Pulmonary disease, supply chain issues put therapy horse's life at risk

MARTSONS MILLS — Jules, a 26-year-old gray mare, isn’t quite what she used to be, and Leslie Ballotti is in a battle for Jules' life. But time is running out.

Jules is a purebred quarter horse, living out her old age at the Cranberry Sunset Farm that serves as a rescue facility for horses. Ballotti is the farm's founder and director.

The facility houses 42 horses, including ponies and miniature horses. It provides therapy to children and adults with autism and other disabilities where they can ride the horses and take care of them.

Jules can't join the horses that children and adults can ride, but her calm demeanor is a balm to both humans and other horses, Ballotti said.

Life-threatening respiratory condition

Jules has a life-threatening respiratory condition, though, that requires almost continuous medication to keep it under control, said Dr. Marina Caesar, Jules’ veterinarian.

Recently, Ballotti has found it increasingly difficult to obtain those medications. Just this past week, the situation became desperate as Jules’ supply of glycopyrrolate was nearly depleted.

However, Jules’ got some respite as Caesar managed to obtain a new medication that should be available on a regular basis for a while.

Ballotti was concerned that without a new supply, which would have run out by the end of last week (Friday) Jules could suffer a relapse, and when she does it is very serious.

“It’s like her lungs fold inside out," Balotti said, "and it is a struggle for her to breathe."

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Without medications to relieve those symptoms, Jules’ quality of life will become such that she would have to be euthanized, she said.

Caesar said that previously Jules was prescribed Ventipulmin, but that drug went off the market. Using a compound pharmacy which is able to acquire the ingredients to make and replace drugs that have gone off the market, Caesar said she was able to obtain glycopyrrolate.

Then that medication became extremely expensive, so Caesar was able to get a new compound drug, clenbuterol, another steroid-type medication that does the same thing as Jules’ previous medications.

Caesar said this is the case for many ordinarily available medications for humans, as well, and noted that even penicillin has recently gone off the market.

“I think it is just that we are living in a changing world,” said Ballotti. “As Americans we are used to being able to get things. Now we can’t get things.”

So for a little while, anyway Jules has a supply of medications to get her through her days. But even with this new supply, Jules is running out of time.

What started as a case of equine asthma has progressively developed into Chronic Obstructive  Pulmonary Disease or COPD. Jules is in the advanced stages of the disease, and it is very uncomfortable almost all the time, Caesar said.

“It is progressive; it will not get better,” she said.

In fact, Jules developed a secondary condition brought on by the steroid medications, called laminitis. At the time, euthanizing was briefly considered, Caesar said.

At 26, which is comparable to a person in their late 60s or early 70s, Jules health has become extremely compromised, Cranberry Sunset manager Peter Dyrness said.

And with summer approaching and the heat of the stable, Caesar said she is concerned that Jules may not be able to survive much longer.

Helping two other horses

For as long as she can, Ballotti is doing all she can to enable Jules to live out her years in comfort, and continue to bring serenity to those who might need it.

A couple of years ago, Ballotti said, she acquired two horses that were nervous and had trouble fitting into the farm life at Cranberry Sunset.

But Jules acted as sort of a mentor and guide to how things are at the farm for those horses, who are calm and tame today.

“She is like the old grandmother in a family, Ballotti said. “She has her stories to tell. She is caring and maternal.”

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Brewster therapy horse has life-threatening medical condition