I needed to sell some horses but my son was angry at the thought and so he prayed that we didn't sell any horses and that the POA pony would have a baby. I told him that it would never happen, well I was wrong...
This could be a victory post, but sadly it is not. The POA mare that I purchased last January had been bred. I was never told she was exposed or covered. The closest thing I heard was that the lady had a Paint that was brutalizing the other horses and was put down. I went through a health crisis in May and so my horses just got the basics of care, with help from my husband. I noticed her belly had been getting larger but I thought that it was just a hay belly. There was no udder to be seen at the time. I'm fairly sure at 5 she was a maiden.
Since there was no udder, and often there is not an udder until weeks or days before foaling, time elapsed and I wasn't paying close attention; I was healing dramatically myself. She delivered a buckskin pintaloosa filly in August. Absolutely lovely, just the most happy accident in the world. She was the 6th foal to be born on our farm and it was the first birth that I had not attended. I noticed after her (the filly) first pictures that one of her eyes did not reflect to my camera flash.
Within a few days the cornea clouded and she became partially blind. With the recommendation of our vet we put her on antibiotics and I began to treat the eye with ophthalmic ointment. There was no change in spite of my very best efforts, she was going to remain blind in one of her eyes. We thought about all the possibilities of what could have happened. A stick in the pasture, being dropped during birth, being stepped on, but it was all just a guess. I treated the eye daily but no progress was made. The antibiotics gave her terrible scours and I treated those with probios paste.
After we were sure the eye condition was permanent, I just focused on loving on her and playing with her. At just a month old she was already tying and leading. She had experienced so much pain and needle pricks at such a young age. Not long after we decided to finish treating her eye she injured her leg badly. I had treated Joe's leg successfully. More shots/antibiotics and regular treatment. She was a mess. The left leg was making progress and seemed to be almost healed and then at about 4 months the right leg become dramatically wounded. I was shocked. She was in a solid pen and run with her mother, where could she have possibly gotten hurt? At that point I realized that there had to have been no other explanation than her mother had been stepping on her. Her mother is blue roan and has night blindness and it may have been accidental.
I weaned her from her mother immediately. The second wound looked worse than the first but I felt that a 3rd round of antibiotics would be too harmful for her. I babied her and loved on her and treated those wounds, but from the early weaning, the other rounds of antibiotics, and the freezing weather I think that it was just too much for her little body and she passed away today. We have had a snow storm and 6 degree low, with a -20 degree wind chills.
I'm just numb right now. I know that I did everything I possibly could but it just wasn't meant to be. I am not used to this. When I nurse an animal to health, by God's grace, I get them through. It tears at me even more because she's a baby and she was beautiful and such a good baby. I'm numb about not being told her mother was bred because I could have been at the birth., I'm numb that I didn't figure out that she was bred as I've had enough experience to know. I'm numb that I didn't realize soon enough that her mother had been stepping on her. I'm numb that I had to wean her early. I'm numb that she isn't meant to be and I'm numb that there was nothing more I could do for her.
This could be a victory post, but sadly it is not. The POA mare that I purchased last January had been bred. I was never told she was exposed or covered. The closest thing I heard was that the lady had a Paint that was brutalizing the other horses and was put down. I went through a health crisis in May and so my horses just got the basics of care, with help from my husband. I noticed her belly had been getting larger but I thought that it was just a hay belly. There was no udder to be seen at the time. I'm fairly sure at 5 she was a maiden.
Since there was no udder, and often there is not an udder until weeks or days before foaling, time elapsed and I wasn't paying close attention; I was healing dramatically myself. She delivered a buckskin pintaloosa filly in August. Absolutely lovely, just the most happy accident in the world. She was the 6th foal to be born on our farm and it was the first birth that I had not attended. I noticed after her (the filly) first pictures that one of her eyes did not reflect to my camera flash.
Within a few days the cornea clouded and she became partially blind. With the recommendation of our vet we put her on antibiotics and I began to treat the eye with ophthalmic ointment. There was no change in spite of my very best efforts, she was going to remain blind in one of her eyes. We thought about all the possibilities of what could have happened. A stick in the pasture, being dropped during birth, being stepped on, but it was all just a guess. I treated the eye daily but no progress was made. The antibiotics gave her terrible scours and I treated those with probios paste.
After we were sure the eye condition was permanent, I just focused on loving on her and playing with her. At just a month old she was already tying and leading. She had experienced so much pain and needle pricks at such a young age. Not long after we decided to finish treating her eye she injured her leg badly. I had treated Joe's leg successfully. More shots/antibiotics and regular treatment. She was a mess. The left leg was making progress and seemed to be almost healed and then at about 4 months the right leg become dramatically wounded. I was shocked. She was in a solid pen and run with her mother, where could she have possibly gotten hurt? At that point I realized that there had to have been no other explanation than her mother had been stepping on her. Her mother is blue roan and has night blindness and it may have been accidental.
I weaned her from her mother immediately. The second wound looked worse than the first but I felt that a 3rd round of antibiotics would be too harmful for her. I babied her and loved on her and treated those wounds, but from the early weaning, the other rounds of antibiotics, and the freezing weather I think that it was just too much for her little body and she passed away today. We have had a snow storm and 6 degree low, with a -20 degree wind chills.
I'm just numb right now. I know that I did everything I possibly could but it just wasn't meant to be. I am not used to this. When I nurse an animal to health, by God's grace, I get them through. It tears at me even more because she's a baby and she was beautiful and such a good baby. I'm numb about not being told her mother was bred because I could have been at the birth., I'm numb that I didn't figure out that she was bred as I've had enough experience to know. I'm numb that I didn't realize soon enough that her mother had been stepping on her. I'm numb that I had to wean her early. I'm numb that she isn't meant to be and I'm numb that there was nothing more I could do for her.
