Trinity Fox
Well-Known Member
I dont post that much but thought i would write about what has happened to me and one of my horses in case it can help someone else in the same situation, i apologise if its a bit lomg winded.
Last September i bought a couple of fillys to add to my herd making it up to 9 one of the girls was a weedy underweight coloured middleweight but very pretty and i could see she could turn in to something nice.
As time passed i realised she was in foal and was pretty horrified as she was a yearling phoned up guy i bought her from and yes his stallion had got to her but only three times
, i spoke to vet who told me not to panic horses dont usually have foals that are to big for them as this is what i was panicking about most so resigned myself to just getting on with it.
She didnt give many signs she was near didnt bag up or wax up wasnt really slacekned off but i could see she had dropped down and was sure it was soon luckily we were keeping checked on her.
She foaled on Thurs 5th may it went very badly foal was enormous and died during birth she didnt cleanse even after injection and vet had to do it manually.
Things then took an even worse turn she was colicking for a few hours then we realised she couldnt get up she was trying with her front end but nothing happening at the back, the vet told us that because it was such a traumatic birth with such a large foal that the nerves in her pelvic area had been compressed and we would just have to give her a bit of time but if she wasnt up within 24hrs he thought it would be fairer to put her down.
I foaled her in the field which in the end turned out to save her but she was dragging herself on front legs trying to get up and eneded up againt a wall and in a slight dip we slept in field with her that night as it kept her calm, the vet said if she wanted to eat and it was coming out the other end to let her she was eating like a lion so we fed her sugar beet carrots and we hand picked her grass as i was worried about bunging her up with anything dry.
She had been given painkillers anti inflams and antibiotics as the vet was very concerned about infection as she was so torn and swelling like i have never seen, i realised that getting poo or pee on her rear end would be bad so we got a hesian sack and put it under her bum every time she went i whipped it away quick and managed to keep her rear end clean doing this, it was a horrible night she was graoning alot wanted to get up we propped her up some of the time with bales so she wasnt flat out all the time.
I began to realise she wasnt going to be able to get up on her own after being stuck for so long we kept massaging moving legs and feeding all night, the vet had siad winching them up with ropes etc was not succesful and too stressful for them.
We were eaten alive by nats the first night and i had an allergic reaction so looked bad by morning.
I phoned my parents very early my sister was with me in field and said i had to make the decision to pts sleep this morning or do something quick i decided as she was eating manicly and was trying to get up and showing interest even in things or people going past the field i was going to try to save her she was so young and deserved a chance as it was the idiot who sold her that put her in this position i was fuming mad and i think thats what kept me going.
So day two i strated ringing around tried rspca for a harness no luck tried my local fire brigade on off chance and they had one they were coming out straight away i called vet to be there at same time, thank god i have watched animal rescue or would never have thought of it.
So Firemen arrived and vet she was sedated took a while to figure harness as they had never used it and our neighbour farmer came over with forklift to lift her, i was crapping myself when they lifted her but she was up we got her out of harness i wanted to let her stand but vet said let her walk she could bear weight on her back end so that was good i was so happy she was taking little steps my sister was at her side for support but then she crossed her leg and fell over i was devestated and as she fell shouted oh f@@k i think i shocked vet but it was heartbraking.
The only good thing was she was away from wall on a flat bit of field even the firemen were dissapointed we had to let her rest as she was heaving and very tired, firemen had to go but i managed to get them to leave harness with us so we could try again, we spent the next night in field again with her we could now turn her hourly and massage both sides but that night after no rain for months it poured all night we had to cover her with rugs we made a straw bed around her covered her with rugs and travelling boots on legs we had to change these several times and when morning came again after another night in the field with her i knew this was the final cahnce as she couldnt be left like this again.
Vet called down in morning vet no3 he was brill we told him we were going to try her again but even he on day 3 when he lifted her tail to have a look said oh my lord which scared me a bit but she wasnt running a temp no sign of infection and he wasd amazed how bright she was, he left me a sedative and said hed call later to see waht had happened so farmer with forklift me sister dad took us an age to work out harness we decided not to give sedative to give her best chance of staying up when we started to lift we realised harness was on wrong, i remember saying to my dad this is not going to work i am going to have to put her down as i was starting to despair.
Harness on again we got her up she started to struggle a bit it was awful but we calmed her she was such a good girl we let her stand in harness for half an hour she was starting to bear weight but muscles were trembling, one leg was weak we rubbed and massaged her after about an hour we put her on her own four feet full weight took harness off let her stand a bit more.
She eventually took baby steps this time my sister at one side dad on other we could not let her fall we let her walk at tiny baby steps, my dad had to go sort my other horses and his so non horsesy neighbour and farmer walked her round for the rest of the afternoon in pouring rain.
