Save Shamrock

Hey ya'll, my name is Hannah, & I don't know how to do this, so bear with me here.

I'm fundraising to save Shamrock, my friend Haylee's horse. Shamrock, or Sham as most of us call him, is a 5-year-old Quarter Horse and the sweetest horse you will ever meet.

Haylee has raised him since he was weaned. She has poured every ounce of her heart and soul into training him & making him the fantastic horse he is today. In return, Sham has brought her solace & joy through some of the darkest times of her life, many of those being in the last year. She has faced so much adversity, it's a wonder she's still standing, & Sham has been there every step of the way.

Then, a couple of months ago, Sham started to drop on his topline, & it seemed overnight he lost all of the muscle on his back end. Haylee tried everything she knew to bring it back, but nothing worked. He started to stumble at random when he walked. She had a gut feeling about what was wrong with Sham but couldn't get an equine vet out to see him until last month. This is what he looks like now:

They drew some blood to run the tests Haylee asked for to get confirmation of her suspicions, but deep down, we all thought, "it can't be". Wishful thinking, I suppose.

Fast forward to yesterday, November 7th, Haylee & I are limping down the road in her truck, pulling 2 of her clients' horses in the trailer, & she finally gets the return call from the vet about Sham's test results. She was correct; Sham has EPM.

EPM (or Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis) is, in short, a neurological disease. More than 50% of all horses in the U.S. may have been exposed to the organism that causes EPM. This organism is a parasite called Sarcocystis neurona. The disease is not transmitted from horse to horse but is actually spread from multiple animals through the Opossum, or more specifically, their feces, which can contaminate hay & grass, etc. Once ingested, the sporocysts migrate from the intestinal tract into the bloodstream & cross the blood/brain barrier. There they begin to attack the horse's central nervous system. Onset may be slow or sudden. If left undiagnosed & untreated, EPM can cause devastating and lasting neurological damage. Symptoms range from abnormal sweating to seizures & paralysis of the muscles of the eyes, face or mouth.

Thankfully, EPM is treatable. The sooner treatment begins, the better the horse's chances are for recovery. 60-70% of EPM cases aggressively treated show significant or complete reversal of symptoms. ( Source: https://aaep.org/horsehealth/epm-understanding-debilitating-disease )

After having had several conversations over the last 36 hours with people with horses with EPM, it sounds as if the younger the horse, the better the results.

So why am I telling you all this, and what am I asking for?

Treatment for Sham will be expensive. For two rounds of treatment & all of the supplements needed in addition & maintenance medications for about six months after initial treatment, it will cost roughly $2500.00.

Haylee is self-employed, running a boarding facility for 15 horses in addition to her own, & the price of hay & feed has skyrocketed this year. She teaches riding, roping & barrel racing lessons to support herself. Let me put it this way; Haylee is the hardest-working woman I have ever come across in my entire life. She gives and gives and gives of herself until there's nothing left. She has done more for me in the past year than I can explain, and she probably doesn't even know it. That's just who Haylee is. Bottom line, she cannot afford his treatment.

Because she cannot afford treatment, Haylee has two choices here, but if you asked her, she would say she doesn't have a choice. She could let him live his life & get progressively worse until he one day passes away. Or, she could put him down out of mercy, and for Haylee, that's a no-brainer.

But because of who she is, what she does for all of us at the barn, the life she has led and the insurmountable troubles she has faced, I cannot sit back and watch her lose him.

Haylee's unending courage, perseverance and flat-out FIGHT is rare in this current day and age. Sham is the one thing that has been hers from the start, the one thing that brings her peace and solace. Sham makes all of it worth it, and I cannot let her lose him.

So I'm asking you to please help. Please show my friend that there is kindness in this world and that what she has with Sham matters.

Any blessing you can give will be beyond appreciated. If I could pay it all, I would; Sham is worth it. Please help us save Sham.