Rolling Dog Farm Blog

After two weeks in the hospital, I finally brought blind Bo back to the ranch today.  I had taken him in for head X-rays and a neurological evaluation because of sudden and unexplained episodes of nystagmus and loss of balance.  Our equine vet, Dr. Erin Taylor, had asked me to leave him at the hospital for further tests and evaluation, and she also wanted to start treating him with antibiotics and steroids to see if his clinical signs would improve.

His symptoms have improved but have not gone away, and after further consultations with the internal medicine specialists and neurologists at Washington State University’s veterinary teaching hospital, the next step will be an MRI of his head.  (A horse’s head and lower limbs are the only part of the horse body that will fit in an MRI!)  We will get that scheduled in the next week. 

I took the photo above of Erin with Bo in his stall at the clinic this morning.  And then, much to Erin’s consternation, I started photographing a series of "action" shots as she led Bo outside to our waiting horse trailer.  I figured this perspective would be a little "something different."  Here’s the first in the series:

And here she is rounding the corner with trusting Bo following along behind:

Finally, she brings Bo to a halt at the back of the trailer:

And then, like all of our blind horses, he loaded right up like a champ.  When I got back to the ranch and led him out to his corral, he went straight to his feeder and started eating hay.  He didn’t pay any attention to his new girlfriend, blind Guadalupe, but she was so excited to have him back that she raced around the corral, bucking and kicking up her heels.  He pretended not to notice.  (He’s the strong, silent type.)