The Filly

The Filly Fights For Her Life
By Shirley Sepulveda - Continued from Happy Trails

On or about day ten, the filly was taking a nap in front of the gate in the paddock and her mom stepped on her. Of course good ole Happy had stepped on the most crooked hind leg. At the time this happened we had the filly supporting about 30% of her weight on her legs while we held her up. The leg was not fractured but was traumatized severly enough that the filly became a "downer" again---only up to nurse. This scared me because of what Dr. Sanford had said. After two days of not wanting to support herself or try to stand or walk, only nursing would get her to want to get up, she quit wanting to nurse and her temperature had risen above normal. Dr. Sanford was on call and he came out and examined her. She definitely had pneumonia and he wasn't sure she was going to make it. He left us antibiotic and some banamine for pain control. She became a pincushion for the next couple of days.
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After four days of intensive pain control for her "bedsores" consisting of pain shots and doctoring her "bedsores" every two hours, I entered the stall with her banamine shot in my hand and she stsrted struggling to get up!! This was so good to see. We dropped her banamine to every 24 hours and then to every 36 hours and then to every 48 hours to no more shots. She soon was at the same point physically as she was before the injury and the pneumonia.
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The days turned into weeks which turned into months without Tanya and I hardly noticing it. The days were the same. One of us had to be in with the filly 98% of the time. For June, July, and August the only time Tanya or I slept longer than three or four hours at a time was when we had our friends come over and spell us. It was great as they all volunteered!! Everyone involoved was so proud each time the filly learned a new "trick". We celebrated her learning to lope, then run, then learn her leads. Then she learned to do little rears and to pitch in the air while jumping straight up. Most of her movements are controlled and well planned out. Not automatic like with a regularly foal. We celebrated her learning to curl her tail up over her back. Finally she was getting up off of her right side by herself. Soon she learned to get up off her left side 95% of the time. The other five per cent of the time she was in a corner or right up against the wall and she couldn't get enough clearance or traction or something to get up on her own. So then it became a matter of just watching to see how she laid down, and where, and what side. Every morning she lays down at 4am on her left side against the wall and stall door so someone has to help her up at 5:30am. Then she started laying in the same place and on the same side every evening at 8pm. Our intensive care is not quite as intensive as before but she still requires someones attention far more that any other horse I have ever had.

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As Tanya started school in late August this left me on duty constantly with the filly. We had tried and tried to get her to let us pick up her feet while standing. She was so afraid she was going to fall that all she would do is fight and freak out. So our shoer showed me what to do and I trimmed her little feet while she was laying down with Tanya rubbing her tummy so she would not try to get up.

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September we took our bed out of the stall. The filly got so MAD that she would just lay down and refuse to get up on her own in the corner where the bed had been. When we would finally help her to get up she would pin her little ears at us and bump us with her body to show her displeasure at having to sleep on her own.

After all, Mom was just a snack bar!!!!

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