Trainer Julie Blacklow thought Q’s quiet demeanor and willing attitude had to do with her team’s excellent training skills at Rosebud River Ranch in Snoqualmie, Wash. In reality, the yearling Rocky Mountain Saddle Horse gelding was critically sick with a disease caused by the bacterium Lawsonia intracellularis and something Blacklow, a veteran horsewoman, had never heard of.

She’s not alone.

The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) is trying to change that by making owners more aware of L. intracellularis in horses. At the 2013 ACVIM Forum in Seattle, the organization introduced Q as part of its “Animal Survivor” program, which highlights animals that thanks to advances in veterinary internal medicine and have lived through severe disease.

Q’s survival story started when he spiked a temperature of 104 F (99-101 F is normal). He also became lethargic and stopped eating, a sign to Blacklow that something was very wrong with the young horse. After an inconclusive initial exam by a general veterinary practitioner, Blacklow sought a specialist’s second opinion. She contacted Chantal Rothschild, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, of Northwest Equine Veterinary Associates, in Maple Valley, Wash