June 2003

Living With Chronic Lyme

Owners of horses with Lyme say it's a long road, but knowing what works and what doesn't can make the path more direct.

It’s the tiny deer tick that carries the Lyme organism.

When diagnosed and treated in the early stages, Lyme disease is actually easily curable. Unfortunately, usually by the time most horses are definitely diagnosed as suffering from Lyme disease, the illness is well established and may not respond as quickly, or as completely, to treatment. For most of these horses, the disease becomes chronic, meaning it will never truly go away.

The first step after diagnosis is a course of antibiotics, usually intravenous tetracycline, oral doxycycline, or a combination of the two. If you're fortunate, your horse will return to normal and stay that way. …