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Jun 8 2007, 12:10 AM EDT (current) Jenelle 819 words added
Jun 7 2007, 11:38 PM EDT Jenelle

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It is so very difficult to lose one of our equine friends! On Thursaday May 24, 2007, we found one of our Arabian/Percheron fillies, "Knight's Mount Deava" down and unable to rise. She had seemed fine earlier in the day so it was a shock to find her in this condition. We were able to get her through the gate and into the farmstead with some difficulty. We called our vet and his suggestion was to give her some water and grain and wait a couple hours to see how she was doing. I thought that maybe she had gotten cast against the fence and had exhausted herself trying to get up. After several hours it was obvious that something more serious than exhaustion was going on. On Friday, our vet made a farm visit, drew blood, gave Deava some fluids, anti-inflamatory drugs and a massive dose of antibiotics. His course of action was to repeat the anti-inflamatory drugs and antibiotics every 12 hours and support. Our filly was fighting to live and we helped as much as possible. She required assistance to roll up onto her chest to eat and drink. However, she was a willing patient and was hungry and ate willingly when we helped her stay up on her chest. Long story short, after helping Deava fight for her life for more than five days we chose to release her from her struggle. She had fought valiantly and still wanted very much to live. However, there comes a time when we as kind and caring horse owners must do the honorable deed and allow our friend the freedom go to their maker for release from pain and suffering. We have been hesitant to vaccinate our entire herd for West Nile as there is very little evidence that the vaccine offers much protection from the virus. However, at this point if I could have prevented this filly from going through the agony she endured battling this virus, I would have gladly paid many times over the cost of the vaccine to save her life! There is very little evidence that the vaccine prevents the illness, however, there seems to be an increase in the chances of survival in vaccinated horses. There are some 3 million humans in the USA who have contract West Nile and have not become ill enough to even recognize they were ill..A couple days of aches and lethargy, then back to normal......less than one percent of humans who are infected with West Nile become ill enough to require medical care. Of those there are about 2percent who will die due to complications of the disease. Cattle seem to contract West Nile without sypmtoms or illness and only blood tests can confirm the antibodies in their system to prove they have indeed contracted the virus. Horses and humans seem to be a "dead end" host(no pun intended) and do not carry a large enough reserve of the virus for mosquitos to pick up and transmit to birds for incubation. Blue Jays, Crows and ravens are the most commonly affected host bird for the West Nile virus. There is no evidence that the disease is passed directly from horse to horse, horse to human, or horse to any other animal. Thankfully, we have been able to vaccinate the balance of our herd and are praying that the vaccine protects us from further losses. The problems and reactions to the vaccine have prevented us in the past from vaccinating and we still do not vaccinate our pregnant mares or very young foals(under 6 months of age). Very aggressive early treatment seems to be a horse's only hope if they present with severe symptoms there is very little that can be done other than support to prevent them from doing damage to themselves during their illness. Some 70 percent of horses who present with severe sypmtoms will have to be euthanized. Survival is about 70 percent in horses who have less severe sypmtoms. The lovely young mare we lost was "Knight's Mount Deava" a beautiful dapple gray Arabian/Percheron who knew she was a princess from the day she was born. Her dam is boss mare of our Percherons. I had kept Deava and her two year old sister, "Knight's Mount Elegance"(a.k.a. Ellie Mae) for my personal use as a driving team for competition. The harness hasn't come in yet to fit these big girls and it will be bitter sweet when it arrives. This filly will be deeply missed! There are no words to express the deep loss of a favorite equine friend! Deava will live on forever in my heart! She was a beautiful spirit with a kind heart! She loved life and wanted to experience all that life had to offer.
She now runs across pastures tall and green, strong and healthy once again.
"Knight's Mount Deava" you are deeply missed here on this earth.