Page 120 - IT'S A RUM LIFE BOOK FOUR Volume 1 "Northcote 1984 to 1998"

Julian his vet, was called in to see what was wrong and prescribed ‘Ventolin’ a very strong
and quick acting stimulant to the respiratory system.
Humans who suffer from asthma use an inhaler with just the same medication.

This treatment worked well and gave the old horse great relief but it was very expensive,
one week’s treatment for a horse of his size was over £70 even in the 1990’s. If we were to
continue to help him something cheaper had to be found.

HOW MANY?
Julian decided to use ‘prednisalone’........a cortisone treatment generally used for many
different health problems, it was much cheaper but would it work.
He contacted a drug supplier and they told him what was needed for an animal the size of
Bonnie.
How many tablets?
We needed to give him over 360, five milligram tablets a day for the initial two weeks.
“How many tablets,” was my initial reaction?

Julian explained that his reaction was just the same. We thought the old horse would burst
but the drug suppliers assured us that this was what was necessary.
I bought a tablet counter, just the same as chemists use and had to watch the old chap like
a hawk as he munched his breakfast.
Initially tablets were sprayed everywhere, as he lifted his mouth and looked around, they
just flew in all directions, I had to devise some way of keeping them together.

Molasses was ideal but bad for his teeth, at his age we then thought, as he was likely on
‘borrowed time anyway’ his teeth would not come to much harm. Molasses won the day,
just a little mixed with his breakfast and easily ‘gluing’ the tablets together.

After a week or so the difference in the old horse was dramatic. He could move around
without distress and became a far happier animal.
After two weeks we could begin to reduce the dose gradually and find a ‘safe level’, just
the right number of tablets that would maintain this good quality of life.

We settled on about 150 a day and then asked if it could be in powder form to simplify
introducing the drug into his food. Very kindly, the drug company obliged and supplied us
with large pots of about a pound weight. They also worked out the dose for us in scoop
form.

THE COST
Big Bonnie was all fixed up.
During this time we had a good contact in the pharmacy of the local general hospital.

Patients who had been prescribed products for their health but no longer needed them
were asked to donate them to us for use on the horses.
Nothing serious like dangerous drugs, just simple things like wound dressings and pots of
E45 cream and such like. We happened to ask the Pharmacy how much it would cost us
to buy ‘prednisalone’ on the national health service and found to our surprise that with two