Sunday Fun

Galena's filly was doing so well this morning that Mark helped take the IV out of her neck before we needed to leave for church.  Mike Kaisner had the morning service. Peoria's Easter program was this afternoon. All of the kids did well but when the young group and Bible class sang  "How Deep the Father's Love For Us" my eyes started leaking. It was truly beautiful.
After church I ran up to take care of Galena. Our guests were gone and left a very nice 3 page thank you note on how much they enjoyed staying here AND left a gift for us.

I'm not exactly sure what I should do with this gift. Steph had the idea to make some kind of nuts with it but that sounds like it would ruin good nuts. Karin arrived with Nancy right then to show Nancy Galena's filly.

Today is Nancy's birthday. John and Beth arrived first and gave Nancy a toy stuffed  puppy that walks on a leash. She was so excited about her puppy she is showing mom in the picture below. Nancy is 55 years old today. 

Phil and Anna brought over the girls so they could go to a visitation. They were thrilled to help grandpa on his culvert project. They helped him carry a 1/2 pvc 30 ft pipe all the way to the culvert. 

 While grandpa was digging the girls found worms. 

 They had to take them right over to feed the fish at great grandma's beach. The fish were too cold to come eat the worms. The water was freezing. Berlica came over to play with the girls on the beach. 

 They got so full of wet cold sand that they were taken back to our house and given a bubble bath. 

We had some guests come today to see the horses. They raised Arabians for years and wanted to come see the filly and the Friesians. After they left Rebekah and Faith came over to meet Galena's filly. I keep marveling at her conformation. She has a long well set on neck, short back, thick bone and will be TALL an amazing sweet disposition and that along with mega hair she is going to be one spectacular mare!

 As Rebekah was willing to help, we took Galena and her filly to the outdoor arena to get some pictures for the website. This was the first time the filly has been out of the stall and she had fun using those long legs. 

 Check out that fancy trot on this 2 day old filly!

If interested in seeing the rest of the pictures click HERE. 

This evening Joan, Ruth and Fedi also came to mom's to celebrate Nancy's birthday. It was a very fun afternoon and evening. Sunday's are so very special.

Another Vet Visit

It was hard to wake Saturday morning, we had potluck Friday night at Joan's house and didn't get home until late. At 6:00 am the monitor was checked and I noticed that Galena's filly took 2 tries to stand. Yesterday she was bounding up with no problem. I went straight to the barn and sure enough she was squirting diarrhea like a fountain.  She was not too dehydrated yet and still nursing well but these babies crash so quickly I wasn't about wait. Hoerr Vet clinic was called and Dr. Pallen came out. The diarrhea doesn't smell sickly, it smells like milk but is much too runny. As this filly was born 3 weeks early her intestines just need to mature a bit and we want to keep her hydrated while that happens. Dr. Pallen checked her over well,  inserted an iv and gave her 2 liters of fluids along with her foal shot of Tetanus antitoxin and Exceed.  She left me another bag of fluid if needed.  The filly was watched most of the day. She is acting normal and is full of herself cantering around her mom.  Jamie brought over a guest to see her this afternoon and took these pictures.

Mark worked on the drives today. We had a lot of rain Friday afternoon and during the night and the drive going to Spark's opened up a big sink hole and is collapsing. He shored it up best he could and is going to try to get some advice on a more permanent repair. Mom, Karin and Jackie made it home from Gulf Shores at 3:45 pm giving mom an hour to get ready for the senior citizen dinner. They left at 1:45 am and Karin drove the entire way.  They all came back quite tan.  They had beautiful warm sunny weather every day.  The senior citizen dinner is an annual event Peoria young group has put on each year for hundreds of years (that may be a slight exaggeration). This year was Mark and my first year of attending and it was really nice. They had beautifully decorated tables laden with delicious appetizers, salads and home baked pies. The main meal was whipped steaming hot potatoes, fresh green beans seasoned with savory herbs and Salisbury steak with a tasty sauce on top. Every bite was delicious. Below are a few of the honored guests.

