Darla's official foaling thread.

[jessj]

lol...my husband is on 12hr night shifts and my daughter is at her dads house for the week.....i may just move in there tonight! I only got to check on her 2 times today, but my husband is at home sleeping so he checks on her every so often. Some days i hate my job, and this is one of them. I had to sieze two horses from a man today that are in horrible condition...and this is a case that I have been investigating for months. Some people just arent willing to cooperate. He moved them for about 2 months and hid them from me, but apparently moved them back one day this week in worse shape than when they left....i would say a body score of maybe 1 for the mare, if i'm being generous. The stallion is in a little better condition as far as weight (maybe a 3 or 3.5) but he is 2yrs old and they have been "breaking" him. He is has sores at every possible spot. (girth, withers, under bottom lip) and also a pitting edema on the ventral chest. In laymans terms so much infection inside that it has settled under his chest and has mad a huge lump about 18inches long, 18 inches wide and 2-3 inches deep. I am going to see the DA in the morning to press charges. Some folks make me sick!

 

[AnnaC]

OMG!! That is horrific! Thank goodness you managed to get them away at last. Where do you send them Jessica, do you have a base you work from where they can keep abused animals or do you foster them out to caring folk. I hope this guy gets strung up for this cruelty!

It must be so soul destroying for you, but thank goodness there are folk like you around to work for these poor animals.

Looks like Darla is progressing fast now.

 

[Eagle]

Wow Jess you have had a busy day! Well done for getting the horses away from that jerk lets hope that the rest of their lives will be with a loving and caring person.

That is one wrinkle free udder. Yippeeee

 

[cassie]

Wow Jess!!!! Good work today n yay darla for major progress!!! Suzie stop thinking about your stomach for a minute n look at these photos!!! Now any day now please we would like an udder very similar!!! Lol

Lerp us updated Jess!! She looks really close!

 

[jessj]

Thanks guys.... i really don't hate my job, its just the dealing with the crazy people part that i hate! I checked Darla's milk again at 4 when i fed her. It STILL hasnt dropped! I was thinking that it would be at least down to 7...but no still 8. Have any of you guys used test strips before?? And if so, is this normal? I know that she hasnt followed the rules with udder development , so could it be possible that her ph will drop at the last second or even after she foals? I am totally new to milk testing...we always just tasted it! Im gonna go out and take new pics of her udder in a minute. While i was at tractor supply getting goodies for the poor rescue horses today i found out that my TSC isnt going to carry omolene any more. That stinks! I will have to switch to something else or they can special order it. On the up side they had it reduced from $17.99 a bag to $12.99 a bag! So i bought the last 5 bags that they had! That was the one good thing about taking the horses today.... I got to go on a shopping spree at my favorite store TSC!!! New halters and lead ropes, hay, feed, mineral and salt blocks, fly spray, topical ointment. I managed to get out of there with only spending $300

. (its the city's money not mine, and the previous owner will have to pay it back in restitution anyway) We usually do try to place them with foster homes. I have 4 dry lots behind the animal shelter that are pretty small...only about 20x25. That is where they are now. I will probably keep them there for a little while because the mare needs to be fed at least 3x's per day plus free choice hay and the stallion needs his antibiotic 2 x's per day and wounds cleaned and dressed 2x's per day. That is ALOT to ask for from a foster home. So for now at least they will stay where they are. I am going to see my buddy the assistant disrict attorney tomorrow. Once the court awards them to us (right now i am just holding them in custody pending cruel neglect charges) then I will send them to rescue. We have 2 horse rescues that we work with regularly. I want to post pics of him so bad!! I really shouldnt though. The infection in his stomach is so bad that it looks like he has a pregnant V belly. I may post just a close up of it.

 

[jessj]

both of these are darla's udder this afternoon.

 

[bannerminis]

Definite progress when you see the wrinkles disappearing. You must be excited. I hope it wont be too much longer.

 

[jessj]

Ok....just because my husband is at work and I have no one here to vent to, I am posting a close up of the edema in the poor stallions chest/stomach. How do you not notice this on a horse that has a body score of 3 - 3.5???? (ps, this isnt technically my horse, but it is in my custody...so that counts...right??) You can't see in the pic because of the lighting but there is also a huge raw spot right in front of it from a girth. On a happy note... I brought home a new barn cat yesterday

. She has been at the shelter since january. She is an absolute doll. A beautiful persian mix cat...she looks like a persian, but her hair doesnt get long. She has been adopted SEVERAL times, but she refuses to use a litter box so people keep bringing her back. So she is now a barn cat! The professional photographer was at the shelter a couple of weeks ago and took pics. This is her! (ps the last time she came back she had a gunky eye, and it is still a little gross in the pics. It looks much better now!) Here's Charlotte!

 

[cassie]

naw she is adorable, that poor stallion!

won't be too long now!!

