In the previous installment of this excerpt from the new book Equine ER, Piaff, a Dutch warmblood with a mysterious and devastating illness, was diagnosed with EPM. Now, his vet had a treatment course, and the gelding started to improve. Below, Part 4 of 5.

One of Rood & Riddle’s receptionists, Chris Pfetzer, has a son, Mark, who in 1996 at sixteen was the youngest person to climb Mount Everest. During the expedition, eight climbers died in a storm. Mark reached the highest camp, but not the top. While I was writing this book, Chris lent me her son’s book about his teenage years climbing and summiting the world’s highest peaks. One of its passages reminded me of Piaff’s case:

“Routes are not all precise. They deal with broad areas. You might aim for a particular rock face or gully, which leads you to a ridge you have to cross. You have to consider the location of camps, too, because they offer safety, protection. But no matter how well you plan a route, you never know what’s ahead of you É “

Toward the end of the second week that Piaff was in the hospital, he was taken out of the sling for the first time. He stood on his own for twenty minutes, but then, twitching flies away with his tail, lost his balance and fell. A pressure sore was developing on his left hip and another in the accompanying axillary region (armpit), which worsened after he was hoisted back up in the sling. Two days later, he swung across the stall again via the hoist and lost his balance, although he was able to regain it on his own