My Short Story

I've loved horses as long as I can remember. I poured over every Marguerite Henry book, imagined riding Walter Farley's Black Stallion, and collected Breyer horses that I groomed so well the paint rubbed in places. My friends and I held mock horse shows winning ribbons made of scraps of fabric and puffy paint. From the waist up we were rider and our legs jumped the show jumps like champion steeds.

I was very lucky to grow up next door to a Morgan horse farm. I could see the horses through the deep woods of our yard playing in the pasture in the winter after the leaves had gone. My Aunt had an elderly QH that she offered for us to take and we found a neighbor open to pasture boarding. I had started taking a few riding lessons, saddleseat, the year before and I was over the moon at the idea.

Muchacho was everything a little girl's horse should be. Dead calm, very tolerant, ready to go anywhere I pointed him at his leisurely pace. When my dreams moved me towards becoming a really good rider I started lessons at a Dressage barn and began jumping.

A few years later I was riding anything I could, training some young Arabians, and working a job at a petstore to fund the habit in addition to working 2 years and a full summer at a large cat facility with tigers. A few bad riding falls, a concussion (yes, I was wearing a helmet at the time), some lost teeth requiring jaw surgery, a fractured spine, and riding became painful. Something to endure.

My Mom moved us to Georgia and we ended up living in a home that was an extension of a Paso Fino farm years past it's hay day. The farm owner allowed me to take on her older Paso Stallion, Flashy. He was so much fun and as easy on my back as a horse could be. Before long, teenage things consumed my life and I was living on my own at the age of 16. Horses weren't possible. They were a painful memory of something I loved but could no longer have. All of my previous dreams of a college equestrian team spring boarding me towards a great trainer and on to high caliber riding or being a jockey, were replaced by how to pay a bill.

I tried to fill the hole in a way I could financially handle, I bred diamond doves for awhile, did some sheep herding with my little Sheltie and started to feel better. I worked as a Vet Tech during most of this time so animals were everywhere all the time. I got my first Siberian Husky and really tapped into that competitive drive to do the best I could with my animal going into showing, obedience, working titles, and finally agility. Full circle I had gone from show jumping horses to the dog form modeled after that very same sport. I love this sport and these dogs still very much and I'm looking forward to starting a new puppy next year.

Then one spring day in 2010, my husband came home after meeting a client and proposed an idea. The client ran a hippotherapy center and needed volunteers to come ride and exercise the horses, was I interested? I had so long ago set down the dreams of horses that I didn't know if I could pick it up again. All of my tack and gear sold years ago when I let it go for good. Could I even ride anymore? Did I remember all of the small pieces that come together that is horsemanship? 15 years away from it, maybe it was easier to just stay away at this point. I have 5 kids now and the dream that was horses seemed like a lifetime ago. I was a professional dog trainer and should stick to what I've created... then again....

I started riding the therapy horses and began to love them all over again. I didn't remember a lot, it was pretty humbling (and continues to be) to re-learn all the things that were forgotten. But it was more good than bad and I enjoyed the time I could escape there.

Then the weekend after Thanksgiving, one year ago today, the post came that would change things forever for us. Horses, horses in dire straights who needed saving. Could I help? I could help, with lots of help from others, and my in-laws wanted to help and take a horse too. Promise came into our lives at that point, Beauty into their's, and started us down the path where we met Cheryl and three weeks later, Whisper.

With time, some fighting the system, and love, Promise and Beauty foaled in early springtime babies they were carrying through their ordeal, and they continue to do well in their retired horsey lifestyles.

One full year after they joined our lives, here they are today ; Promise and Pirate, Beauty and Star. Promise will always have a special part of me, seeing her with Pirate, carefree and happy is a kind of wonderful that's hard to explain. She is living the good life on acreage with her own tree stand, stream, and plenty of room to play with that crazy mule of her's at my friend, Maggie's place. Promise remains slightly lame on her right hind, but gets around the pasture just fine. Beauty and Star live on acreage of their own at my in-law's.

Beauty's Filly Arrived

Pulling up to the pasture to feed there was an extra set of legs this morning.

