Alright, the time has come to make a formal introduction. This story started back in December, when a client (K) sent us three broodmares that had been severely neglected. K had boarded them at the same barn up north as she had her show horses at before sending them to us. She had sent us her show horses a few months prior and had not seen her mares in that time. When she visited, she was shocked to see that the BO had not been caring for her mares. She immediately made arrangements to ship them to us.
All three supposedly-bred mares were in horrible condition when they arrived at our barn. Ribs and hipbones jaunting out, dull coats, and they did not look to be in foal. We immediately had the vet out to assess their condition and check for pregnancy. To our shock, all three mares were still in foal. We vaccinated and dewormed them appropriately and began putting weight back on them. Their arrival was just over two months from their foaling dates, which did not give us much time to get them in better condition!
Unfortunately, the foals they were carrying had already had nutritional deficits during some crucial growth periods in their embryonic development. The first foal born (a filly) ended up in the ICU at the vet clinic for over a week due to her intestinal tract not being fully developed. She recovered fully and is a huge, boisterous weanling now. The third foal born actually ended up being fine-no hospital stay necessary! The second foal, however, was a different story...
Enter Blake.
Pretty cute, huh? His dam, a maiden mare, foaled at 8am and needed some assistance. The little guy had gotten both front legs over his neck and was jammed in there. A little maneuvering on my part and he entered the world. At first glance, he did not look any worse for the wear. He was perky, trying to get up, and, other than being a little small, seemed fairly healthy. His issues did not become apparent until he tried to unfold his little legs and get up.
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All of these pictures are off the Iphone, so it may be a little difficult to tell exactly what you are looking at. Notice his right leg in the picture and how it is bent. That was the closest that the little munchkin could get to straightening his legs because of how severely contracted his tendons were. Both legs had that severe of a contraction, making it impossible for him to stand. He was so frustrated by this! Every instinct was telling him to get up and find milk but his legs just would not cooperate. I called the vet, explained the situation, and told them we were on the way. I also stripped colostrum from the mare and bottle-fed the foal around 6cc. He was so excited about that! Other Trainer had arrived at this point and was just as dismayed as I was at the situation. Best case scenario was that high doses of oxy-tetracycline would relax his tendons enough for him to stand. Worst case scenario? Well, neither of us wanted to voice that because the thought of having to put down an otherwise healthy foal really tears at your heartstrings.
OT and I spent a minute discussing the best option for hauling this maiden mare and foal to the vet. Amy had passed the placenta (intact, thank goodness...that's all we needed at this point!) and was beginning to grow agitated by this small creature in her stall that would not get up. She was very affectionate toward the baby but was starting to really pace around the stall. Being a first-time mother, neither OT nor I were confident in her ability to not smash the non-ambulatory foal during the hour long ride to the vet. We ended up heavily sedating the mare, stripping another bottle full of colostrum from her. We loaded her into the first slot in the trailer, which happens to be separated from the rest of the trailer by a to-the-floor stallion divider.
I was concerned about the colt thrashing around in the moving trailer and hurting himself, as he was still actively trying to get up. I ended up riding in the back with him laying across my lap.
You try to not fall head-over-heels in love with an hour old foal who is suckling everything that he can get in his mouth while you attempt to give him a bottle. After he had drank the entire bottle, he fell asleep next to me. My heart melted. We got to the vet clinic and OT opened the trailer to find the colt on my lap with my arms wrapped around him. My words to OT? "I am going to be so, so sad if we have to put him down!"
We left him at the vet clinic and spent an anxious day wondering how he was doing. The phone call that evening was not very promising. One of the head vets on the case said she had never seen one with that degree of contraction before and that, although he had relaxed approximately 30 degrees from the first round of oxy-tet, it was likely that he would never stand. The owners opted to give him through the night and re-evaluate in the morning. It is never good to hear the vet suggest that you are still within the timeframe to euthanize and take advantage of the "foal will stand and nurse" clause in the breeding contract!
The next morning, we received this picture and a blurry video of the colt standing with assistance. He continued to improve over the next several days, eventually getting to the point where his NG tube was pulled and he could nurse on his own. He was given the name Blake by the owners once it looked like he had a fighting chance for survival. We picked him up and brought him home, where OT and I changed his PVC splints daily (12 hours on, 12 hours off).
Blake and I bonded quite a bit during these bandage changes. I was often pulling them off by myself in the evenings and he was such a doll about them. He would lay with his head on my lap while I cut off the layers of duct tape, vet wrap, standing bandages, and PVC.
We ended up doing a LOT of work on his legs: PVC splints for weeks, a Dynasplint on and off for a month, and stripping both knees. Today, however, he is 100% sound and his legs are pretty damn straight! He still has a bit of physitis in his knees but the vet is pretty confident that will go down. So far, so good!
Of course, things look good now but we are not 100% sure that he will be sound to ride, jump, show, etc. Time will tell. The owners had 3 foals from this spring and, rather than pay board on him for the next 2 years only to find out he is not useable, offered him to me. I don't pay board on my horses because of my job, so waiting to see is not a big deal to me. Worse case scenario? He is not sound for hard riding and he spends his life hanging out in the field being a pet. Best case scenario? He makes a great APHA show horse for me. I am fine with either. I just love this one!
Alrighy, Becky. There you have it. The whole story. It only took me 3 months!
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