Chronic Progressive Lymphedema

AN INTERVIEW WITH EMILY JEWELL
Emily and Mike Jewell own a small farm in southern Indiana and they breed and raise Friesian and Andalusian
horses. At any given time they care for 10 or more horses, a few of which are Friesian and Andalusian mares.
They stand two stallions, an Andalusian and their pride and joy Friesian stallion Keegan. Keegan is the celebrity
in their area and has appeared in several magazines such as Horse Illustrated and Horse and Rider. Keegan and
some of their other horses have been used in several Farnam ads. Keegan has really made a name for himself and
Grace and Beauty farms with all of his accomplishments.
Emily understands that when it comes to horses, there is no shortage of maladies that they can suffer from. For
example, Emily noticed something was wrong with one of her Freisians when they were around 5 or 6 years old.
Small nodules had appeared on the horse’s rear legs, just behind the hoofs. At first Emily thought the horse
had scratches, but when the condition worsened, she researched and discovered that this was the early stage of
Chronic Progressive Lymphedema (CPL), a lymphatic disorder that many draft horses, including Friesians are
predisposed to.
Emily began treating her Friesian horse to slow the advancement of CPL but results were not positive. In spite of
her efforts, the symptoms spread from the right rear leg to the left rear leg, then progressed to the two front legs.
She began to fear the inevitable - since there is no known cure, most heavy bodied horses with CPL have to be
euthanized around 15 years old.
By chance, Emily was approached at a horse show by John Dovenmuehle who told her about Cytowave. “When
he said “inflammation reduction” I really perked up,” Emily said.
At this point, she was ready to try anything to slow down the progress of this relentless, inflammation based disease.
Cytowave did not have a specific CPL based set of therapy signals, but it did have a robust pain/inflammation
program that had proven effective with other inflammation based conditions, including cellulitis. “At first,
I didn’t know what to think. We had tried everything up to this point but really didn’t have anything to lose.”
Emily stated.
On April 27th, 2016, Emily began to use Cytowave treatments exclusively on her horse. After only 4 days of
treatments, Emily noticed the inflammation had decreased. After the first week, the inflammation in the rear legs
and the Cannon bone size had decreased as well. The nodules and the folds were softer, not as hard to the touch
and the Cytowave boots were easier to wrap around his legs
due to the decreased swelling.
The shift in her horse’s demeanor underscored that positive
physical changes were taking place. “He was more relaxed and
comfortable. When I let him out in the pen, he was more active,
running and bucking,” Emily said.
After eight (8) days, the inflammation and Canon bone swelling
continued to decrease. The folds in the rear legs were not
as thick and were separating. Folds and nodules were softer and
more pliable. There was still some dampness and oily feeling in
the creases of the back hoof area but overall, the lesions were
drier and reducing in size. And for the first time in weeks she
was able to massage his legs without any discomfort.