FIGHTING BACK
Emily Jewell wants her fellow Friesian owners and breeders—and others who love what she laughingly calls “the hairy draft breeds”— to know that CPL doesn’t have to be a death sentence, despite what they may have heard.
That abnormal function results in excess fluid in the horse’s tissue, especially in the lower legs. CPL is mostly seen in large horses with heavily feathered legs—and that extra hair can sometimes make the condition hard to spot in its early stages. The University of California, Davis School of Veterinary
C
Medicine is a world leader in CPL research. According to information provided by the school, “this chronic progressive disease starts at an early age, progresses throughout the life of the horse and often ends in disfigurement and disability of the legs, which inevitably leads to the horse’s premature death.” The disease is sometimes compared to elephantiasis. As a breeder based in Pleas-
antville, Indiana, Emily has been dealing with her Friesian stallion Keegan’s CPL since he was six years old. In that time, she has found several strate- gies that help keep him healthy and able to continue working. Here she shares her story, in hopes it will help others in simi- lar situations.
In Love with Friesians For Emily, acquiring Keegan was a dream, but one that had its roots in a very hard time in her life. Nearly 15 years ago she
Friesian stallion Keegan stands with his owner Emily Jewell after winning first place in a liberty class.
All photos courtesy Emily Jewell
PL, or chronic progressive lymphedema, is character- ized by dramatic lower leg swelling, which is caused by a lymphatic system that is not functioning normally.
was newly married
and her mili- tary husband had just deployed to Iraq. Scared and lonely, she was struggling to adapt. Her husband generously suggested that she take some of the money they had saved to build a house when he returned, and instead use it to purchase one of the lovely black horses with flow- ing mane and tail—the kind of horse she’d always dreamed of. She found a breeder in Michi- gan who had several Friesian foals in utero. “I told her I wanted the first colt she got,” Emily recalls, “and I bought Keegan the day he was born.” She fell in love, she says, both with the breed and with her new horse, who is sired by Jorrit 363. “With Friesians, their beauty is what first catches your eye,” she explains, “but it’s their personality that has my heart.” Keegan was all she’d hoped for. He proved to be a versa-
tile young stallion: he performed for the Noble Horse Theatre in Chicago, was a model for several Farnam horse product advertisements, trains as a dressage horse and stands at stud. It was during his time at the theater in Chicago that he began being treated for what was originally thought to be scratches, a common skin disease of the heels and pasterns.
Puzzling, Persistent Symptoms When his troubling skin condition progressed despite treat- ment, Emily started looking for answers. At this point, Keegan’s skin issues had been a problem for several years and he just didn’t seem to be responding well to any of the treatments she was trying. Unfortunately, her research led squarely to CPL. It was a condition she’d heard about from other Friesian enthusiasts and she was now seeing the things they’d warned of: hard nodules and folds of
Warmbloods Today 39
By Pat Payne
A Friesian stallion owner deals with the heartbreaking disease CPL.
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