For the past few weeks we’ve been serializing a chapter entitled “Piaff” from the new book Equine ER: Stories from a Year in the Life of an Equine Veterinary Hospital by Leslie Guttman (Eclipse Press, 2009). Piaff, a Dutch warmblood gelding, had a devastating case of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), an infection of a horse’s central nervous system, from which he did not survive. (See previous...
In the previous installment of this excerpt from the new book Equine ER , Piaff, a Dutch warmblood with a mysterious and devastating illness, was diagnosed with EPM. Now, his vet had a treatment course, and the gelding started to improve. Below, Part 4 of 5. One of Rood & Riddle’s receptionists, Chris Pfetzer, has a son, Mark, who in 1996 at sixteen was the youngest person to climb Mount Everest...
Inside the stall, the massive horse balanced precariously on three legs, supported by a sling around his 1,500-pound body that was suspended from a one-ton hoist in the ceiling. His name was Piaff and he was Dutch Warmblood gelding the color of dark chocolate. His left hind leg was too close to the right and knuckled over at the fetlock. Dr. Stephen Reed stood at Piaff's head while two interns...
