Gracie     *Adopted!*    

Approx. 14+ year old gray few-spot Appaloosa mare

Approx. 14.2 hands

Gracie came off a slaughter feedlot, where she had been horribly injured when she impaled herself on a piece of rebar protruding from the ground.  The feedlot owner had to actually cut her off the rebar, as it was embedded deeply into her chest and she could not be lifted off of it.  Our vet immediately sutured her up (it took over 120 stitches to close the 2 -foot gaping wound), but unfortunately she had lost too much blood supply to the tissue surrounding the wound and the stitches pulled out as the skin died off. 

It took several months of daily cleaning and scrubbing of the wound to keep it from getting infected and to help it heal.  She was left with a long, somewhat messy scar, but since her hair was already white, the scarring was not that noticeable.  Overall, it healed up incredibly well considering what the wound looked like to begin with!

Jezebelle     Rescued May 2nd, 2007

4 year old white Donkey jenny

Jezzie was rescued at auction, when the only other bidders were a kill buyer and a man who wanted to use her for roping in a Mexican Rodeo. 

We could tell she was very sore from badly overgrown and foundered-looking hooves when she went through the ring, but we didn't realize until we got her home that her soreness was mainly due to her pelvis that was broken in at least 2 places.  While this was painful for her, it was not a life threatening injury, as a broken pelvis will heal with time. 

What was complicating the matter was the fact that she was PREGNANT, and pretty far along in her gestation.  If she weren't pregnant, her pelvis would heal with a few months of stall rest and supportive care.  But in Jezzie's case, she had a baby due very, very soon, which added strain to her pelvis and would most likely re fracture it when she gave birth. 

It was a horrible situation.  All we could do was keep her as comfortable as possible (with bute and acupuncture treatments for pain) and plan for the numerous complications that could arise when the time came for her to give birth.  We watched her like a hawk, with the idea that we would take her in to the CSU vet hospital when she was getting close, so she would be able to have any help she needed to get through the birth (cesarean section, epidural, etc).

Much to our surprise and immense relief, Jezzie fooled us all, and stealthily gave birth to a healthy baby jack (which we named Loki) on the morning of July 23rd.  Apparently getting the weight of the baby off of her pelvis made her feel MUCH better, and she was walking and trotting around after her him like there was not a thing in the world wrong with her. 

After the "newness" wore off her role as mom, her foundered front feet began to bother her again, but not to near the degree they did before she had Loki.

She will always be a little "off" in her gate because of the permanent rotation to her coffin bones, but she now lives a happy life as a pasture potato and companion in an adoptive home here in Colorado.