Come On!!!

At 6:00 PM at the end of the last snow storm on 3/19/13, I went to feed our new colt Zephyr and his mom Thursday, their dinner. Usually they turned out in the morning and we visit them and check in on them all day. On this day, safely snug in their stall and having to care for the other 16 horses, which included cleaning all stalls and having to push the wheelbarrow through unplowed snow to the manure pile. Thinking all was safe and sound, I fed lunch at 2:00 pm then carried on.

Upon returning to feed dinner to the mare+foal (they are in a separate 2 stall barn), I found Zephyr distressed with green goop running from his nose, with each breath he bubbled and gurgled. A freaking Choke!!! He had probably been like this since lunch!

We got these two just before the onset of winter when the colt was 3 months old and he wasn't halter trained. He is friendly and we can pet him but is too wild to handle still and we felt we could deal with that later when we weaned him. With daylight savings time and all the storms etc. we really didn't have the time to spend with him and felt it could wait.

Well that said, here I am with an untrained foal experiencing a severe choke and I can't even catch him to help him. A choking horse needs to be calm and keep it's head down to avoid sucking food into it's lungs, very bad indeed if that happens.

With my heart racing and my mouth gone completely dry, I just wanted to run away from all of this as fast and as far as I could.

It was getting dark and I was all alone. Frantically I called the vet – beginning them to please come help me – I could barely breath- I will take the time now to say “Brett Gaby, I love you. No matter how awful the situation, when you get here, I know everything will be alright”.

He arrived in 10 minutes! It took 3 of us to catch the colt, in the process and excitement of it all the choke resolved itself. Dr. Gaby gently passed a foal sized stomach tube through a nostril and all was clear. (This was after 2 doses of tranquilizer, one in his neck muscle to slow him down and the other IV to stop him in his tracks). I asked if he could please give me a shot of that stuff too – ever been there?

Zephyr is now wearing Sugar Plum's halter. That in itself was probably worth the whole circus it took to get it there. Sugar Plum will wear Noogie's baby halter until she gets her own back. No one ever gets to use Noogie's things, but I guess he wouldn't mind, but it was hard for me because he was my son and died too soon.

And so there is much to be said about halter training newborn foals before they get big enough to realize that are stronger than you – because chokes happen – as do many other “unforseen occurrences” that require handling babies.

All turned out well enough, though these episodes leave me shaken for fays. We now have a substantial veterinary bill to pay and are almost out of money again. Please help us, we can not continue this work with you donations.

We continue to work on the “unwanted horse” issues as well as helping to expose the atrocious cruelties still going on in this great country of ours. The public has a very strong voice. We encourage it to be used in an educated non-frivolous way. We are making a difference. The powers that be are taking heed. Thank you.

~Nina