Lily's Blog

Sad News

2010-08-07T10:45:00.001-07:00

I must regretfully inform you that we had Lily humanely euthanized. Her left front leg ballooned up one day, and she was very sore on it. After one month of wrapping and special care, she was the same, if not worse. She was miserable and suffering greatly - she would barely get up by the end. We believe a tendon or ligament gave out after how much damage was done to her legs from such long term founder - we will be dissecting the leg to find what went wrong. Letting Lily go was the best decision for her, but it was a hard one as we wanted nothing more than to see her trot around the field, pain free. We can at least rest assured that we gave her an extra chunk of time that she would not have had otherwise where her belly was full, and she felt happy and secure. It's hard to not have her greet me with her whinny every morning when I walk out to feed, but we tried our best and at least we gave her that last positive experience with humans. We love you Lily, thank you.

Lily In The Herd

2010-02-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Lily has wanted so badly to go out with the rest of my mares, but I've always made her go alone in another paddock. But with the footing being so soft and nice, and with her fighting and trying to drag me the other way towards the mares field, I finally gave in today and put her out there. I was scared to death they would kill her - she can't really stick up for herself, nor can she run away. But things worked out well, there was only one minor squeeling incident and now she's out there munching away with them, happy as a clam in her little pink blanket. I took a crummy picture with my phone in the blowing snow.

Leftover Cards For Sale

2010-02-15T08:32:00.000-08:00

Well, the Valentine Card sale was a success! We sold all but four cards, and between sales and donations from some very kind people we raised $62! Thanks to everyone who bought cards and donated, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help supporting Lily!

The remaining cards are available for $2 each, please e-mail flyingheartsfarm@yahoo.com if you're interested.

Valentine's Day Cards!

2010-02-14T10:03:00.000-08:00

So we made a bunch of Valentine's Day cards featuring Lily to send to a local craft sale that my mom is selling her things at. I wish I'd thought of doing it sooner and offered them for sale here, but it's too late now. Each card is unique and has this ridiculously cute photo of Lily girl on the front:

We have a TON of snow right now, which is nice because it keep Lily's little feetsies nice and clean and it also makes the ground nice and cushy compared to just plain frozen ground.

Lily's regular monthly expenses are sitting now at about $100 per month, plus vet bills, dewormer, etc... luckily we own this farm so I don't have to pay board or I just wouldn't be able to do this!

Remember, you can always PayPal ANY amount to flyingheartsfarm@yahoo.com and mark it Lily Donation if you want to help support this little girl. Every donation is GREATLY appreciated and helps out a lot. Lily also still wears an ugly green nylon halter, so if anyone happens to have a pony sized leather halter (or wants to donate about $25 for a new one) we'd really appreciate it. Thank you so much to Sandy for donating the heavyweight blanket, it's been nice to have lately (last night it went down to 5 degrees - ugh!)

And finally, remember that visitors are always welcome to come out and meet Lily in person! Whether you want to come out and clean her pen, give her a good grooming, or simply feed her some carrots and brighten her day, you are more than welcome! Just e-mail me at flyingheartsfarm@yahoo.com.

New Hoof Photos

2010-02-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

So Lily can hold her front feet up for me to trim them pretty well now, but her hinds are another story. So I usually try to catch her while she's laying down to take care of her hind feet. Well, sometime around December I went in to trim her hinds - usually she'd let me do a few swipes and then get up. But this particular day she was very relaxed and happy, and not only did she let me trim all four feet, she actually fell asleep while I was on the ground rasping away. She'd periodically wake up and have a little moment of "oh crap what's happening?!" and then instantly realize it was just me taking care of her little hooves. Then she'd sigh, and her eyes would get droopy, and before I knew it she would be flat out, sound asleep again. What an adorable pony.

Speaking of hooves, unfortunately my computer had a bad day and lost all of my photos I'd taken of Lily since the last ones I posted. But here are some photos taken of her yesterday showing the huge improvement in her posture and weight gain.

