Goodness gracious, how many hits can one rescue take?!
First of all, here is the initial Bucket Fund post which tells the Quadruple Whammy story of BHFER from a week ago. That was just a week ago! I’m so happy that BHFER is our Bucket Fund because this has really been a tough month for them – even though the rewards of helping all these fuzzy faces is great — there is a lot of stress here. Let me recap for you the initial 4 Whammies:
1) First Whammy: BHFER takes in 7 malnourished, sick mares and babies.
2) Second Whammy: BHFER takes in a 28 yr old, very skinny mare who is Granny to the other young, skinny mare who is Mom to the 3 month old baby who is getting no milk from her Mamma so she clings to Granny. All are very sick and skinny.
3) Third Whammy: BHFER hears of a mare in poor condition who delivered a baby, alone, and that baby had a very bad eye injury. BHFER takes in the mare and baby. The baby colt’s eye had to be removed.
4) Fourth Whammy: BHFER knows that another sick mare gave birth back at the ranch where the initial 7 mal-nourished mares were discovered. The newborn baby and mare were very, very sick and weak. So, BHFER rescued them as well.
OK, so, if that wasn’t enough for one week, now here are the next whammies…
New Momma Reva with her baby
While BHFER was dealing with all the sickness, neglect, rain rot, diseases, mares not producting milk, babies not having enough milk/nutrition, eye surgery and the general mayhem of adding 14 new, unhealthy horses — one of the previously rescued mares from a few months ago, gave birth.
The mare’s name is Reva and her baby colt isn’t named yet.
Anyway, here is Whammy 5. Reva’s delivery was fast and everything seemed fine. Yay. All the Auntie’s who were watching on MareStare were thrilled and supportive. But then, things went downhill. Reva was uncomfortable and not letting the baby nurse. After an awful 24 hours where the vet was called out and no amount of colic treatment was helping, the vet feared Reva had a twisted gut.
Here is some background on Reva. When she was rescued a while back, she was abused, neglected, skinny and sick. However, she had adopted an even sicker baby colt who had no mother anymore. Reva was so bonded to this little foal that BHFER, who had come to rescue the foal, took Reva as well. And, to top that, they had to PAY top dollar for both of them. It was disgusting… Anyway, Reva was the strength that kept Evan Almighty (the colt’s new name) alive. According to the vet, EA was as close to death as he could have been and still be standing.
So, now, months after EA has regained his health, Reva was full term and she foaled. Shortly thereafter, Reva is fighting for her life. Teresa at BHFER could not bear losing such a wonderful, sweet, loving mare. She wrote this heartfelt note as they were taking Reva and her new baby to the hospital two days ago:
Colicy Reva trying to avoid nursing...
“I can’t tell you how much Reva means to so many of us. The first time I saw her I knew she had a heart of gold. She mothered Evan Almighty and continues to play a mother role with Kami. Reva’s baby and Kami have become friends. Reva welcomes new arrivals (horses and humans) – she is just a wonderful and sweet mare that had lived a horrible life before finding her way to us. She will always wear scars down her back which prove that she provided a service to man for quite awhile. I love her so much – I cried many tears today at the thought of possibly losing her. I’ve prayed to God, many times, to ease her pain and help her to heal and have asked that if he needs her in heaven to please reconsider – we just aren’t ready to let her go – her baby loves and needs her and she is so very much loved by us humans.
As I cried into her mane before loading her to go to the hospital I promised her we will do all we can for her – I didn’t give her a choice and told her she has to get better and that she will make it through this.
Reva and baby home from the hospital!
Reva’s eyes speak clear through to her soul – she is a strong mare and I have faith in her. She loves her baby and isn’t ready to leave us. Everyone that meets her falls in love with her. She is beautiful inside and out and has a way of making you feel better just by being around her. There is a big void tonight without her and her baby here – I miss them very much.”
The good news is that after a day, Reva turned around! It was gas colic and Reva recovered. Momma and Baby returned to the Rescue and will continue to thrive.
Whammy #6: Today, Theresa found out that 3 of the original 7 horses that were rescued last week, are pregnant. Great. More thoughtless breeding… At least these babies will be brought into a world where they will be safe and loved.
Now for the next stomach punch. Whammy #7:
You know Whammy #4 above… that is the malnourished mare who had a new baby that wasn’t doing very well. Uh huh. After five days of life, the vet thinks that the baby filly, Passion, may have an infection in her hips joints. Passion is having difficulty getting up on her own and she continues to shift her weight once she is up. So, today, they drew blood and here is a note from Theresa of the results:
“I don’t have good news on Passion. Her blood work came back and it isn’t good. She defiantly has an infection going on. It could be an internal infection or something going on in her joints. She has been up more today but hasn’t been able to get up on her own.
Passion
We are going to give her a few more days on the antibiotics, run blood work again on Monday, and go from there. I can’t stress enough how hard this baby is trying – she wants to run and play. She deserves a normal life. When I looked at her blood work this afternoon I saw numbers and a trend that reminded me so much of Legacy. We worked a miracle with him – let’s all pray that this baby too will be ok. The difference between the two is that Legacy likely got the colostrum he needed after birth – Passion likely didn’t. Please pray for Passion. Her momma loves her so much – and so do we. I have to go now to help her up again. I was very proud of her through the night last night – she got up twice without assistance.”
Well, the next two days were a roller coaster. First Passion was treated for an infection in her joints. They flushed her hocks and did everything they could to help her. Unfortunately, the infection had spread. This precious little filly succumbed to septicemia. Theresa and Dr. Ryan and all who were involved did everything possible for this little girl. My heart breaks for everyone at BHFER who worked so hard to save this sweet filly.
Passion passed on Saturday afternoon. Tragic. All because of neglect from the previous owners. At least her short life was filled with love and compassion.
Godspeed Passion, Godspeed.
Please say your prayers for baby Passion.
And, if you understand what it is like to be Sevendoupled Whammied, and have some extra pennies, please donate to our Bucket Fund by clicking the Pay Pal donate button below. BHFER has had enormous vet and hospital bills this month. Thank you in advance. (If you are receiving this post via email, click this link to donate.)
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