PROLOGUE:
Mechita was due to foal on June 10, 1990. On May 15 and 16 she was off her feed; and on May 16 her temperature was 105.6 degrees. Dr. G. checked her at 105.4 with accelerated pulse and respiration rate – “greatly stressed” he said. He gave her 45cc Tetracycline and Banamine IV.
5/17 – Temp 97.4, pulse 62, still not eating; drew blood for analysis; gave Tetracycline and Banamine IV.
5/18 – Blood test results: Rickettsia, a tick-bite transmitted blood disease. Treatment: Tetracycline IV daily for seven days. Tetracycline given.
5/19 – Tetracycline given.
5/20 – Tetracycline and Vitamin B given.
5/21 – Mechita foaled prematurely during the night. The weather was cold, wet, and windy and the baby was outside lying in a mud puddle. He was very weak and totally limp when I picked him up. I brought him into the stall, dried him off, and put iodine on his navel (and most of his underside as well!). Dr G. put in a stomach tube and fastened it to his nostril with a single stitch – the mare was to be milked every two hours and the milk to be syringed into the tube. Mechita got her Tetracycline.
The stall was cold so I lined it completely with gunny sacking; built a fence across one end of the stall to keep him in place; and rigged up a flood light for a heat lamp. He couldn’t stand; and he thrashed a lot (galloped a lot in place lying down); and shivered a lot (temperature was 97.8); his lower lip hung down loosely and his gums were abrased from resting his head on the straw. We gave him an enema.
EXCERPTS FROM THE DAILY LOG:
5/22 – Mechita got her Tetracycline. During this week her appetite has been severely depressed – she leaves grain and eats very little hay. Gradually this has improved and today she ate three cans of grain and one flake of hay. Dr G. leveled with me today: “You have three choices: 1) put the foal down; 2)take him to Davis; and 3) try to bring him through yourself.” Needless to say, the first alternative is not an option and the second choice not much better. If Davis has some super machine that he needed I would consider it, but a two hour ride for a sick mare and a weak baby just doesn’t sound right to me. So I’ll opt for home-cured love, prayers and treatment. [ It is probably fortunate that at this time I was not really aware of what this would entail in time and energy. Ignorance is indeed bliss!]
The baby is stronger today, but he won’t – or can’t – stand. Dr. G. stood him up and thumped on him. He has a slight sucking reflex, no pupil dilation response – “may have brain damage due to oxygen deprivation during birth “ – Dr. G. He did eliminate urine and feces so that part of him is working! Temp is 97.8. He was given two enemas (10 cc. Dishwashing liquid plus 50 cc. warm water). Blood was taken for immune system analysis; and two 400 cc IV serum plasma were given, as well as an antibiotic injection. He had managed to get the tube out of his stomach and tore the stitch out of his nostril, so now I am to feed him directly into his mouth with the syringe. Temp 98 by PM. We prayed for him at Bible study.
5/23 – Mechita got a shot of Oxytocin AM & PM today to help her let her milk down. Today the baby was named “JJ” . Dr. G. has been calling him “Jasper” and I wanted to name him after Dr. G – so Jasper Jimmy is his name, “JJ” for short. [Subsequently he was registered with his necessary Spanish name as TFP Regalo de Diós – God’s gift – but “JJ” is still what he is called!]
Today’s new problem is inverted eyelids caused by dehydration. I need to ‘flip’ them inside out every feeding. Incidentally, the feeding schedule is every two hours from 5:00 A.M. to 12:00 midnight. I do get five hours off at midnight!
Today he drank from a can and had Foal-Lac in the evening. He nickered at me! AND he took one step with me propping him up! He is to get an antibiotic pill two times a day and iodine on his navel two times a day.
5/24. Looks bright and alert; hydration improved but is now showing swelling and tenderness in the rear legs. Dr. G. wrapped them with DMSO, Nitrofurazone, gauze and vet wrap. I’m do to the same two times a day.
5/25 – Temp 100.4. Swelling down. Nursed about 30 seconds. Stood a lot and took two steps. At 9:41 P.M. he stood up from a lying position by himself! He is to nurse first at each feeding, and then have whatever amount of Foal-Lac he wants.
5/26 – Temp 101. Legs look good. He nursed one minute, three minutes, and five minutes at successive feedings. He spent the day in the big stall with mom.
5/27 – Spent the day in the stall with mom, nursed eight times, each time about five minutes. He has no trouble standing up – walks hesitantly – seems to know where his little stall is. The church congregation lifted him up in prayer for health and healing at both the A.M. and P.M. services. At the midnight feeding, he nursed by himself, no propping. Up to now I have had to hold or prop him in a standing position while he nursed.
5/28 – Was loose in the big stall until 1:00 A.M. feeding. He walked the length of the stall, 24 feet. He usually needs help to get up. He nursed six times vigorously.
5/29 – He walked the length plus the width of the stall after the morning nursing. Dr. G. is concerned about his leg strength not keeping up with the body getting heavier. He gave him an ADE vitamin shot. He wants him up every hour during the day for as long as he can tolerate without getting wobbly. I am to bandage his legs from ankles to knee (gauze and vet wrap) once a day. Dr. G. feels that if we had a place to swim him, that would strengthen those legs. Dr. G. drew blood for a complete blood panel. I need to clean off his navel two times a day and put Vaseline and Nitrofurazone on – his tender skin has scalded from the excess iodine. We prayed for him again at Bible study.
5/30 – Today he got his swimming tank, an ingenious contraption made, by a dear and clever friend, from a wooden pallet and a discarded water bed liner. Filled with water made warm by the addition of several thermos jugs of boiling water, we have a very special “spa”. I pick him up and hold him in the tank while he energetically tries to climb out – and thus he “swims”. Gets a good rub down when he gets out. Thank goodness the weather has improved since the storm at the time of his birth. Today’s total recorded nursing time was almost two hours plus 9 2/3 cups Foal-Lac.
