Corey

Arrival Date:  February 2020

Farewell Date: January 18, 2022  

 

Corey and Carolita “Carol” arrived at the ranch in February of 2020. These two sisters were part of a County of San Diego Department of Animal Services case. While they were very much loved by their owner, her battle with dementia prevented her from caring for her animals as she once had. Her family made the difficult decision to move her closer to them and her animals were transferred to Animal Services.

This set of photographs of Carol and Corey were taken on a memorable day in July 2021.  They were having the time of their lives running freely in the large turn-out enclosure at the ranch.   Such a magnificent pair of horses in all their beauty.

 

Farewell Date:  January 18, 2022

On January 18, Corey was found down in the corral she shared with her sister Carol. We initially thought she may have been having a colic episode. While waiting for Dr. Harlan to arrive, Kelly and Eugene worked hard to get Corey up on her feet.

When we were able to get Corey up, she appeared unable to control her feet and almost immediately went back down. We made her as comfortable as possible, until Dr. Harlan arrived. He gave her a heavy dose of drugs, in addition to the Banamine we had given her. It didn’t take him long to notice nystagmus, quick, repetitive jerky movement of the eyeball caused by seizure activity. He then pointed out how the seizures were moving through her body.

These were not grand mal seizures, but far more subtle. Unfortunately, they were what was preventing her from being able to stand. It quickly became clear that the medications were doing nothing to control her seizures, leaving us to say goodbye to our beautiful Corey. We had been working with her on what we thought was an infected tooth. It is possible that the infection was in her nervous system. The other possibility is that a melanoma was putting pressure on her nerves, causing the seizures.

When we agreed to take in the two girls, we did so knowing Carol has a significant number of large melanomas (common in grey horses). We tried to prepare ourselves that Carol might not be with us for very long. We were completely unprepared to lose Corey first.

We were very concerned about Carol’s anxiety, as the two were inseparable in life. Dr. Harlan was kind enough to sedate Carol and leave us with several days worth of anxiety medication. Fortunately, Carol never experienced any anxiety. Perhaps this was Corey’s parting gift to her sister, letting her know that everything would be okay.