A Cushings Comparison

Josh - April 11, 2009 - before being given pergolide to manage his Cushings

Josh's coat, at this time, was very patchy with areas of very long hair, most noticeable here along the bottom of his rib cage and as what looks like feathering on his forelegs.

Josh began taking pergolide in June 2009.  Below is a photo taken March 17, 2010.  His coat is still very thick, but of a much healthier texture and consistent length.

We will retest Josh's ACTH level in June to determine if his pergolide dose needs any adjustment.

Eyes On

Never assume.

We’ve had colder nights this winter. We’ve had wetter nights this winter. We’ve definitely had windier nights. And through it all, Josh was as happy in his natural winter woolies as he would have been on a quiet day in May.

This morning, however, Josh was shivering during the breakfast service, perfectly illustrating the need to set eyes on each and every horse several times each and every day. What was taken for granted last week – or even yesterday - may not be the case today.

Not to worry, though. A little warm mash, a bucket of warm water, a dry though somewhat dirty Weatherbeeta, and Josh is happily quidding his hay as if today is no different than any other day at TREES.

Our Heroes

Forget Barbaro, Secretariat, and Zenyatta.  Never mind Rugged Lark, Bright Zip or Impressive.  These are our heroes;

Josh

Jubal

Sherman

Wade

.......and the thousands like them who either taught new horsemen, young and old, to ride or toted "weekend warriors" up and down the trail via rental strings.

These are "the working man" of the horse world.  Give 'em a hand!

Apologies to Josh

For several weeks we've been finding the same board popped off its middle fence post every two or three days.  Notorious for bouts of itchiness from as yet unidentified origin, poor Josh stoically took all the blame.

But this morning...........AHA! 

Its not Josh fault.

Henry, my boy, we have proof!  Now to look into what's causing this big guy's troubles.

Then, we must apologize to Josh for jumping to conclusions.

TREES' Cushings Club

I just realized we frequently talk about our Cushings Club, but we've never really told you who the members are.  The official membership stands at six, but last summer's testing revealed two more may be at the jumping off point.  As we mentioned a few days ago, our new arrival, Sherman, looks pretty suspicious as well.  Not long ago, a diagnosis of "Cushings Disease," now known as PPID (Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction,) was viewed by many as a death sentence.  Not any more!

And so, without further ado...........The Traveller's Rest Equine Elders Sanctuary Cushings Club:

Nate, mid 30's

Freddy, 26

Wade, 26

Sonny, 38

Josh, late 30's?

Henry, 25

Interestingly, all are geldings.  All are managed with pergolide and a carefully controlled diet (thank to all of our visitors for being very understanding about our "No Treats" policy,) and all are retested each year with pergolide dosages adjusted accordingly. 

A few random photos

We thought we'd start November by showing off a few of the Elders:

Mona, October 23, 2009 (age 30-ish)

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Remember that Mona looked like this on August 8.........

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Yes, folks, We found someone Henry (25) would share his "space" with -- Josh! (late 30's) Oh boy, those recently replaced boards make the need to repaint the fence even more obvious.

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You do what you gotta do when your belly itches and you have no fingers!
Jubal October 4, 2009, age 29

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"Yo! Think you could ditch the camera and gimme a hand here?"

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.)

Josh's New Coat

Update on Josh:

Josh arrived in April 2009, looking a little like a Lesser Virginia Yak. When I first saw a picture of him, I forwarded it to our vet with the note "I'm thinking Cushings." Her reply was something like "Yikes! I think your right."

Josh, April 11, 2009

When we ask our vet to evaluate or monitor a horse who has, or who is suspected of having, Cushings (more technically called Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction or PPID,) she takes a blood sample to measure the level of Adrenocorticotropic Hormone or "ACTH." Since ACTH levels naturally vary with time of year (its one hormone that increases as hours of daylight grow shorter, signally the body to prepare for winter,) we usually wait until late spring or very early summer to test.

In early June, we had a ACTH test festival, testing nine horses - 5 previously diagnosed were tested to see if their pergolide dosages were adequate, and 4 suspects. Two of the four suspicious looking horses were just grazing the upper end of the normal ACTH range. They will continue to be monitored and will be tested again next year. The other two of those four, however, Sonny and Josh, were added to the Cushings roster. As a matter of fact, Josh's numbers were not only high, they were "off the charts." We were not surprised. He did shed his yak coat in the spring, but it was immediately replaced by another winter coat. In May!