Beauty foaled hours earlier a little filly. When the vet palpated her 2 months ago, the foal felt very small so he put her due date estimate as late summer. The foal must have not developed correctly for gestational age and seemed small for how far along Beauty actually was, throwing us off on her dates.We had an idea it would be sooner as recently Beauty looked more and more uncomfortable, acted sweeter than usual, and even mutually groomed with Whisper the other night (they don't care for each other). She had not looked pregnant when she was quarantined with the rest of the TN30 herd and was on fescue grass much too long as a result, so bagging up as a clue foaling was close, wasn't going to happen.

Beauty had no problems coming right up to me for petting and attention so I was able to check her out and the new baby.

I was immediately struck by how cute she was, but also how she moved. Her hind legs were not holding her weight properly. Beauty had been starved, fought full blown strangles months ago, dump fed by volunteers during quarantine, and basically was in the worst conditions making the odds of a deformed foal much greater.

I searched for the placenta, having a pretty good idea of where to look thanks to the 15 turkey vultures that flew out of the pasture when I pulled in. They had already been nearby for a stillborn calf, so afterbirth was all but gone when I got to it.

I fed Whisper and Promise, but Beauty wasn't leaving her little wobbly baby behind, so I walked grain down to her. Do you know what heaven is? Holding a little newborn filly, fluffy coat freshly dried, nickering tiny horse nickers (that Promise can't help but answer a little faster than Beauty does).

The girls and Pirate finished up and came down to see what was going on with the newbie.

Beauty is a very sensible Mama, keeping her baby close but not being so obsessive as to step all over her in the process. Good thing since it appears that she was a maiden mare.

Watching the filly walking over an hour's time, it's hocks seemed to strengthen but would still bow harshly out to one side at times. Then problem number 2 began to become obvious. Beauty didn't bag up as much as Promise did and as I watched the filly try and nurse time after time, I could not see her swallowing.

I called the vet out to have a look at the filly, specifically to check her legs and Beauty's milk supply. To do this, I needed to have them up in the enclosure we put up just for this purpose. Beauty was doing well with me handling her, so I started to get her moving in that direction.

I was able to halter her and we worked out a system where I was leading Beauty with one hand helping the foal move with us while the other hand kept Beauty from getting in front and turning in to us.Whisper ran up and got everyone riled up a few times, but we managed.

The vet checked both over. Beauty was having some trouble and began to look colicy and uncomfortable, add in the oxytocin she needed and her discomfort required some sedation. She'll be on this for the remainder of the day. She was also given the first dose of Equitox (domperidone) needed to up that milk production. We determined that she did have precolostrum and the foal was given supplement via tubing to give the mare a break for a little while and allow the milk to build. He looked at her legs and said she was windblown. Her legs should tighten up though in a few days, on restriction in the enclosure.

Beauty Treatment

Beauty wasn't getting a lot of individual care so I spent a little time on her today, grooming to bring out her new shiny "I'm no longer poorly nourished" coat. She let me catch her easily and after a good wither scratching she was relaxed.

She has loose stool that may be from the spring grass load and is acting a big down. Could just be that she's uncomfortable at this point, her foal did seem to suddenly gain size in the last few weeks.

While all of my attention was on her, the others were hamming it up for my kids

Pirate is getting stronger every day. Luckily Promise has been a very sensible Mama and his curiosity and eagerness to interact with us just keeps growing. He was doing great with the halter I put on him yesterday so I took it off for a few days to give his nose a break.

He and my 6 year old, Hunter, are the same height!

Promise had a full grooming too, except for mane/tail brush out. It's amazing the lengths she and I have come with trust and I'm thankful she still has it in me.

Whisper went last and continued to respond very nicely, among the girls, with nothing required of her. She is still the easiest to fly spray and handle feet on. It'll be good to get her hooves trimmed next week, today the old nail holes really began chipping as her feet were growing out. She is such a needy spirit, I feel like we are filling in some gaps.  Sage, my 4 year old, enjoyed a visit with her too. Whisper nuzzles her legs and makes her laugh her very best laugh.