Still trying to get her heels to lower. I've been learning massage and working on her to try to get those muscles to loosen and let her heels continue to stretch down. While this still looks terrible, this is as fast as I can get her to progress and it's such a huge improvement from when she came here. I keep her trimmed so that her heels are just floating above the ground pretty much all the time.

I know it looks like the toe is trimmed very crooked in the above photo, but what you can't see in this pic is how the wall doesn't get anywhere near the ground around her entire toe.

Random angle shot, minus her head haha - at least it shows how much she's filled out.

Now compare the photo above with the photo below (taken when she arrived). Just wow.

Slacking!

2010-02-14T09:28:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I've been seriously slacking on updating this blog, but I'm ready to devote some time to it again and keep it updated more often! I'll try to start where I left off. Here is a photo of her from October, showing how thin she still was.

Over the months, I've changed her feed. She's now getting 1 1/2 lbs. of the Triple Crown Senior soaked twice a day. She gets 1 gram bute in the AM (it seems to help her out - I think it helps the rest of her achy body more than her feet - also, I think she wasn't actually looking at her belly before, she was looking at her achy hind legs - they're under so much stress, and she isn't exactly young). She's also on Source and MSM. She gets free choice timothy and a flake of alfalfa every day. She's not laminitic, she doesn't look Cushings or IR, so I don't see a problem with feeding her this right now. However, ever since she came here her thyroid gland is swollen and it hasn't changed in the 6 months I've had her.

Anyway, I bought Lily this awesome SmartPink blankie from SmartPak.

How adorable is that??

The What To Feed Debate

2009-09-29T06:26:00.000-07:00

So I ended up switching Lily off of her two cups sweet feed and onto two cups of mushy Triple Crown Senior to get the lower NSC's. I've also taken her off of all but a few bites of grass that I let her snatch on our twice daily handwalks. There is a thead on COTH I started about what to feed Lily - many people were shocked that she was getting some grass and sweet feed and assumed I was ignorant, but trust me, I've read safergrass.org as much as the next person and I do consider myself educated on the topic. I actually consciously chose to give her sweet feed and three hours of grass per day. And I'm fairly certain she hasn't had any laminitic episodes since she's been here. I did the whole "natural" feeding program with all of my horses for a year and half and never had much success (however, that's a whole other topic I won't get into). But, I am trying the TC Senior and no grass thing because she's still been looking at her belly a bit - she's eating/pooping just fine though. So, we'll see what happens. On the plus side, I think her belly has filled out a little bit finally! It's getting into the low 40's now at night, so I rigged a too big blanket on her last night and will be ordering her one today.

Here's the link to the COTH thread:
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=225401

Got her X-Rays

2009-09-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got to see her X-Rays we took after she arrived (before I trimmed her). Imagining them and seeing them are two different things. I knew they would be bad... they're actually really scary, but on the other hand they could be a lot worse. She's definitely sunk (as if we couldn't have guessed that). The front of her coffin bone is VERTICAL and she has a small "ski tip" forming. However, her coffin bone looks to be in decent shape which is great. She actually has a decent amount of sole under the tip of her coffin bone somehow which is also great! There is a lot of room in front of the tip of her coffin bone, but I am not going to bring her toes back at the moment because she needs that leverage to rocker her back onto her heels. I have her X-Rays in hand, I will try to figure out a way to get photos of them up for you guys.

As far as how she's feeling.... she's about the same. She still whinnies whenever she sees anyone, she has a good appetite, she still lays down a lot, she goes out and eats grass for about two hours in the morning (with a nap somewhere in there out in the grass) and an hour or so at night. She doesn't really want to go outside of her pen any more than that. I let her loose out by the barn/arena to eat when I'm out at in the barn and if I leave her out for too long she just walks herself back into her pen. I've started her on some beet pulp and am giving her two cups of grain twice a day now. I've trimmed her twice more - I try to do it when she's already laying down. She scared me yesterday because she was laying down and breathing just a little faster than usual and looking at her belly - I gave her a 500 lb dose of Banamine and she's been fine since then, but I am watching her very closely. Think good thoughts for our Lily girl (who has recently acquired the nickname L'il!)