Josh was started on pergolide and within a couple of weeks, began to shed. He doesn't yet have a "normal" summer coat, but what a difference!

August 31, 2009

And finally, our favorite Josh update photo:

August 31, 2009

How's that for a 38 year old derierre?

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"

Thank You’s and other Tidbits

We have a lot of short updates and want to thank a lot of people today, so we’ll try to do it all in one post and hope we don’t leave anyone out.

We’d like to remind local Reiki practitioners that the first Shelter Animal Reiki Association orientation for the TREES program will be this weekend, Saturday, June 20, 10AM – noon. To participate, or for more information, please contact Janet Dobbs

The next Reiki workshop will be Reiki I, for both humans and animals, July 11-12. Saturday will be in McLean, VA, Sunday at Traveller’s Rest in Spotsylvania. For more information.

Our first resident update concerns Jubal. He’s back out with his “herd” (Fitz, Emma and Josh) and seems to be doing just fine. The wound on his fetlock is almost completely healed and almost all of the puffiness gone. Whew!

Lizzie is still gaining weight and doing well. She has settled in to the group including Sonny, Rienzi, Val, Marye and Wade. We’ve discovered she prefers to be called just Liz (not to be confused with “Just Jack” for Will and Grace fans.) Call “LIZ!” and she comes at a trot, but call “LIZZIE,” and she barely acknowledges your presence.

Josh is moving up in the pecking order in his field. Yesterday we noted that Fitz, who towers over Josh and outweighs him by several hundred pounds, was waiting in line behind Josh for a turn at the water tank. (The two boys and Emma all go for a drink immediately after eating a meal.)

Marye is still doing well and has not needed another Aeromask treatment yet this spring. Fingers crossed!

Now, the thank you’s!

First, thank you to Rennie, Gene, Carol, Michaele and Jim for coming to the sanctuary last weekend to help dry the place out after our freakish rainfall. It’s rained a few more times since, but nothing like the approximately 9 inches we got in about 24 hours that week.)

Thank you, too, to Gene and Carol for dropping off a new Wet Vac in case the weird wet weather continues.

Thank you to our neighbor, Patty, for arriving with a smorgasbord of seeds and grains about ten minutes after learning of Elmer’s arrival.

Thank you to COTH’s “Oldenburg Mom” for the gift of ~ 900 pounds of luscious smelling hay and to Samantha for coming along to help unload. Thank you, COTH’s “Nootka” for posting TREES’ contact information, making this donation possible.

Thank you, “Janet’s Dad” for a roll of quilt batting to use as leg wraps.

Thank you to Janet Dobbs’ students all, both Reiki and Animal Communication, who participate in workshops at TREES. It’s always fun to watch people’s faces as they come to understand that all things in nature are connected.

Thank you to everyone who sent prayers and support when Forrest arrived then departed in too short a time. Special thanks to Dr. Amanda Blanton who spent a good portion of her holiday weekend here. Thank you, again, to Gene and Carol for taking over the farm chores so we could focus on Forrest. Thank you Sam for transporting this determined old gentleman. Thank you, Janet, for being with Forrest as he crossed, and to Nelson, for bringing your backhoe out on Memorial Day, then returning a few days later with a donation. It seems Forrest touched a lot of hearts in the few days he was here.

We are continually (and gratefully) overwhelmed by the people who want to help offer retirement/hospice care to special needs elder equine. The horses, though, always feel there should be more visitors (more admirers.) If you’d like to visit and meet our special residents, please email us at info@equineelders.org or call 540-972-0936 (but remember that we’re somewhat telephonically challenged until Verizon comes June 24.)

You Scratch My Back, I'll Scratch Yours!

BFF's in the making?

Fitz (left) and Josh (right)

'Nother update - Chamberlain (aka "Josh")

Lizzie stole the spotlight for the last week and a half, but we didn't want to neglect updates on our other recent arrival, Josh.

Here is Josh on April 11, still wearing very impressive winter woolies.

And here is Josh now!

Josh fit right in with Emma, Jubal and Fitz, even though the Three Bay Amigos had initial misgivings about his addition to the band. After all, its been a long time since a not-bay horse has lived in this field.Josh, however, is one of those guys that is just plain nice......no one can ignore him for long. (Josh is on the left, Jubal on the right.)