I'm looking forward to Whisper being evaluated by a professional trainer when we can and I expect the verdict will be that Whisper is herd bound, though I suspect there is more to her issues than just that. When the foals are adopted out to their new homes, maybe things will be easier.

Beauty's Arrival

The herd is now complete as Promise and Whisper welcomed Beauty today. Beauty is my brother-in-law's horse and was just released from quarantine along with all of the other members of the TN30 herd. In the last few weeks, Beauty has begun to show signs that her belly is more than just a newly rounded hay belly and I'm concerned she may also be in foal so it's extra good to have her on Huey's property so we can oversee her better.

Beauty had full abscess ruptured strangles while in quarantine. She has since fully recovered and been clear over 30 days of any signs of the disease. She also passed testing for carrier status of strangles. A very nice little mare, she loaded well for transport and has been easy to handle from day one.

 Promise and Beauty already knew each other from being in the TN30 herd together, couple that with the fact that both were very herd savvy horses with plenty of common sense and I knew they would do just fine. Whisper was the only oddball who had no normal horse skills or sense.

Whisper saw Beauty unloading and was very intent watching her as Chris walked Beauty in the gate and over to the water trough. Then something interesting happened. Whisper was on lead and Promise was loose. Whisper stood as tall as she could standing with the middle of her neck even with my shoulder. Promise came around us and stood very close to Whisper and immediately behind me. It was a herd security move with the introduction of a stranger and it very clearly represented rank. I think in this moment, Whisper may have position outranked me, but I'd like to think we were co-boss mares as she was still responding to any cues I gave her. Promise was tucked right in with us, so close her nose bumped my back at times.

After it was clear that Beauty was comfortable and knew where the water was, we turned her loose.

Pretty soon everyone settled in and the three stayed in a group. The cows across the driveway caught Whisper's eye a few times and Beauty's head was up right along with her, so some time to learn about the new neighbors is in order. Though I'm sure she'll acclimate to them in half the time Whisper... well, Whisper still hasn't fully acclimated to them.

Welcome to your new life Beauty, hope my girls are treating you well, the pasture is now perfectly full.

Promise, The Beginning

Promise's story, for me, starts with a Facebook link posted on December 1, 2010 by a friend listing 32 horses in immediate need of purchase (at $75 each) to save from slaughter. I had been volunteering to exercise horses at a local hippotherapy center and really enjoyed my time there, but let's face it, it doesn't compare to having your own to love. I put out a plea for my friends in horses to see if they could help and also to see if anyone had any pasture I could put a horse on.

My Father-In-Law, Huey, replied to me the next morning that we could use his front pasture for some of these needy horses. He had recently had most of the fence changed over to board and the cows were not using that portion of pasture. I think I said "are you sure?" about 5 times before I finally realized that this could actually happen! It was pouring rain out but I wanted to go over and see this lot of horses. Huey and I agreed that we didn't need pasture ornaments. We both wanted horses that could be handled and potentially ridden. 

I drove out to a 2 acre pasture to find emaciated, mud covered, sad little horses with auction stickers still stuck to them. The story was this : out of an auction house in Tennessee, the unsold horses were purchased by kill buyer to be hauled down to Mexico for slaughter. Some were auction house leftovers, others were from a separate neglect case in Polk County that left 30 some horses at the auction after confiscation.

It was cold and raining, I'm walking through the suctioning mud, I'm trying to come up with a quick plan of assessment. As the horses started walking around and moving together I was losing track of who was who. I decided that I would try and touch first, if the horse allowed that I would look at legs and feet next. If I didn't see any gross abnormality I would look at the rest of the structure and then record the number on my scrap paper under my raincoat.

I went through the herd. Most ran from touch. Some looked so thin they might not survive, others had long wounds and scars. I found a little black horse that I liked, I took her photo and wrote her number down. 

