Chance was born from a feed-lot rescued mare named Sugar who was brought to us by Audrey at SHI http://www.savinghorsesinc.com/ , in the spring 0f 2008. Her first hernia repair was done with bands and should have taken care of the situation no problem. But not with this rough and tumble little filly. She figured out a way to get out of her stall and in the process pulled the bands off the first night.
We decided to waited until she was a little older and then had stitches put in hoping it would close from the inside without have to open her up with surgery. This was going great until one evening when she met Griffin the sheep and decided to run, kicking up her heals and as she turned, she turned right into the fence and got herself lodged halfway across it. Of course like any other horse she didn't stop and by the time she did, not only had the stitches been pulled out, but now she needed stitches on her chest from the fence injury.
Now we had to wait until those injuries healed to tackle the hernia issue again. After all of this, she was not a happy camper when it came to me handling her injuries because she just plain hurt all over - scratches from front to back... The cuts and scrapes have all healed and you would never know it ever happened except for a little attitude she has - or could that just be because she is a coming two year old???
In December, Facebook sent me a note asking if I wanted to raise funds for a cause in lieu of birthday presents and the only thing I was concerned with at the time was this filly's surgery. Through SHI's Facebook page and mine, we raised $200 to help pay for her surgery.
Now that the weather has finally settled down and I don't have to worry about cold, wet, muck and that stuff, I decided it was time. Today we drove her to Valley Center were Dr. Matt (from "The Soul of a Horse-Life's lessons from the Herd", book by Joe Camp) and a fellow equine dentist, Michael Grigsby, CEqDT, were working (the ranch that housed the last Pete Ramey workshop which I attended) and Dr. Matt had time in his schedule to take care of her hernia.
What a beautiful day it is too. The sun is out, nice mild breeze, temps in the 70's - it really doesn't get much better than this when you are a horse care practitioner. The first picture is Chance getting prepped. Dr. Matt is covering her feet and Micheal is clipping the surgical site, my move is watching and I am taking the pics. Chance went to sleep like an angel.
He had to make an incision and then stitch three layers from the inside out and the stitches will disolve over the next several weeks. She will have to stay in a stall and not do a bunch of running around while everything heals up.
The surgery didn't take long and she started coming out of the drugs just as Dr. Matt was fininshing with her. It looks good and prayers and fingers crossed she won't injure herself again and do something to disrupt the repair this time.
We stayed and the facility and let her walk off some of the drugs before loading her in the trailer. She is such a good girl that she walked right in the trailer no fuss, no muss. Dr. Matt said she was a very good patient and was going to grow up to be a nice horse. We think so.
Thanks go to everyone who made a donation in lieu of a birthday present for me - and really this was a GREAT present; to Audrey at Saving Horses Inc., Dr. Matt and Michael for their great teamwork during the surgery, my mom for donating the remainder of the funds for her surgery and to all of you who will be saying prayers for this sweet filly.
Stay tuned for updates. :)
http://www.savinghorsesinc.com/
http://www.thesoulofahorse.com/
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