I decided to give you all happy updates on recent stories…!

Olivia and Oliver, Trolley, Bandit and Reva.

OLIVIA AND OLIVER

Olivia was the mare I wrote about during an earlier post which featured brave mares and the women who helped them.  You can read the original post here.

To refresh you, of if you didn’t read that post, Olivia was rescued from a feedlot.  She was on her way to slaughter with a very large baby inside of her.  Luckily, she was found and adopted.  She was fed and nurtured during her last weeks by the peopld from Ponytales Rescue.

When it came Olivia’s time to foal, she didn’t foal.  Since no one knew when she actually conceived, no one knew if she was actually late.  But, she was very big and very uncomfortable for a very long time.  The Aunties on Mare Stare even gave up on watching nightly since her ‘foal watch’ went on for weeks!

But, of course, eventually Olivia went into labor.  And, of course, several Auntie’s were watching via the internet.  I was one of them.  And while I was watching, a drama unfolded.  There was a problem… Olivia was a maiden mare and she was having a tough time delivering.  OMG!  All of us Auntie’s online felt so helpless!  But alas, the brave women at Ponytales Rescue assisted the birth and did what they were afraid to do but knew they had to.  They reached in and pulled the foal with each contraction.  And, they did it!  They delivered the Whopper!  However, no one was sure if it was still alive.

Then, after several tense moment, he moved.  WHOOOP!  There were cheers all around and the women at Ponytales looked up to the camera with thumbs up and fists pumping!  This baby boy was huge —  and he still is huge.  In fact, he looks pretty hunky, wouldn’t you say?

They have named him Oliver.  Both Olivia and Oliver are doing very, very well.

I still think the remark by one of the Auntie’s online was the best… she said that the reason Oliver’s blaze is shaped like a spoon is because he “cooked for so long”!  I love that.  I think of that every time I see him!

TROLLEY THE MARE

Trolley’s story is on that same post which you can read here.

Her story is dramatic.  She was refused at the feedlot because of her huge head wound.  It looked awful and had been there for a while.  But the most interesting aspect of this is that the wound had a sock Superglued into it.

Yuk.

But, it may have been that sock glued into her forehead that saved her.  No flies could get in and leave eggs.  So, when Trolley was saved from the feedlot and brought immediately to medical attention, the wound was bad but not horrible.  It was tended to and the kind doctors from Hogan Equine (www.HoganEquine.com) agreed to operate as soon as she made it through quarantine.

Here is the first photo from immediately after her surgery which was just performed Thursday.  It looks great!  Yes, she had a skin graft as well as huge stitches which should help the skin grow and potentially cover the rest of the hole.  If it doesn’t, she will have a second surgery.

Isn’t this just wonderful?!  I will keep you posted.  And, you can follow her on FB.  Here is a link to her page.

BANDIT

Our Bucket Fund for this month is for the lovely people at BHFER.  They took in 14 very sick horses this month and had a few tragedies.  Sadly, after doing everything possible, they lost a 9 day old foal.  It broke their hearts…

But, the good news is that one of the babies that they rescued is doing way better than anyone ever expected.  His name is Bandit.  His story is here.

Bandit was born out in a field where his mother had been left months before.  Bandit must have had an accident because it was estimated that his eye was injured almost immediately after birth.  But, no one was tending to these horses.  So, the baby was not helped and the injury became very bad.

Luckily, a neighbor was paying attention and was able to intervene.  She got the owners to give up the “worthless mare” and the neighbor quickly called BHFER to come help with this baby.  Immediately, they brought the baby to the equine hospital.  The DRs there knew the eye could not be saved.  The baby had been in intense pain for months and the eye was dead.  It was time to remove it.

So, they did.

Besides being horribly malnourished, this baby had to start life with pain.  But, luckily, he was saved by our Bucket Fund Charity BHFER and now he is very, very happy.  His surgery was only a week ago yet this boy is thrilled to be alive!  He runs and jumps, finally pain free.  Yahoo!

His Mama is still very skinny but she is doing better.  She had her teeth done, got a bath and is receiving all the food she can eat within her re-feeding program.  Life is good for the horses at BHFER.  (if you’d like to donate to BHFER, please click here.)

REVA

Reva was also rescued by BHFER several months ago.  The story is deeper than that and you can read it here.

BHFER went in to save a foal who was almost dead.  But, when BHFER got there, Reva was standing watch over this baby.  He wasn’t even her baby, but she stood watch.  So, BHFER paid top dollar (long story but the previous owners would not release the baby because he was so “valuable”) for both the almost dead baby and Reva, his watch mare.

Upon arriving at BHFER, the baby (now named Evan Almighty) grew stronger and lived…  And, Reva tested pregnant.  So, BHFER did all they could to help her grow a strong baby while she took care of Evan Almighty as he recovered.

Fast forward to last week…  Everyone at BHFER was dealing with the new and very ill 14 horses including the baby who had the eye surgery as well as the baby that was in intensive care but did not survive.  Anyway, Reva decided to give birth, of course, during this emotional and very busy time.

The birth went fine and everyone at BHFER was relieved to have something go smoothly…  But, the next day, Reva was in distress.  She was in colic and nothing they did was helping.  After 24 hours, the mare was worse, not better.  The vets thought she had a twisted gut and brought her to the hospital for an ultrasound.  The poor mare was miserable and everyone was preparing for the worst.  What a tragedy to have this selfless mare who nurtured one baby back to health and delivered another, is now fighting for her life…

Whoop!  It was only gas colic… and she did recover this week.  OMG!  Hallelujah!  The entire crew associated with BHFER and all the Aunties online gasped a huge sigh of relief.

Don’t Mama and Baby look great?!  From what I hear, the baby is just as healthy as can be and he is into everything!  As you can see, he is fiddling with the hose in this photo.

So, that is our Sunday Happy Update!  Hooray for all the wonderful people who help create these happy endings!  It takes a village to help all the horses in need … but the good part is that we can all share in the delight!

HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!
The August Bucket Fund will benefit the charity BHFER.  To learn all about the Bucket Fund and to donate $5,  please click on the photo (photo credit, Trish Lowe)