I have a horse that has had EPM as a diagnosed disease via spinal tap and many many blood tests for 19 years now. He was written up as one of UC Davis’ most successful recovery cases and featured in a national magazine. In spite of that he has relapsed. He has been treated for years with many different drugs. I also spent years of daily re-hab to get him from taking a step sideways for every step forward to being a dressage horse. I second reading everything Dr. Sioban Ellison has written in her blog at Pathogens.com and looking at the levamisole/ decoquintate option. Even if you choose to not go with it, I am a huge fan of the C-reactive protein test for inflammation and treating the immune response and subsequent inflammation separately from the Protozoa. Even if you treat with a different anti- protozoal, use levamisole. Its magic is that it is an immunoregulator meaning it up or down regulates the immune system to balance which is really key. I have done the expensive treatments, years of them in fact. I have tried every supplement I could find, feel free to pm me for what I have found to work. Be careful with anything that stimulates the immune system. It sounds like a good idea in theory but you need to go for balance, not overstimulation. Eventually, there is nothing better than year round fresh green grass. Yes, natural vitamin E is good but fresh grass is best. I have my own formula I have developed that works for my own horse. I am happy to share it with you.
In answer to your question about wrapping, yes, with loss of control over limbs I have found wrapping to be helpful to protect legs. I have also found that during an episode when the horse can not move around as much wrapping can help prevent stocking up. Wrap as much as you need to and as little as you can.
Everyone’s rehab story is different. The disease is not well understood. There is an EPM yahoo group that is a great place to go to learn more about what other people are doing. It helped me identify some patterns in my horse that other people had seen as well. My horse has relapsed many times My biggest lesson with re-hab was to go slowly. You have dendrites that have been destroyed and while neuro regeneration is possible, it is very very slow. Always stop before your horse tells you they have had enough. Doing more will not build physical fitness, it will destroy your prior good work. I found that there was incredible sensitivity to pressure and a loss of where each limb was in space. I used Linda Tellington-Jones’s Books on ground work. Her methods of tying bandages around the horse for peripheral awareness made a big difference. No one tried to do anything with re-hab when my horse was diagnosed. The common practice then was to turn them out and see if they got better. Since then, other people have developed protocols similar to what I found worked for me. There is even a TTeam book of Rehabilitating Horses with Neurological Deficits. Check out Learn to massage your horse. (but not too much too soon) they can be pressure sensitive and they can also over react. Realize that with lack of neuro control your horse will be compensating and using different muscles then they would normally. A little gentle sensitive massage as a part of daily grooming will be appreciated. I like Jack Meagher’s book. Zits old but his methods really work. It is a long journey. It has made me a better horsewoman and I am constantly amazed and humbled by my horse’s efforts. Yes, many people have horses that return to full work, yes, many have problems that linger. You will feel helpless. You are not alone, and yes, there is more you can do.