 

[wingnut]

Ok....just because my husband is at work and I have no one here to vent to, I am posting a close up of the edema in the poor stallions chest/stomach. How do you not notice this on a horse that has a body score of 3 - 3.5???? (ps, this isnt technically my horse, but it is in my custody...so that counts...right??) You can't see in the pic because of the lighting but there is also a huge raw spot right in front of it from a girth. On a happy note... I brought home a new barn cat yesterday

. She has been at the shelter since january. She is an absolute doll. A beautiful persian mix cat...she looks like a persian, but her hair doesnt get long. She has been adopted SEVERAL times, but she refuses to use a litter box so people keep bringing her back. So she is now a barn cat! The professional photographer was at the shelter a couple of weeks ago and took pics. This is her! (ps the last time she came back she had a gunky eye, and it is still a little gross in the pics. It looks much better now!) Here's Charlotte!

That poor horse

My hardkeeper would probably score around 3.5 to 4 despite what I feed her (or try to feed her) and it drives me crazy! I don't understand how people allow this and think nothing of it! And that sore is awful...again, how do you not see that and not DO something about it?

What a cute barn cat! We finally got a barn cat in June when some dropped this adorable kitten off across the street from our house. I swear, he's so wonderful, he's turning me from a dog person to a cat person. LOVE this cat!

 

[jessj]

Awww... What a cutie! My husband is not normally a cat person, but he LOVES the annoying half grown kitten that was orphaned and I bottle fed. (she is annoying because she still thinks that I am her mom and wants to climb all over me!) So I convinced him that if she is going to stay here as a barn cat, that she needs a buddy. His initial suggestion was the throw my cat outside. My cat is a blue cream himalayan persian. She has the typical snobby persian attitude and doesn't like him. I quickly let him know that would not be happening so he finally agreed to let me have Charlotte too! (or rather i just brought her home and then he had no choice but to agree

) I caught him petting her this morning, so he really likes her and doesnt want me to know.

 

[anyssapark]

How exciting that Darla is making great progress! Looks like it wont be too long for you now!

Some mares i have used the milk strips on, drop real fast - in 6-12 hours, and then foal within 12 hours. But they're all different, so i'd just be keeping a real good eye on her

Those poor horses. You must be very strong to be in the line of work you are in. As much as i would like to save the neglected animals, i think it would just break my heart every time i saw them like that =(

You can see the stallions raw spot from the girth in that pic also. That poor boy. How can someone let that happen. I hope he is charged to the full extent for those poor horses.

Cute cat!!

 

[jessj]

I am out in the pasture now and Darla is down sternal in the middle of the pasture very odd for this time of day

 

[jessj]

now she is flat out. I am about 30 feet from her working on where I want to put my barn... Keeping a close eye on her.

 

[Equuisize]

Oh that kitten is darling....she looks like a lap kitty to me not a barn cat LOL

Darla is definitely showing good progress.

Think watching 'that pot' is going to pay off. LOL

I know it's your job but thanks for keeping on that guy/hardly can call him a horse owner, till you got him.

Don't know how you do it....poor horses/hope you can nurse them back to health.

 

[jessj]

I decided to come inside so that I am not standing over her watching (and probably delaying labor). I can see her from my back door. It will be time for her to go to her stall in about an hour and a half or so. I am so excited!!!

My job honestly isnt always easy...today I was so mad at myself when I saw this mare. Logically I know that there was nothing I could do because he had hidden her from me, but it still made me sick to see how bad she has gotten. She is a walking skeleton. She was underweight the last time I saw her....but not this bad. And the part that really gets me is that it is the middle of summer and we have had awesome weather/rain and grass is plentiful. He must have had her on a dirt lot somewhere. I get these cases alot in the winter when there is no grass and hay is scarce....but in the summer...there is just no excuse (not that there is really an excuse in the winter). Sorry that I keep venting about it, but days like today take a little while to get over.

 

[jessj]

D has developed a pattern....down sternal, down flat, roll, back to sternal, repeat. she never gets up during all of this and there is LOTS of tail twitching and swishing going on. looks promising! She will probably go tonight since I cant take off of work tomorrow! This whole time I have been planning to take a day off when the baby comes, but tomorrow i have to go see the DA. It would be just my luck!

 

[cassie]

oooo is she settled though in that time between flat sternal and rolling, does she look at her tummy? heavy breathing? so wish you had her up on cam!!

 

[wingnut]

Well then it's tonight for sure!

P.S. My hubby is an absolute cat hater. Or was. He fought me on the idea of a barn cat since we first got our horses back in 2009. Now that we have one because you simply can't turn your back on a 6-8 week old baby, he thinks the cat its pretty cool. He won't admit it to anyone, but I can see it on his face and hear it in his voice when he comes in from the barn and tells me the latest funny thing the cat did.

 

[jessj]

when she was sternal she would occasionally look at/nudge her belly. She finally got up and started grazing. I just put her in he stall for the night and fed her dinner. She was chomping away on it. She was VERY grumpy tho. I tried to move her tail to the side and look at her vulva and she clamped it down and lifted her leg like she was going to kick at me!! I decided to just leave her alone, so I went outside the stall. She is eating in a dark corner of her stall. So when she lifted her tail back up I shined the flash light on it...she acted like she was going to kick again! Grumpy little mare! I have a weeks worth of shows on the dvr, so i guess i will stay up and watch her for a bit!