20/09/2026
Sharing my beautiful Dora’s story and how she got her wings 😢
She had Trigeminal Neiralgia
I had never heard of this, she started flicking her head, this got worse and worse & out of the blue she had a slight nose bleed so was off to vet to see what’s going on, she was scoped and nothing really showed up, we started a trial to see if anything helped, started with pain so given bute and I had to document weather, behaviour every day while worked, prior to this I had ruled out rider & gear, grass & allergies, pain relief made no difference she continued to get worse, a break from meds then we tried nerve blockers, this sent her out of control, she was in so much pain, she couldn’t think, was hard to watch, she became to dangerous to work, then a break from drugs and one last try, meantime I got in a natural healer and he said it’s liver fluke so was drenched for that, no change , then was a trip to ChCh another scope x-rays, bloods , teeth, then was home with steroids, omg she’s happy again, I didn’t work her as I was scared it would start again, vets called and said I have to, to know if it’s working, it wasn’t 😩, we vaccinated for herpes as there was alot of talk it works but no theory to back it up, I’ll try anything at this stage, it didn’t work, the vets told me that if we can’t fix it the kindest thing is to put her down, they said people also get it and it drives them crazy, it’s like getting electric shocks to your face all the time, I said I would turn her out for one last attempt that she might be ok, I put her in the herd on the hill ( she grew up with them) they wouldn’t let her in, she was an outcast, research says if there is something wrong that jeopardised the herd’s safety they are pushed out, the other horses told me what needs to be done, in the end she had trouble with coordination with her feet, this beautiful 5yo was orphaned as a foal and had a foster mum so she was extra special to me, she did give some warning signs that something was wrong when starting under saddle but I only realised this now, she has taught me that your horse is always telling us something.
She was super quiet laid back then went to hitting walls in the stables and had no idea I was around as she was in so much pain, I did talk to others that have had this happen too, all with the same outcome, most go aggressive, Dora didn’t she just use to sink her face in my chest saying help me mum 😢😢😢
And I couldn’t fix her
