With the arrival of Scipion the problem of finding a companion for Blanchette was resolved. But Scipion arrived in very bad health, hardly able to walk, lack of energy and hoofs in terrible condition. Furthermore he had horse shoes on the front feet and the farrier could only remove one of them because an abscess on one foot was so painful that the farrier couldn’t touch it.
In any case at his recent arrival back into my care he had no ticks. But he did have signs of possible tick disease, so the veterinarian came and took blood samples to send to the lab. The result was a strong positive for 3 out of 4 tick borne diseases Lyme included.
The effective treatment for Lyme with horses is especially expensive and difficult. It requires a strong antibiotic to be injected into the vein every day for ten days. This is no easy task given a horse who is not willing to let this be done without resistance. For the cost I had the very good luck to get a donation of 1000 euros to cover the medical expenses. What a godsend for this horse because otherwise I could not pay for that myself without help.
The Lyme treatment was finished end of July 2019 and Scipion showed marked improvement afterward. We had a setback a few weeks later when he started limping because of a bout of laminitis, a problem he will always be prone to because of his past before he was rescued. He responded well to the laminitis treatment and after a few weeks he was able to walk without limping. As autumn came with cooler weather he started doing really well and throughout the winter he was trotting and galloping like a normal horse. Nevertheless the maladies and negligence of his past have left physical damage and he will always be at risk for health problems, especially laminitis.