As you know, our Bucket Fund Baby for October is Honey Bandit.  (You can read his story here.)  Well, isn’t it amazing what some great food, great determination, total devotion and plain old tender, loving care can do for a sick, little mustang foal.  Amazing.  Our Honey Bandit went from a coma:

To this:

Wahoo!  If there ever was a little horse who fought for his life, it is this one.  And, that is what our Bucket Fund is all about.  We pool our funds together to help those who are helping these special horses in need.  And, happily, tomorrow, we the HORSE AND MAN GROUP, will be paying back Palomino (HB’s caretaker) for spending sleepless  nights and endless hours tending to this wonderful, tenacious little boy.  Without someone caring for him 24/7, there is no way he would have made it.

You see, when Palomino first brought HB to the vet on that very first night, it was discussed to just “let him go”.  HB was in a come, his heart rate was very low, his body temperature was dropping, he was terribly underweight and his little body was giving up.  But, Palomino kept playing with Honey Bandit’s little tongue, hoping he would hang on long enough to respond to fluids, blood transfusions, electrolytes and all the other procedures performed by the equine hospital.  She didn’t give up and he didn’t give up.  And when he did show some signs of life, Palomino decided right there to spend the next part of her life in the company of this boy.  She fed him every hour and kept his IV line full.  She rolled him from one side to the other since he couldn’t stand on his own.  She helped him up, helped him to lay down and did everything for this invalid foal.  Wow.  Lack of sleep makes me a little grouchy but Palomino kept her vigil in spite of the hours and fatigue.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t function very well in a sleep deprived state.  Poor Palomino has been not sleeping for two months now.  And, if she was sleeping, it was in the garage with a baby horse…  Now, she still sleeps in the garage with a much larger but still sickly foal who is becoming a bit of a rowdy boy!

So, I just wanted to say that even though it looks like HB is on his road to recovery – which we hope he is — much time, much effort and much Foal Lac is still needed to care for him until he is weaned and as healthy as he can be.  HB may never be 100%.  He may never have a normal immune system.  No one knows the toll this took on his organs.  No one can say if his hearing will return normally.  No one knows how severe malnutrition and neglect will effect him in his life… But, he wouldn’t be here at all if it wasn’t for one woman who gave up so much to tend to a horse with so little.

Today is our last day to top the Bucket!  Please dribble, drop, splash or dollop into the bucket and help Palomino finish the winter shelter for her little man.  I understand that our funds will go towards building his winter home.  (Take if from me who lives near Palomino, it gets COLD here!)  Even though HB is much, much better, he still has a very compromised immune system and needs a warm and dry place to continue to heal.

Thank you, everyone, who has kept Honey Bandit in your thoughts this month!  Your support has been so sweet.  I will keep you posted on his progress!

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