I’m so sad to bring this news…
I received word today from Shirley that little Tracey who was born on Monday, passed Saturday morning at 1:30am.
I know this is part of the job when one cares for sick foals, but I cannot help but feel tremendous sadness for Shirley who cares for these babies as if they were her own. And even though they say that foals can crash at any time, I think Shirley thought they were doing OK.
I’ll let you read Shirley’s words:
“Tracy crashed last night and I lost her at 1:30 this morning. I can’t hardly think right now and will write more later but basically her kidneys just quit working and she went septic. We are pretty sure it was from being born in the cold, wet weather and was so hypothermic that it damaged her kidneys at that point and they just shut down. Gotta go but will try to send more later.”
(If you would like to read Tracey’s original story, click here.)
So, with heavy heart, our Mid-Month Bucket Fund Diaper Foals are only three. Thank you all, for your support and kind thoughts while Tracey was with us.
If you’d like to honor Tracey with a donation, please click here. The funds will benefit the remaining three – and the babies who have not yet arrived into Shirley’s care.
Here are photos of Tracey. I’m adding the original captions as Shirley wrote them:
This is Tracey, 2 days old
Helping herself to the buffet table
She's poking me (Shirley) to make her milk
REALLY TIRED MA, sleep please
Sleep well, sweet Tracey. And may the fields be warm and joyful in foal heaven.
HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Poor Tracey… at least shes in a better place now
Sometimes a perfect spirit cannot continue in an imperfect vessel, and must depart. Letting go is hardest on those left behind.
From Dorothy:
Shirley gives everything for these foals and her husband Bruce provides great support for her. I dropped by to see the “outside” horses on Friday when Bruce arrived from the store with an armload of new diapers. Each new foal is a miracle, and with the way things are going, another will be arriving all too soon. These “blanket babies” are a testament to Shirley’s devotion and skill.
I feel so bad, this is the hardest part about helping animals when they leave us. God must have wanted her in the fields up in heaven. She was only meant to be here for a short time. I think that is why we must tell everyone we love them while they are here. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. Tell Shirley she is doing a great job and to keep it up because without her the other ones would not stand a chance. She is one in a million.
Please give Shirley a hug for us. How sad to read this morning. Thinking of you all and will donate a little something – it’s not much but I’d like to try to do something…