FINALLY...a picture!

So I've been so busy moving that I haven't been able to do much that isn't working or sleeping it feels like! I did manage to get a picture on my phone to upload so I can share a new photo of Duchess. Better ones are on my camera but I need to figure out which box I packed the cord in to transfer them onto my computer. These pictures include one of my mom finally meeting her horse. That was such an amazing day.

Duchess has also now just been incorporated into my herd. She stays away from them for the most part but they are slowly coming to know eachother.

Pictures Coming Soon!

So I know I've been absent for a while now on here...I get too busy then forget! But I do have pictures from last week and should take some new ones today or tomorrow and then I'll upload them for yall! She is doing fantastic and looking like a normal horse again. In the next month she will be moved to where my other horses are and will finally be reunited with her son. Can't wait!

Vet appt!

So today I took Duchess in to get weighed and get her eyes check because they are quite goopy. I normally wouldn't take a horse in for something like this but I wanted to make sure the ducts weren't blocked and that nothing was coming of it because it is harder for her to fight things off than the average horse that actually has a strong immune system.

Well she is obviously feeling a lot better and getting her strength and energy back because she gave me a bit of trouble trailering her up. Then when we got to the vet, she didn't want to walk on the concrete, nor enter the exam room, nor go into the stocks, all things she didn't have issues with the 1st time. She was just being a punk, not actually scared. Well her eyes are fine and she has gained a whopping 90 lbs in less than a month. The vet commented on how amazing she is recovering and said it looks like I am doing a fantastic job so I was very excited.

Well that is it for now but I wanted to share the good news!

PICTURE DAY....A couple days late!

Well I took the photos on Wednesday, just couldn't find my cord to upload them until today so here they are.

I come with GREAT NEWS.....

While talking to my mom today I found out that she wants to 'adopt' Duchess from me as her own horse. Duchess will still stay with me and be able to spend the rest of her life with Pilgrim but she will be my mom's personal horse for when she comes and visits.

My mom said that seeing pictures of Duchess's face, she knew that Duchess was suppose to be her horse and that she is the horse of her dreams as a child. My mom always loved horses but was never able to pursue anything with them because she didn't have the means or time. She is now chasing her dreams through Duchess. I couldn't be more happy. Not only do I get to keep Duchess for the rest of her life, but I get to share my passion with my mom. She FINALLY gets to experience for herself the love of a horse, and the devotion of an Arabian horse at that.

Now to get my mom to visit soon so I can get a picture of her with her FIRST HORSE!!!!!!

Picture Day!

Well today wasn't the best of days for Duchess. I know there will be ups and downs for a horse as weak and skinny as her but I sure do hate the down days. Duchess just seemed so tired and a bit lethargic today. She always follows me around until her alfalfa is put in front of her but today she wouldn't stop putting her head in my chest. She was not her normal happy self. You could tell it was just a rough day for her. If she is still this lethargic tonight, I will more than likely stay the night in her stall with her to make sure she is ok and then if it persists into the morning, the vet will be getting a call.

I did get some pictures however to show her progress from last week. and I got one of her with her head in my chest.




You can see the exhaustion in her eyes. She hasn't lost the fight in her eyes, she is just showing the way her body feels through her eyes today.

Why do batteries have to die?

So today was suppose to be more pictures for her weekly progress but when I get out there I find out my camera is dead! Aren't I a smarty! LOL! Well I'll have to find my charger now and hopefully I'll get these photos tomorrow, along with her feet trimmed.

Today was something new for Duchess however. She now will have access to the attached pen for either all day or 24/7 depending on what I decide when I go back out for dinner tonight. She will be able to move around more and build up some muscle and hopefully a little bit more energy. Her body still gets worn out easily but her mind stays very strong. Since I don't have any pictures I thought I'd share some of her son Pilgrim. I talked to Chandra's mom recently and she was very kind to send me pictures of when Pilgrim arrived at their place. Now keep in mind, this is in the winter(so you can't see as much as is going on with him) and he had already been in recovery for 2.5 or 3 months at another persons place. I'll add current photos so you can see his transformation. Even with all that crazy hair, you can still see his ribs. When Pilgrim had colic surgery he lost a lot of weight of course but even with less of a winter coat, you couldn't see his ribs like you can with this mammoth of a coat. Also, Pilgrim doesn't get this big of a winter coat anymore because he doesn't need it.

Who needs alfalfa spouts when you have your horse's alfafa?