The vet was passing so popped in on us he said he had been driving down hill towards us rain and stopped and couldnt beleive his eyes in the haze, he even took a pic of her to show to his wife as he had been telling her.
We kept headcollar on her day and night someone walking with her to keep her out of trouble my sister and i took turns sleeping in lorry in shifts for the next couple of days we were suffering from sleep depravation were covered in nat bites horse kicks and were starting to hallucinate i tell you i seen some weird things it that field in the pouring rain in the pitch black.
We decided we ere going to have to let her loose so blocked her in to front part of field as flat we had a hairy moment where she staggered on to her bum but got back on her feet our next concern was her not having lay down and could she get back up we were out there for another week checking every couple of hours all the neighbours on watch until i got a call from oone of them saying she had gone down for a rest so i hid and watched feeling sick to the pit of my stomach we had come so far.
She got up ok so i was happy we could go home to bed now and she was getting there, so now we are at today she had a bit of toe dragging beacuse of muscle damage on front leg thats gone now vulva has gone down was discharging alot but thats stopped, she had bust all her hooves scrabbling to get up and is all skinned and cut from harness and has alot of bashes and cuts but shes here.
The vet told us later he didnt think she would make it and was amazed and that all the nursing saved her but i tell you from that scraggy little thing that came from the sale she has shown such determination and a will to live and it shows with a bit of faith a little miracle can happen as all the 3 vets said her outlook was very poor.
I am still a bit worried if i cant see her straigh away in field and she isnt yet laying down as much as he did but we are getting there its very sad the foal had no chance thanks to someones stupidity letting a yearling get in foal but she will be 2 on june 12 and will be having a little party.
I know alot of people say people wont help you nowadays but everyone was amazing the firemen all the neighbours bringing us food and tea helping us offering us beds the farmer for the froklift everyone stopping at the field when passing to check how she was and all willing her to get better that little horse had so many people gunning for her.
To see her little face it was worth all of the horrible stuff and just a a side note she was bought to bring on and sell so not all people who do this are uncaring she will be staying i think because vet has advised no more foals at all which isnt a worry for me i dont breed but i tell you that put me off for life, but i would worry someone may try to breed from her if she left me.
Well thats most of the story some bits probably missed out as my brain is still damaged a bit i think but i did manage to lose a stone ive been trying to shift for ages so every cloud, i may need to lie down when i get the vets bill though but i dont care.
Last September i bought a couple of fillys to add to my herd making it up to 9 one of the girls was a weedy underweight coloured middleweight but very pretty and i could see she could turn in to something nice.
As time passed i realised she was in foal and was pretty horrified as she was a yearling phoned up guy i bought her from and yes his stallion had got to her but only three times
, i spoke to vet who told me not to panic horses dont usually have foals that are to big for them as this is what i was panicking about most so resigned myself to just getting on with it. She didnt give many signs she was near didnt bag up or wax up wasnt really slacekned off but i could see she had dropped down and was sure it was soon luckily we were keeping checked on her.
She foaled on Thurs 5th may it went very badly foal was enormous and died during birth she didnt cleanse even after injection and vet had to do it manually.
Things then took an even worse turn she was colicking for a few hours then we realised she couldnt get up she was trying with her front end but nothing happening at the back, the vet told us that because it was such a traumatic birth with such a large foal that the nerves in her pelvic area had been compressed and we would just have to give her a bit of time but if she wasnt up within 24hrs he thought it would be fairer to put her down.
I foaled her in the field which in the end turned out to save her but she was dragging herself on front legs trying to get up and eneded up againt a wall and in a slight dip we slept in field with her that night as it kept her calm, the vet said if she wanted to eat and it was coming out the other end to let her she was eating like a lion so we fed her sugar beet carrots and we hand picked her grass as i was worried about bunging her up with anything dry.
She had been given painkillers anti inflams and antibiotics as the vet was very concerned about infection as she was so torn and swelling like i have never seen, i realised that getting poo or pee on her rear end would be bad so we got a hesian sack and put it under her bum every time she went i whipped it away quick and managed to keep her rear end clean doing this, it was a horrible night she was graoning alot wanted to get up we propped her up some of the time with bales so she wasnt flat out all the time.
I began to realise she wasnt going to be able to get up on her own after being stuck for so long we kept massaging moving legs and feeding all night, the vet had siad winching them up with ropes etc was not succesful and too stressful for them.
We were eaten alive by nats the first night and i had an allergic reaction so looked bad by morning.
I phoned my parents very early my sister was with me in field and said i had to make the decision to pts sleep this morning or do something quick i decided as she was eating manicly and was trying to get up and showing interest even in things or people going past the field i was going to try to save her she was so young and deserved a chance as it was the idiot who sold her that put her in this position i was fuming mad and i think thats what kept me going.
