Rolling Dog Farm Blog

I drove three of our blind horses to the vet clinic in Missoula today to see Dr. Erin Taylor.  You may recall that a couple of weeks ago, our filly Nikki was suddenly wobbly on her feet.  After a further, more limited relapse last week, we had to to put her back on steroids.  Today Erin planned to take X-rays of her neck vertebrae to see if we could detect any areas of compression on her spinal cord.  That’s what Erin is doing in the photo above.  Vet tech Julia is holding the X-ray "platter" on the other side of Nikki’s neck, while vet tech Megan is holding Nikki’s head still.

Since we tapered Nikki off the second round of steroids late last week, she had been fine and not suffered a relapse.  The X-rays didn’t reveal any compression or ‘tweaks’ to the vertebrae (like a fragment that had chipped off, for example), so at this point we’ll take that as good news and fervently hope Nikki doesn’t have another episode.

Next up was blind Bo, our new arrival who came in December.  We noticed over the past two weeks that he is having periodic episodes of nystagmus, in which the eyes dart back and forth rapidly, and sometimes when this happens he becomes a bit ataxic, or uncoordinated.  Yet it’s inconsistent, so we can’t find a pattern that would help explain what’s happening.  Last Friday afternoon, during another episode, Erin had me draw blood from Bo, then told me how to separate out the serum and freeze it over the weekend until I could bring it into the clinic today.  Erin will send off the serum for various tests, which may tell us if there’s a viral component at work.  She wanted me to get a serum sample while he was having an active episode.

Yesterday morning, when I went out to take Bo from his stall to his corral, I saw him exhibiting the nystagmus again, so I dashed back to the house to get the videocamera to tape it for Erin.  When I returned three minutes later, he wasn’t doing it. 

In this next photo you see Erin examining Bo’s eyes.  Please note the highly sophisticated, miniaturized ophthalmic instrument she’s using called a "flashlight."  Erin went to get the clinic’s ophthalmoscope and came back with this 5-pound, foot-long flashlight.  (She will now probably want to whack me over the head with it for posting this photo.)  In truth, the behemoth flashlight was all Erin needed for the dazzle reflex she was testing for.

Erin was able to induce the nystagmus in Bo at the clinic by making him walk rapidly in tight circles.  When he stopped, sure enough, his eyes were darting back and forth.  This is called — ready? — the oculocephalic reflex, and it occurs independent of vision.  So Bo’s response to the circling was both predictable and normal.  Yet we haven’t seen him do much circling on his own, and when I find him in the stall doing this, he’s calm and it’s not evident he’s been spinning around.  More perplexing, we do have some blind horses who circle quite a bit, yet we have never seen this nystagmus in them.  Bo showed no ataxia today, and was very well aware of where his feet were. 

Oddly, after I got home this evening and let Bo out of the trailer, he walked off and down the ramp just fine … but less then 10 yards farther down the drive after a steady walk, he staggered, lost his bearings, and nearly fell over on me.  And it wasn’t a slip on the snow, because I was watching him as this happened and he didn’t slip at all.  It was just like he suddenly lost his balance and his legs buckled.  I called Erin with this bizarre update.  Erin is consulting with one of her internal medicine colleagues on Bo’s case, and we should have the serum test results in about 10 days.

Here’s another shot of her eye exam:

Yes, there in the stall behind Erin is horse No. 3 … blind Domino, in for another sheath cleaning and penile ‘spa treatment.’  I had taken Domino in to see Erin back in December because of an inflamed sheath.  (He is now known affectionately in some circles as "penis boy" rather than "pizza boy.")  Six weeks later, I had noticed the same tail-swishing/feet-kicking signs of discomfort again, hence today’s trip to the clinic.  And, as in December, I figured photos of his treatment were not necessarily in the public interest.