112 EqUUS 498 AUTUMN 2019
mare. Emily, 12 at the time, rode her a
lot the summer of 2012. The next year,
10-year-old Samantha started riding
Breezy, making the transition from
our old gelding. Soon it would be Sam’s
turn; the 8-year-old got along well
with Breezy and we were hoping they
would be a good team for a few years.
However, all of that changed when we
noticed the growth on Breeze’s eye.
More trouble
Breezy had always had a lot of sclera
showing in the corners of her eyes, and
as she grew older these areas were of-
ten irritated by sunburn, flies and dust.
When we first noticed that the normally
smooth white tissue became rough and
reddened, we had a veterinarian look at
her eyes. He said they were simply irri-
tated, so we didn’t worry too much.
Then in late fall of 2013, when
Breezy was 22, we noticed that her left
eye had extra tissue starting to grow
over the edge of her cornea. We called
Renee Riggleman, DVM, of Blue Cross
Veterinary Clinic in nearby Salmon,
Idaho, who took a biopsy. The results
showed that the growth was cancer
---squamous cell carcinoma.
Caused by exposure to ultraviolet
rays, squamous cell is one of the most
common tumors found on horses.
It often develops in unpigmented
skin, in places where it meets mucous
membranes, just like the corner of
the eye. The cancer is relatively slow-
growing but can spread to other parts
of the body.
Because the cancer was on the sur-
face of the eye itself and it was unclear
how deep it went, the veterinarian’s
recommendation was to either monitor
it and put the mare down when it af-
fected her quality of life or remove the
eye and hope the cancer had not yet
spread beyond the eyeball.
We couldn’t imagine not having
Breezy around for the grandchildren
so we opted for surgery to give her as
many good years as possible. It would
have to be done at Riggleman’s clinic
under general anesthesia, so we
made the appointment for the end
of December.
In the weeks leading up to the
surgery, we helped Breezy get used to
being sightless on that side. My daugh-
ter-in-law sewed a couple of layers of
denim onto a fly mask, covering the left
side of her face.
Breezy wore that “blinder” for sev-
eral weeks and seemed to adapt easily.
Breezy hadn’t been in a trailer since
she arrived on our farm as a 4-year-old,
so we borrowed our son’s stock trailer
and parked it here. We worked with
Breezy to get her used to getting in
and out of the trailer with her left eye
covered. This was all done in the com-
pany of Ed, a 20-year-old mare who was
Breezy’s old cow-chasing buddy.
When the day of the appointment
arrived, we hauled Breezy to the clinic
with Ed riding along for emotional se-
curity. Breezy was unhappy because
she hadn’t had her morning hay, butsurgery required that she not have
food in her stomach. We loaded Ed
into the stock trailer first and tied her
in the front, then tied Breezy next to
her. On the way to town Breezy was
very nervous but snuggled up to Ed
for the 13-mile trip. When we arrived
at the clinic, we led Breezy into a pad-
ded room where our veterinarian put
her under general anesthesia and
surgically removed the eye. It was a
straightforward procedure, we were
told later, with no surprises.
Within a few hours, Breezy was
back on her feet and stable enough
for the trailer ride home. We put the
padded fly mask over the bandage for
more protection and warmth. Breezy
eagerly followed Ed back into the
trailer and leaned against her buddy
all the way home.Home-care challenges
When we unloaded the two mares
Breezy still seemed a bit groggy. I
didn’t feed her anything for a while be-
cause I didn’t want her to choke on the
hay. She was a bit sweaty, and it had
started to snow, so we moved her to
the calving barn where it was warmer.SUCCESS: After her
surgery, Breezy (left)
was able to resume
work as a ranch horse.