So day two i strated ringing around tried rspca for a harness no luck tried my local fire brigade on off chance and they had one they were coming out straight away i called vet to be there at same time, thank god i have watched animal rescue or would never have thought of it.
So Firemen arrived and vet she was sedated took a while to figure harness as they had never used it and our neighbour farmer came over with forklift to lift her, i was crapping myself when they lifted her but she was up we got her out of harness i wanted to let her stand but vet said let her walk she could bear weight on her back end so that was good i was so happy she was taking little steps my sister was at her side for support but then she crossed her leg and fell over i was devestated and as she fell shouted oh f@@k i think i shocked vet but it was heartbraking.
The only good thing was she was away from wall on a flat bit of field even the firemen were dissapointed we had to let her rest as she was heaving and very tired, firemen had to go but i managed to get them to leave harness with us so we could try again, we spent the next night in field again with her we could now turn her hourly and massage both sides but that night after no rain for months it poured all night we had to cover her with rugs we made a straw bed around her covered her with rugs and travelling boots on legs we had to change these several times and when morning came again after another night in the field with her i knew this was the final cahnce as she couldnt be left like this again.
Vet called down in morning vet no3 he was brill we told him we were going to try her again but even he on day 3 when he lifted her tail to have a look said oh my lord which scared me a bit but she wasnt running a temp no sign of infection and he wasd amazed how bright she was, he left me a sedative and said hed call later to see waht had happened so farmer with forklift me sister dad took us an age to work out harness we decided not to give sedative to give her best chance of staying up when we started to lift we realised harness was on wrong, i remember saying to my dad this is not going to work i am going to have to put her down as i was starting to despair.
Harness on again we got her up she started to struggle a bit it was awful but we calmed her she was such a good girl we let her stand in harness for half an hour she was starting to bear weight but muscles were trembling, one leg was weak we rubbed and massaged her after about an hour we put her on her own four feet full weight took harness off let her stand a bit more.
She eventually took baby steps this time my sister at one side dad on other we could not let her fall we let her walk at tiny baby steps, my dad had to go sort my other horses and his so non horsesy neighbour and farmer walked her round for the rest of the afternoon in pouring rain.
The vet was passing so popped in on us he said he had been driving down hill towards us rain and stopped and couldnt beleive his eyes in the haze, he even took a pic of her to show to his wife as he had been telling her.
We kept headcollar on her day and night someone walking with her to keep her out of trouble my sister and i took turns sleeping in lorry in shifts for the next couple of days we were suffering from sleep depravation were covered in nat bites horse kicks and were starting to hallucinate i tell you i seen some weird things it that field in the pouring rain in the pitch black.
We decided we ere going to have to let her loose so blocked her in to front part of field as flat we had a hairy moment where she staggered on to her bum but got back on her feet our next concern was her not having lay down and could she get back up we were out there for another week checking every couple of hours all the neighbours on watch until i got a call from oone of them saying she had gone down for a rest so i hid and watched feeling sick to the pit of my stomach we had come so far.
She got up ok so i was happy we could go home to bed now and she was getting there, so now we are at today she had a bit of toe dragging beacuse of muscle damage on front leg thats gone now vulva has gone down was discharging alot but thats stopped, she had bust all her hooves scrabbling to get up and is all skinned and cut from harness and has alot of bashes and cuts but shes here.
The vet told us later he didnt think she would make it and was amazed and that all the nursing saved her but i tell you from that scraggy little thing that came from the sale she has shown such determination and a will to live and it shows with a bit of faith a little miracle can happen as all the 3 vets said her outlook was very poor.
I am still a bit worried if i cant see her straigh away in field and she isnt yet laying down as much as he did but we are getting there its very sad the foal had no chance thanks to someones stupidity letting a yearling get in foal but she will be 2 on june 12 and will be having a little party.
I know alot of people say people wont help you nowadays but everyone was amazing the firemen all the neighbours bringing us food and tea helping us offering us beds the farmer for the froklift everyone stopping at the field when passing to check how she was and all willing her to get better that little horse had so many people gunning for her.
To see her little face it was worth all of the horrible stuff and just a a side note she was bought to bring on and sell so not all people who do this are uncaring she will be staying i think because vet has advised no more foals at all which isnt a worry for me i dont breed but i tell you that put me off for life, but i would worry someone may try to breed from her if she left me.
Well thats most of the story some bits probably missed out as my brain is still damaged a bit i think but i did manage to lose a stone ive been trying to shift for ages so every cloud, i may need to lie down when i get the vets bill though but i dont care.