After the meal the young kids sang for our entertainment. Below is just a part of one song taken with my phone.
After the singing Greg Rumbold had a short message.  Once home from the dinner the filly was given her pills and checked. She is full of energy running around the stall so no ivs were given tonight. The entire time I was cleaning the stall and filling Galena's water buckets she showed no sign of diarrhea. I came back to the house quickly wrote this blog post and went to bed sleeping soundly until 5:00 am. Only then did I notice I had forgotten to publish the post.

The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away. Blessed be the Lord

This is a hard post to write and I struggled with the words.  Anna was just put down and I had to do it myself.  I removed her bandages and found she had herniated badly during the night. She was in so much pain this morning from the dead intestine sticking out where she had popped her stitches that she could not stand without collapsing. I gave her banimine, a lot, enough that she laid quietly down flat and stopped breathing.
The Lord gave us a new life early this morning then took a life but no matter what we will praise HIM the giver of LIFE.
Anna was such a joy for us. We bought her in September 2013. She was imported from the Netherlands but had never been trained under saddle. Rhoda went right to work with her and found her an absolute delight.

 Anna would try anything Rhoda asked of her, even jumping.

Below is her first trail ride off the property and even that went perfectly.

Anna was bred to Valiant and delivered a stud colt Jan 20th, 2015.

He was such a character. Below he was introduced to snow and loved it.

Anna was taken to the IL Horse Fair in 2014.  Anni rode her in the play Cinderella.

We took her to Jubilee for a trail ride and she was so well behaved my grand daughter got to ride her with Bethany.

Tyler rode her at the 2015 IL Horse fair as the King in the play Sleeping Beauty.

Anni rode her in the 2016 IL Horse Fair as one of the Pirates in the Pirate of the Caribbean play

She had a filly for us in 2016, the filly was born silver black and ended up that so desired pitch black color. We were pretty thrilled. 

Amy rode Anna in the 2017 IL Horse Fair in the 2nd part of the Pirates of the Caribbean. 

Anna had a colt in 2018.

In the 2018 IL Horse Fair Samantha rode Anna as one of the Christmas riders in the play Nightmare Before Christmas play.

The 2019 IL Horse Fair was her last time showing and this year she was ridden by Samantha as the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of OZ play.

She was such a sweet gentle mare and we will miss her greatly.

Galena's Beautiful Filly

I watched tonight on the monitor as Galena started pacing in the stall so knew she was in the first stage of labor. Galena went into active labor around midnight and this gorgeous filly was born around 12:20 am.

 She is a strong filly and was up on her own by 1:00 am and it didn't take long for her to find the milk bar.  Galena is such a good mom, she stood very still while the baby rooted around for the udder.  

 The placenta passed around 1:30 am.  The stall was cleaned up and dry bedding applied while I was waiting for the placenta.  One of our guests came out of the apartment to check on her and was thrilled to see the new little one.

This is how a birth is suppose to be. The crazy thing is I snapped picture after picture all pleased then got back to the house and found out the camera card was not in the camera.  Of course I had to go back up to the barn. The filly is about 2 hours old in these pictures. Her sire is Valiant.   When I got back up to the barn the lights were back on, our guests were admiring this newborn so of course I had to stay and chat.  So thankful all went well.  Of course I had to check on Anna too and was also thrilled to see her quietly standing with no evidence of her rolling around.

Update on Anna

Anna was very depressed this morning, not wanting to eat or drink. She was given her banimine, bute and antibiotics and watched but she just didn't improve. As we were having a beautiful day she was taken out to the field to see if she would graze.  She perked up a little at first and went over to visit with Valiant but I was disappointed to see she would not drink or graze.

After I was reasonable sure she would be ok for a while I left to meet Kensley's bus. She was happy to see me and the day was warm so we parked up at the barn and the car doors left open. Kensley played in the back of the car while I checked on Anna.  An open hatch back is an open invitation for Studly. He was thrilled to join Kensley without anyone asking him to.

Anna was laying down resting so we went back to the house to play.

When Anna came to pick up Kensley she saw a strange sight on my patio.  These were under the step going into our house.