I picked my way through the rest of the herd. The whole time I did so I had a shadow. A chestnut mare walked where I walked, stopped when I stopped, and in general made sure I didn't overlook her. She was a pretty little thing, very skinny, with a drop in her belly that made me think she could be pregnant. A scary situation considering her very poor condition. I put my hands over her and checked her out. She stuck her nose in my jacket and tried to wiggle into all of my pockets. By this point it was getting harder to see much as the rain picked up. Looking back now I realize this is when I missed her outward turned hind leg. In the mud I assumed she was just needing to balance that way.

I came back home to tell Huey about the girls I found and he agreed to take Beauty for his son David and we could have Promise, putting both mares over on his pasture. I called in to claim both girls and heard the bad news, moments earlier Georgia Department of Agriculture locked down the entire lot of horses with quarantine for possible Strangles. No one was going anywhere until it was resolved. Huey and I had already chosen the girls and weren't going to walk away at this point so I paid for both horses and we waited to see what would happen. 

Strangles went through the lot for sure, hardest hit was Beauty. She had open abscesses rupture within days of the quarantine beginning. She was fairing well though, eating fine and seemed strong enough to get through. Promise presented a whole new set of worries as we considered what would happen if she was indeed pregnant. After going out to care for, blanket, and worm the girls, we planned to have a blood sample drawn to determine for sure. We got the results the following week that Promise was not only pregnant, she was in the third trimester and could foal at anytime in the next few months.

After many, many, phone calls and contacts I was able to get a reprieve for our girl. She showed no signs of Strangles whatsoever AND we had pasture that was isolated. We were allowed to move her to our own quarantine and start her 30 day clock immediately. Promise was going to get the best shot at a healthy foal and delivery. December 18, 2010 we brought her home right at sunset. 

There was a long road ahead for Promise still. We knew she had been on tall-cut fescue, something late term pregnant mares must avoid due to complications including lack of milk production, going over-due, and red bagging. She was badly underweight, body score of 2, and you can't just throw feed in front of a skinny horse. You must start slowly, allowing the gut to become readjusted to feed, allowing their legs and hooves to slowly bear more and more weight. She was put on Omelene 300, carefully rationed out to up in small increments over weeks. We also gave her a round of Sand Clear to help flush the dirt from her body and allow more complete digestion. Slowly, the weight began to fill out her body.

Promise also began showing us a little more about who she was. Promise will rear if startled. Promise will kick, straight out towards you, if you attempt to handle her near her right rear without asking first. Promise also loves to have her head scratched and has a pregnant lady habit of dozing off while you give her body a good rub down. Promise does well with a bridle on and allowed me to sit on her once for just a moment while we were assessing her level of training without wanting to strain her body. 

We discovered after veterinary exam that she is about 15 years old, not 4 that we were told when we purchased her. That same exam also confirmed that her right rear may have some long term issue that could make her not able to be ridden. It's hard to say at this point since the foal's weight is carried by her right rear. I was devastated at this news, but it turned out a blessing as we found Whisper very shortly after.

The veterinary exam also included giving her a mild sedative and manually checking her pregnancy. It seems that we should hope to welcome her foal mid-March to mid-April. There is both a full moon AND a dog agility trial I am entered in over a weekend in mid-March so I'm thinking it's going to be then. We've gotten her to a point in her health where she should have no trouble surviving the birth. It is still unknown what lasting effects her starvation has had on her foal and it's formation. 

She met Whisper this week and is so much happier. Horses really just aren't meant to be alone. She has also honed her pick-pocket skills to include my truck, my pockets, and my grooming caddy. 

Beauty remains, with the rest of the original herd, in quarantine. Her abscesses healed and were completely gone as of a few weeks ago. This allowed a vet to mark the herd as "clear" and our 30 day clock began on them to have their final re-check for release. This should take place February 18. In the meantime, the group of all of the owners (each horse in the herd now has an owner and a home to go to when it's all over) have come together to pay for feed, hay, and begin medical care on many. Chris and I go out and feed the herd on a regular basis and have come to know many of the horses well.

No horse in the herd died in those early weeks and most have put on weight already. I enjoy seeing them looking stronger each time I go out. Promise and Whisper will do great with Beauty and we can't wait to see her out there too.