She's feeling better

2009-09-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

As of last week, she is walking a little better. She covers more distance now when she's out eating grass. She actually walks slower, but steadier, and she is rocking back onto her heels all the way with almost every stride, finally! I tried to get a video but the battery was dead, will get a new video soon. Here are photos of her heels finally coming down taken September 14th. I trimmed her again after these shots were taken and will get new photos soon as well.

Left Front:

Right Front:

Video taken upon arrival to the farm

2009-09-08T12:24:00.001-07:00

Sad face / Happy face

2009-09-03T11:22:00.001-07:00

As promised, here are a few typical before and after Lily faces! Before (she looked like this all the time):

And after! Tell me that isn't one cheered up pony! She looks like this all the time now!

Aaaand, good news today! She is starting rock back onto her heels now, especially on that terrible right front - yay! I'll get photos for you all soon. I'm letting myself get my hopes up now that I've seen a little progress being made! And I'm kind of getting really attached... that whinnying thing has me whipped. Also, Lily would like to thank Claire very, very much for the iced oatmeal cookies - they are really yummy and they definitely brighten her day!

Intro

2009-09-02T18:39:00.001-07:00

So, my name is Shawn Ratliff and I am a natural barefoot trimmer. I am working on starting up a non profit that does barefoot rehab/rescue work, but we are just getting started on all the paperwork so it will be a little bit until it's official. I recently took in a new 12 hand rehab project pony named Lily - she is in her early 20's and is not just foundered, but starved as well. This blog is to chronicle her rehabilitation and keep track of progress made. If you would like to make a donation to help cover Lily's costs, anything (even $1!) helps! To donate cash, you can paypal any amount to FlyingHeartsFarm@yahoo.com with Lily as the subject line. Please E-Mail me to donate items.

Lily's Wish List:
New Halter (or $25)
Blanket (winter is coming up and she's so thin!) (or $100)
Sheet (or $35)
Hoof Boots (or $100)
Probios (or $30)
Or cash for hay ($3.50/bale - lasts 4 days), grain ($3 per month), bedding ($5.50 per bag - lasts one week), or her Source multivitamin supplement ($1.40 per month).
Volunteers to come pick out her pen, brush her, handgraze her, and make her feel important and loved! We are located in Goshen, Ohio - just east of Cincinnati.

Lily arrived home on August 29th, 2009. These are photos of her upon arrival. Her right front is her worse hoof - she weights it less than the left front. She was x-rayed August 31st and there is evidence of an old infection and more arthritis in that hoof/leg - it's also taller than her left front. She is just starting to knuckle over - it's especially evident when you watch her walk...hopefully we can resolve this in time because the darling deserves better than this! Actually, Lily is supposedly nicely trained to ride and drive, but she was also supposedly not old haha! So we'll see.

I trimmed her after taking plenty of photos and video of her, and this is how she looks now - both feet are fully weighted in this photo. Scary, eh?

The good thing is that after a couple of days of plenty of food, attention, treats, and a much needed bath, she has gone from looking miserable and in pain all the time, to looking cheery and bright and whinnying whenever she sees me. Man, she knows how to make me feel important! And the best part is that as of today, September 2nd, she seems to be a little more willing to move about her pen for water and such. She still spends a decent amount of time laying down, but when we go out handgrazing she walks a little faster and with a little more enthusiasm. I trimmed her heels a teeny bit again today, but there really isn't anything to take without going into live sole - I need to be patient and let her heels drop down. I feel like they did a teeny bit since the first trim, but now they are "floating" that high again since I trimmed a little more today. I stretched her front legs forward tonight, I think I'll start doing that whenever I feed.

Right now she's getting free choice grass/timothy hay, about 20 minutes of grass a day (will be upping that slowly starting tomorrow), and one cup 2 x day of mushy Equine Senior with Source and electrolytes (she was barely drinking when she first came, now she's drinking a bucket a day instead of a few sips).

I think with some weight she's going to be a really pretty little mare. I'll get some happy face photos tomorrow and put up some photos to compare how much her expression has changed since she arrived 5 days ago.