There were at least 4 of them all tangled up.  We like garter snakes just not at the house so they were moved into the yard.  Each hour I would run back up to the field to check on Anna. Around 1:00 pm she was showing signs of being in a lot of pain. She was dripping wet with sweat and had rolled so hard she was covered in mud. She was taken back to the stall but immediately dropped and tried to roll.  She was given more banimine and taken to the indoor arena as I didn't want her to become cast in the stall. I filled a bucket full of water and kept offering it to her but she would have nothing to do with the water and turned her head away each time. The banimine just didn't seem to help. After watching her in this terrible pain for 2 hours I called the vet clinic and at that point made the decision to have her put down.  Mark was sent a text that he needed to come home to start digging a hole.  Fedi was put on stand by to do the deed. Mark had to help get her out of the indoor arena, she would only stagger and try to drop when I would try to lead her. We got her to the round pen and in front of the round pen is a water tank filled with water. Anna stopped in front of the tank, stuck her nose in the water and drank. Then drank some more sometimes putting her entire face under water.  Fedi was called and quickly cancelled from coming. Mark went ahead and finished her grave but hopefully we wont need it. This evening her bandages were changed and she was given another dose of banimine and 2 grams of bute. She is resting quietly but not yet willing to eat anything.  It may have been gas causing the pain and if so she has a chance. We will see if she makes it through tonight.  The other news is Galena is now waxing. She is due April 17th but with the amount of waxing on her teats she will be going early.  She was cleaned up and brought inside. She is not in labor but we are expecting storms tonight and I don't want to take a chance on her delivering outside.  She is huge and last time needed help getting her big foal out.  Mark helped with the pulling of her foal. I video'd most of the delivery taken April 2nd, 2018 and that video as of tonight has 3,439,872 views. I'm not sure why it is so popular but check it out for yourself.

Emergency C Section

Anna was put outside before the walk and during the walk I noticed her laying down. She was not rolling or looked to be in labor. Later this morning she was laying down in the field again and by 9:00 am her water broke. I got her into the foaling stall in the barn, put down straw and waited. Within a few minutes I knew she was in trouble. Joan and her kids were called and they came right over to help. Only 1 hoof was protruding, the foal was not presenting correctly. Both Joan and I tried to find the other hoof and head of the foal but could not. Dr. Hoerr was called.  He found the foal's head was under the other leg but not in a position that he would be able to pull it out. Believe me he tried and tried.

 At this point the foal was alive but the heart beat getting slow. Our only option was to do an immediate emergency C section to try to save both of them. Joan and quickly I milked a lot of colostrum out for the expected foal as Dr. Hoerr was getting everything ready for surgery.   Before Dr. Hoerr started the C Section he sedated Anna and tried one more time to get the foal in the correct position.

 Anna came to help and she, Joan and Dr. Hoerr got Anna the mare in position for C section surgery. 

 Chris arrived with more drugs and sterile water for the surgery. Dr. Hoerr had the foal within minutes but as he was pulling the foal out it died. The camera was put down at that point as I was needed to help pull the foal out and try to get it breathing. Dr. Hoerr gave the foal nose to mouth resuscitation but we could not get the heart beating.  The foal was left and Dr. Hoerr started working on Anna first removing the placenta before closing. 

 Joan needed to get on sterile gloves to help hold the uterus in place for Dr. Hoerr to stitch it up. 

 Anna was also needed, below she is getting her sterile gloves on. 

 Below are the final stitches. 

 As soon as Dr. Hoerr was finished stitching her, the leg ropes were removed and Anna rolled over. 

It took a while for her to wake up and when she did she struggled to stand falling into the stall wall a couple of times but was up by 2:00 pm.  There is a lot of drainage coming from her belly so that will be wrapped in a couple hours.  This was not a fun morning and the loss of her beautiful pitch black filly is a hard loss for us and not a very good start to our foaling season.  Mark will need to get his tractor out to bury the foal. We are praying that Anna will not become infected. She was given a lot of antibiotics and we will continue those. We should know within a few days if she will recover but it will not be an easy few days.  Anna will need a lot of care. Today I'm wondering if maybe I'm too old to be in the business.