Eastwood Beats the Odds

If he’d had two kidneys, he wouldn’t have been for sale, so my wife Laura and I considered ourselves lucky when she became Eastwood’s new owner. He was 12 then, and over the past ten years, this magnificent chestnut Dutch warmblood has become a full-fledged member of our family.
Those familiar with dressage may have heard of Eastwood. Formerly owned by dressage competitor, coach, speaker and author Jane Savoie, Eastwood appeared in many of her books, magazine articles and videos. But when Eastwood was 7, veterinarians at the New Bolton Center at the University of Pennsylvania had to remove one of his kidneys to stop an uncontrollable and life-threatening kidney infection.
Overcoming the odds, Eastwood’s dressage career continued. He and Jane worked towards qualifying for the Olympic games in 2000. However, when she moved him from her home in Vermont to train in Wellington, Fla., Eastwood developed a fever. Veterinarians administered Banamine, but his creatinine level rose to above-normal levels of 2.0. Because he was not dehydrated, it was assumed that the anti-inflammatory medication caused the rise in creatinine.
Creatinine levels measure kidney function, with higher levels indicating potential problems with Eastwood’s one remaining kidney. Jane worried she wouldn’t be able to have Eastwood successfully treated if he became sick while moving from competition to competition.
So, reluctantly, she decided to sell Eastwood, and Laura and I added him to our stables. Laura is an airline pilot who calls dressage riding a hobby. She’s trained with Ryan Yap for the past 5 years.
Before buying Eastwood, I conducted an extensive three-week pre-purchase exam. I found that Eastwood’s one kidney was working quite well, and that while he had some arthritis, it wasn’t holding him back — at least not then.
Because I was concerned with what to feed a one-kidney horse, I contacted Dr. Tom Divers at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine for his recommendations. He told me to feed Eastwood grass hay because it’s lower in CA++, and he told me to avoid feeding alfalfa because of its high CA++ content. I also called equine nutritionist Don Kapper, who recommended feeding Buckeye Feeds Gro’N Win, a concentrated source of mineral, vitamins and protein, plus grass hay. After starting Eastwood on this feed program, all his kidney function tests were within normal limits.
Eventually, as Eastwood grew older, health problems cropped up. Eastwood developed laminitis due to a pituitary adenoma disorder, so I administered ketoprofen intravenously. But this nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) caused Eastwood’s creatinine and BUN levels to rise. He also had an allergic reaction to the IV ketoprofen and almost died. The only thing I could use on him was IV Domoso in a 5% solution of saline.
On another occasion, Eastwood developed mild gas colic. When I administered Banamine, he again experienced an adverse reaction. From then on, I stayed away from giving him any NSAID for any condition. It seemed that every time that I gave him an NSAID, his kidney function test would go out of whack.
I stayed with this strategy even after Eastwood’s arthritis worsened. He has moderate degenerative joint disease in his lower hocks, and his middle hock has fused. It’s easy to detect when he’s in pain. When the arthritis in his hocks is bad, he doesn’t come through with his hind legs. Instead, he drops all his weight on his forelegs, and is heavy in the hand.
That’s the state Eastwood was in last summer. Because I had already ruled out using any NSAID, I tried injecting cortisone into Eastwood’s tarsal-metatarsal joints because I was told it wouldn’t adversely affect his kidney. But 10 days after the injection, his creatinine level was up again. That left me with the option of injecting hyaluronic acid into the joints or doing shockwave therapy. I opted for both.
Hyaluronic acid improves the viscosity of the affected joint’s lubricating synovial fluid. This injection into Eastwood’s hocks did produce some pain relief. Shockwave therapy is a fairly new non-invasive treatment that uses high-energy soundwaves on target areas. It has been reported to help improve lameness scores in 40% to 50% of degenerative joint disease (DJD) cases in the tarsal-metatarsal joints. Again, Eastwood got some temporary relief.
But while the hyaluronic acid and shockwave therapies did some good, they couldn’t restore Eastwood to the condition he enjoyed last summer. That was when I decided to try a new product called Surpass. The manufacturer recommends twice-daily applications of this topical cream NSAID to the horse's affected joint. In Eastwood's case, this means applications to his hocks and ankle. The medication goes right to the site of inflammation, rather than into the horse's system.
We also give Eastwood Adequan IM and Legend IV, which he has been on since arriving on our farm, alternating these two joint-health drugs weekly. Along with Surpass, this combination proved to be a winner for Eastwood. Laura was able to put him through his dressage moves as though he were competing again. Eastwood was back, doing all the movements that he did when he was 12. Had he been in competition, he would have been hard to beat.
Currently, Eastwood is recovering from ailments unrelated to his arthritis, including a chronic sinus infection. He has had 2 teeth extracted and 2 sinus surgeries. I am sure this is causing him discomfort, but you would never know it. He still gets his Adequan IM and his Legend IV alternating weekly, and he still gets his Surpass on his hocks and LH ankle every night. And his pituitary adenoma is under control with the use of pergolide.
I would like to thank each veterinarian who has helped me treat this wonderful horse. I’d especially like to thank Dr. Scott McClure for all his efforts in treating Eastwood’s sinus problem.
Eastwood is as sound today as I have ever seen him. In fact, he recently has been causing such a ruckus on mornings when Laura goes out to ride her other horse, Hatsen, that she has put him back to work. He looks great, and in spite of his health challenges, he remains a very special member of our family. He follows Laura around our ranch like a puppy, and is gentle enough for even the youngest children to ride.
I tell people that in my household, my wife and daughters come first. Then Eastwood, then me. I don’t mind, though. This one-kidney, arthritic, 22-year-old ex-champion is beating the odds, and we aim to keep him going strong for years to come.