is not a disease. If your elder horse seems “off” and someone tells you “he’s just old,” but you feel there is more to it than that, please don’t hesitate to get a second opinion. After all, nobody knows your horse as well as you know him.