Post mystery illness 3 month check up - blood Results Update

Cortrasna

Grumpy old nag
Aug 5, 2009
10,124
3,499
113
Ireland
My vet was out today to do her teeth and give Dolly a thorough check over and take final 3 month bloods to confirm she is now well and truly 'cured' from whatever weird illness she had back in the late winter/early spring. He couldn't believe he was seeing the same horse - It is very windy here today and they are all very lively to say the least. I was flying a kite trying to hold her, in the end she had to have some light sedation to get everything done. He said he was delighted to see her so on her toes and lively and back to her usual self even if she was being a pain to do :rolleyes:

Anyway - in passing he was saying how they still discuss her 'case' and are as baffled now as they were when she was ill....I said it seems silly now but I really believed I was going to lose her at that time. He said no not silly at all she was a very, very sick horse and he also believed we would lose her as her bloods were all over the place and just getting worse each week no matter what they tried to help her- and her recovery is as baffling as the illness. Fortunately he didnt tell me this at the time -not sure how I would have coped!:eek:

Not too sure why I am even posting this...just so happy that he is so pleased with her in every way - and even said her weight is just grand despite not exactly getting much work this year she still isn't overweight which is a huge relief as that has worried me this summer. bloods will be back next week but he has no concerns that they won't all be just fine.

Lucky me! Lucky Dolly! Love my life! :p:D
 
Really great to read and nothing wrong with being happy that your lovely Dolly is well again. I can only imagine what must have been going through your mind at the time of her illness. Onwards and Upwards! :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cortrasna
Well i just dont know what is going on now - vet phoned and blood results are in and not good news - absolutely gutted and so is he. Red blood cell count and white blood cell count now actually not even quite as good as last test in May. One other result is a bit worrying but cant for the life of me remember which one as I barely took in most of the conversation.....he assures me she is nowhere as ill as she was back in the spring, which is very obvious she just seem so well, apart from being a little flat and unresponsive when ridden which I and he agreed, thought was probably more to do with her losing her fitness level whilst she was poorly.

He feels the dose of her blood xcell jollop has been giving her enough boost to improve life for her but not enough obviously to bring her back in the range of acceptable readings. I now have to double the dose that until we know which is the next way forward. He is off the a seminar in Birmingham in a couple of days and is taking all her history and results with him as he has some colleagues there who specialise in obscure and unaccounted blood readings to see if they can come up with any ideas to try and pin down what is happening with her. Our Irish Equine Laboratory where her bloods go to are equally baffled and they see most everything that occurs in equines throughout Ireland.

I can hardly keep back my tears of shame that the last two rides I was relentlessly pushing her on to do a good smart working trot up and down hills to try and get her (and mine) fitness level back up and wouldn't even let up on a lazy walk until we were the last 20 minutes from home when i dropped the reins and let her stretch and relax- and my dear old mare did her very best and barely put her ears back to complain, although she made it quite clear she only wanted to walk the whole damn way round. Poor bloody horse, stupid bloody owner :mad:
 
Oh no, we were all so pleased that Dolly was feeling better.

You’re not stupid at all, many owners wouldn’t have bothered with the last lot of tests as she was doing so well.

I did the same with Raf when he was off pre diagnosis Cushings. Hindsight is a wonderful thing :rolleyes:

Dolly is really lucky to have found such a caring owner, and two rides where she was asked to do a bit more than she was comfortable with is not such a terrible hardship when the rest of her life is so cushy. She’s really fallen on her feet with you and I hope she continues to mend.
 
  • Like
Reactions: orbvalley
Oh no Cortrasna, thats not good, no matter what though you mustn't be hard on yourself, you've always only ever done anything with Dolly for the very best of intentions.
 
I'm speechless:( So so sorry and shcoked to hear this. Never never blame yourself again, you have done so much more than most owners and always with the best of intentions. Love to you both xxx
 
Very sorry about these results Cortrasna. But as for asking too much of her - dont blame yourself.
There is no situation when riding a convalescent horse when one can be 100% sure of how to ride and how much to ask - plus my experience of sharing / riding a very old mare and for 14 years hacking a previously injured horse, is that third parties will always say what one is doing is wrong and smart riders will usually say one is erring on the side of asking too little. So it makes sense you thought it would be good for her to start working properly again.
I was told to ride my share according to how she and I felt on the day. But how is one to know for sure how the horse feels? You used your judgement on a horse you know well - No one can ask more of any rider.

I do not really understand the medical side of blood counts, blood tests and cancers even in humans. And I hope all goes better for Dolly. But it is also worth saying that my RI stopped me buying a horse because she did not want me to pay livery for an animal that was off work or growing old. I now feel that was wrong. That is part of owning an animal. Riding is good for you and owning a horse as you do is the best and safest way of riding in later life.

I wish you and Dolly well though this.
 
  • Like
Reactions: joosie
Oh sorry to hear her bloods aren't good again but hopefully when your vet is in Birmingham someone over there will have a light bulb moment.

Please don't blame yourself for pushing her on, you weren't to know. I did the same thing with my Marley pre cushings, he can be a nappy git when he decides to and I thought he was just taking the piss and was rather stern with him on a lot of rides. I felt so bad and guilty when i got him tested and it came back positive but I now know that I couldn't have known and someone else may have been even harder on him and i'm sure he knows I love him to bits just as I'm sure your Dolly knows too.
 
Oh this start so good. Please don’t beat yourself up. You have done an amazing job all the way through this. She has had nothing but the very best of care treatment and love.

Hugs and vibes to both of you and really hope you get to the bottom of it soon
 
sounds horribly like Molly was when she was 9. She was lethargic, lost weight, her bloods were off the richter scale, you could test her one week and the next they were completely nuts. She had every supplement, tonic, test in the world and we found nothing to pin it on. So we retired her, we had another go at riding her when we got Rose, but it lasted a month before she hit the brick wall again, she would be full of life then after a few weeks just lost all her energy and was dull. So we gave up with her for good then, and she lived on till she was 26 when she got a severe colic and was pts. I spent a fortune on homeopaths, standard vets, liver tonics, every kind of blooming tonic we could find, eventually she was fine, but we still have no idea what was wrong with her.
 
newrider.com