03/28/2026
I have had a few horses present symptoms of EPM over the last 30 years that I have been around horses. What I have experienced is every horse has their own unique experience with the disease. At the end of 2025, we finally treated my horse, Craf, for EPM.
How did we get to this point? At the beginning of 2025, the farrier made adjustments to Craf’s front shoes to help with his angles. He continued to trip A LOT under saddle. Due to what appeared to be continued subtle lameness throughout the year, we did all the injections: hocks, stifles, coffin joints, and even the neck. Still, he lost muscle tone in his hind end and his neck. He kicked himself in the front while moving. His hind end sank about a foot in his posture. His coat got nappy and looked really unhealthy even with consistent grooming. Throughout this ordeal, Craf’s gut suffered. He wound up with severe leaky gut, and we had to treat him for hind gut ulcers with 6 weeks of Misoprostol (Ouch!). Craf also is your class clown. He is known for his squeals when you ask him to canter on the lunge or when he is out playing. Until after we treated him and his personality came back, I had not noticed how dull and blah he had gotten.
What was the initial treatment for EPM? We treated Craf with Toltrazuril, which is actually a very quick medicinal treatment. For the first 2 weeks after the medicine was given, I lunged Craf 4-5 days per week (walk, trot, canter) and walked him under saddle for about 5 minutes post lunge. At about the 2 week mark, he actually went backwards. He started tripping pretty bad and his gate got funky again. So, for about 2 more weeks, I only lunged him walk and trot, until he appeared to regain his balance and coordination, and I definitely did not sit on him through this phase.
How did we get back under saddle? Once Craf was maintaining his balance on a regular basis on the lunge and he was back to full walk, trot, and canter on the lunge, I was able to get back on him. We started very slow with walking only under saddle for a month post lunge 4-5 days per week. Then, we progressed to walk and trot for a month post short lunge. Currently, we are up to walk, trot, canter for about 20 minutes under saddle 4-5 days per week, 3 and a half months into recovery. I still lunge him for about 5 minutes prior to hopping on him to give him an opportunity to settle into his own balance. Some might argue that I could increase the pace of Craf’s recovery. However, he is a really kind, fun horse and we are not in any hurry. I am hoping to keep him progressing and going for a long time. Follow along as I continue to document Craf’s EPM recovery 🩵
Top pictures and Bottom left picture are before treatment.
Bottom right picture is most recent as Craf is recovering.