5/3l – He was nursing and walking for 23 minutes this evening. He lay down briefly once but then got up by himself. At the 10:30 A.M. feeding he was up and nursing when I opened the stall door! And at 11:20 A.M. and 12:56 P.M. he also got himself up to nurse.
6/1 – He swam for five minutes two times. Mom stepped on him so I put him in his ‘cubby hole’ for safety. He’s getting pressure sores from the bandages so I put Panalog on them.
6/2 - He’s constipated, so gave him an enema, which helped temporarily, but he needed another by night time.
6/3 – He seemed much livelier today – he kicked out with both hind feet several times when he didn’t want me to push him! Also, at the first A.M. feeding, he was at the opposite end of the pen from where I had left him last night. He had a little sunshine time – walking part of the time and partly just lying down and soaking it up. He’s still straining so I gave him another enema.
6/4 – I picked Dr. G.’s brain today. I’m to put one tablespoon Karo Syrup in JJ’s Foal-Lac to loosen his stools, or I can syringe the Karo directly into his mouth. I’m to start creep feeding him one cup (half barley and half sweet feed) two times a day, remove after one hour. It’s good for him to be outside. It’s OK to have him separated from mom at night but get him with her full time ASAP. (Ever since she stepped on him I don’t trust her to be careful enough about where he is lying in relation to her feet – also he can’t move that fast to get away from her). Keep bandaging his legs and keep swimming him as much as possible; may start steroids in 5-7-days if legs are strong enough. He got a good swim today. He was pretty active on his own, also Wanda and I made his legs move a lot. Mechita was out loose and totally unconcerned about him – she even started to walk down the hill to visit her old buddies! After swimming, he nursed and then lay out in the sun. I think life felt pretty good at this point.
At 6:00 P.M. his rectum was very stretched and tight (he’d gotten Karo four times so far today.) At 9:30 P.M. I put a little Nitrofurazone on it, he was still straining. At 10:00 P.M. he got an ADE shot, fresh bandages, Panalog on sores, ate most of a handful of grain and I left him eating hay!
6/5 – Out of bed and directly to mom, nursed three minutes. Then went outside and nursed eleven minutes more. Had a good vigorous swim in the aft. At 11:00 P.M. I left him in the big stall with mom, open to the paddock, said a prayer and went to bed!
6/6 – All OK! He got Karo and Foal-Lac; had a vigorous swim in the afternoon. I had to squeeze out his stools – his anus was very distended. At 10:30 P.M. I gave him grain and watched him eat it for almost an hour. He was lying down, snuffling through it, picking out the sweet stuff with great dexterity – nothing wrong with this kid’s brain!
6/7 – His knees and fetlocks seem noticeably stronger today. He had a good swim. Got an ADE shot – Sally held him. He IS definitely stronger! He passed a good “apple” all by himself – three cheers!
6/8 – He was left pretty much alone today. He had a good swim. Dr. G. gave him a steroid shot; said to continue the ADE shots, but not as frequently.
6/9 – Left pretty much to himself all day. Grain in A.M. and aft. Karo in aft. Swam in late aft – not much activity – I guess he’s getting used to it. He definitely gaited back to his stall. Grain and bandages off at 9:30 P.M. ; bandages back on at midnight, although he wasn’t ready to lie down for that process.
6/10 – this is his “due” date – his legs are stronger and more upright than yesterday. He really scurried going back to his stall after his swim. He mostly just floated during swim time. I wish I had a real pool for him to swim in – it would really strengthen those leg and shoulder muscles. Bandages off at 9:00 P.M. and back on at 11:00 P.M. Grain and a lot of “bouncing” around the stall, trying to buck and kick – really full of pep and not sure what to do with himself.
6/11 – Legs are stronger – he’s up on them better. I left him totally alone today, didn’t even swim him. Bandages off at 8:15 P.M. and back on at 12:30 A.M. – “and so to bed.” ( He did a lot of romping around again before he settled down to let me bandage him. He’s really learning how to manage his legs to make stops and turns. He makes me laugh because he acts like he thinks he’s so “macho” and yet he’s so awkward. He comes up to me as if he’s so fierce with ears back and trying to bite. He’s a little “sassyfras”!)
6/12 & 6/13 – Pretty much ignored – bandages off Tuesday P.M. and he got through the next day without them. He seems stronger all the time!
At this point I stopped making daily entries and so I don’t know when he went out into a real, big paddock. When he was turned out, one last problem had to be prayed through. His poor little front legs were so knock-kneed it would have been laughable if it hadn’t been so serious. After a month of running free in a big paddock, his legs were straight as straight can be; and he then graduated to a hilly paddock where he still lives. And when this gorgeous young colt comes galloping in and out between the trees, with his front legs looking like an egg beater gone berserk, to come to a sliding halt in front of me to ask for a pat on the nose………..all I can do is to smile and offer up a prayer of thanks for this Gift from God – “TFP REGALO DE DIÓS”.
EPILOGUE:
In late Autumn of 1991 (when JJ was 18 months old), his paddock mate was sold. Since I had no other male horse to put with him, I gave him my sweet buckskin mare, Andina, for a room mate. Andina had had three fillies – all of them made possible only by the use of extensive hormone therapy. I felt pretty safe that Andina would be more or less like a gelding for JJ…………..
On October 25, 1992, Andina de Oro gave birth to an incredibly beautiful and perfect colt with the fork part of the Three Forks brand in white on his face!
LIFE IS INDEED A PRECIOUS MIRACLE!