The Santa Ynez Valley and equine community was shocked to learn that Doug Herthel, veterinarian and co-founder of Platinum Performance, passed away yesterday from Lewy Body Dementia.

“Doug succumbed to a 17-month long, hard fought battle with Lewy body disease, a progressive and aggressive form of dementia,” his sons Mark and Troy Herthel wrote on their Facebook pages.

Herthel is an alumni of U.C. Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and founded the Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center with his wife Sue in 1972. Herthel has made numerous breakthroughs in abdominal surgery, fracture repair, regenerative medicine and nutrition therapy. In 1996 Herthel developed and founded Platinum Performance, a supplement which helps heal equine patients after surgery. His line of products have expanded in the past three decades to include health supplements for other domestic animals and humans. His son Mark now runs the company based in Buellton. Herthel’s youngest son Troy works at Alamo Pintado as an equine surgeon.

Herthel was notably the veterinarian for President Ronald Reagan during his tenure at Rancho del Cielo, commonly known as the Western White House at the top of Refugio canyon.

Doug Herthel with wife Sue and son Mark and President Ronald Reagan at the Western White House.
Photo courtesy of the Herthel family.

“The horses roamed 680 acres on the President’s ranch. There were a lot of opportunities for them to get hurt out in nature,” said John Barletta, one of Reagan’s riding partners and Secret Service members in an excerpt from the blog post on the Platinum Performance website.  “I remember one time,” he continues, “I was looking at the horse that I rode, Gualianco, which was one of the President’s horses. He was a gray Arabian, and he looked just like the President’s horse. That was on purpose of course, so someone couldn’t tell us apart from a distance,” says Barletta. “I’m looking at him one day, and there’s a drop of blood at the back of his mouth. I open his jaw and his jaw was loose. I called Dr. Herthel, and he was pretty sure the horse had a broken jaw,” Barletta remembers. “The road to the President’s ranch is very treacherous. So Dr. Herthel said, ‘instead of bringing him down, if you’ll assist me, I’ll come up, and we’ll treat him on the ranch.’ I thought, ‘dear Lord, me assist you? Well, OK.’ I called back to the White House to get the President’s permission, and he said, ‘do whatever you have to do. Whatever the vet says.’ The President had a tremendous respect for his veterinarians,” says Barletta. “He always went to the experts for the care of the horses and let them do their jobs. He knew people like Dr. Herthel knew best.”

The Mayo clinic describes Lewy body dementia, also known as dementia with Lewy bodies, is the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s disease dementia. Protein deposits, called Lewy bodies, develop in nerve cells in the brain regions involved in thinking, memory and movement (motor control).

The Herthel family asks for privacy at this time and when services are arranged they will announce the details.

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Rawles Thompson, neighbor to the Reagan Ranch watches helicopters dip into “Freedom Lake”, which sits next to the Western White House. Watch the video here  IMG_0982.MOV

Star Report

The Reagan Ranch has so far escaped any damages other than ash and soot from the Scherpa Fire so far, according to Rawles Thompson who manages the ranch next door.

“We are really lucky to be near the Western Whitehouse because it means they will do all they can to save it and those of us surrounding it,” Thompson said.

Thompson spent all day Thursday at the Reagan Ranch watching the fire crews and helicopters dipping into “Freedom Lake”, the pond that is next to the house.

The incident started Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. with a 20-acre brush fire on top of Refugio Road on the Santa Ynez Mountain range.

Santa Barbara County and U.S. Forest Service crews were called to the blaze, which originally was reported on the 2500 block of Refugio Canyon Road near Rancho La Scherpa. Resources assigned to the fire included 10 engines, two bulldozers, two 20-person hand crews, three helicopters and eight air tankers, according to the website. So far there are more than 1,200 personnel battling the blaze which has consumed more than 4,000 acres and is at five percent containment as of Friday morning. A Wind Advisory is in effect for the Santa Ynez Mountain areas and calls for winds of 15-25 mph, with gusts to 40 mph. Today firefighters will continue to work on building and reinforcing containment lines along the North and East sides of the fire, and along Highway 101., according to officials.

“I just came down Refugio Road and one side looks normal while the eastern side looks just terrible. The lush vegetation is gone, and I am glad no one has been hurt and no houses other than just an outbuilding have been damaged,” Thompson said.

Watch the video of the condition of Refugio Road on our YouTube channel!

Thompson’s father George just retired from managing Rancho del Cielo for more than 10 years. During the 1980s it took a profound turn transforming from a ranch high atop a hill in Santa Barbara County to the West Coast headquarters of the 40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan. The Reagan Ranch came to be known as the “Western White House,” as President Reagan would spend a full year’s time there during his two terms.

From the Reagan Ranch website the Presidential duties at the Ranch were quite varied, ranging from telephone calls to heads of state and Cabinet members to celebrities such as comedian Jerry Lewis and baseball player Willie Stargell.

President Reagan also hosted and held meetings at the Ranch. He met there with White House staff, his Cabinet, Vice President Bush, and with heads of state including Queen Elizabeth II on a very stormy day which was tricky driving up the steep narrow road.

There were dozens of significant events that occurred while Reagan was at the Ranch, including the August 1981 signing ceremony for the Economic Recovery Tax Act and the president’s decision that same month to fire 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers. The latter moment came during Reagan’s road to recovery from the assassination attempt where the Ranch once again worked its therapeutic magic on the man’s body and soul.

Thompson said he believes that tours of the Reagan Ranch will resume once it is deemed safe.

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