So I've really been enjoying Duchess's company and have been eating lunch with her in her stall. I was initially sitting with her at dinner time too but I found myself wanting to fall asleep often since I have to go out there pretty late. Well today I happened to stop and get some Pita Pit for lunch and I always get alfalfa spouts in it. This isn't the first time I've been attacked by the alfalfa but today she felt it was necessary to make sure I had plenty of alfalfa on my pita since apparently the alfalfa spouts don't count as real alfalfa. She then proceeded to grab another big bite, put it over my head and drop it and then wipe her green slobbery mouth all over my cheek and arm. She then stopped, looked at me and turned back and dug her head into the bottom of the alfalfa and stayed there. She sure does bring a lot more joy to my life.

She loves to bury her head in her alfalfa because the best is at the bottom and then she'll continue to eat the flake from the bottom up. I had my phone and was able to capture a picture of it. I was actually going for a picture of her mane since it was combed out and staying in place but the picture shows pretty well how she buries her head.



As for an update on her condition, just these past two days she seemed to have gained a little bit more strength and to me looks like she has already gained a little bit of weight! She is also getting a lot better about her hind feet getting picked up and about tying. I plan on trimming her front feet by beginning of this coming week and hopefully I can get the back ones done within that week or early the week after that.

How can you not fall in love this face?

Picture Day!

Today I finally took the camera out during daylight and got some pictures of each side and behind to start keeping track of her progress. I also started picking up her feet so she can get use to it and hopefully by next week, I'll be able to get her feet trimmed.

Bath and Vet Appt...

In my attempt to catch up on this past weekends events, I am putting Sunday and Monday into this post.

7/11/10

So Sunday started with me untangling her mane. It was so difficult even with Cowboy Magic drenched on it I had to revert to WD-40 to get most of it out and even then it took me over an hour. Once I finished her mane I decided to give Duchess a bath to get rid of the rest of the rain rot on her back. Just being under Collin County workers care had taken care of much of it being inside and getting nutrition but I wanted to get rid of anything that might be left. Giving her a bath was like giving a foal its 1st bath. She knows very little but tries to please so I held her as she walked back and forth not sure of the water. I took a rubber curry to her body with an antimicrobial shampoo. She absolutely loved it and looked at me when I stopped trying to figure out why I didn't keep on. I accidentally brushed against a limb from the tree that is near the wash area and my sunglasses started falling off my head so I dropped the rubber curry on her back to catch them. When I put them back on my head, I looked up to see the curry just sitting there next to her spine. I've been able to ignore just how skinny she is at times by focusing on the spark in her eyes and what she will look like but seeing it just sitting there like the top of her ribs were a table top almost brought me to tears again. Yet again, I am so glad she will never have to suffer again. I took some pictures of her back to show the bald spots from the rain rot she had.


7/12/10

Monday came around and I called my vet to make an appt. for Duchess. They had a spot in the morning if I was able to bring her in right away. Of to the barn she is staying at I went. She loaded up like a champ. She tried to avoid my ramp again like she did when we loaded her Saturday but I got on it and jumped on it a couple times to show her it was safe and she walked right up. She seems to understand I am here to help her and she is now showing that she trusts me. Every time she gets nervous, I slow down, give her a big hug and pet and then she becomes very cooperative. She is a true gem, and just like her son.

We arrive at the vet around 10:30am and we get the vet out to the trailer. He decides we should take her in to look at her more closely and get all the prying eyes off her. She was able to get the 2nd exam room all to herself and the other vets just kept their appts. in the front exam room. We took her blood and everything came back normal from that except she was low in plasma protein I think it was, but that was expected. We checked her teeth out and they were in horrible shape. She had a major wave going and a huge hook on one of the back teeth that was trying to grow into her gum. Because of that, we decided a dental would be best to help alleviate that pain. It took a long time, but we got as much as we could done before she was losing her patience. That tooth was so painful on her we couldn't get the hook down completely but we did get it out from her gums. I was worried she'd be really sore but she ate her alfalfa in the trailer with ease. She seemed to be more relaxed in her eating so I assume she was in far less pain from that tooth. Her weight was at 600lbs and she still is considered a 1 out of 9 on the Henneke scale. The vet said that it was obvious she had been in good care for the past 3-4 weeks with Collin County workers because her rain rot was gone and her blood was pretty good for her condition and her coat was starting to shine nicely from her diet. We discussed her nutrition plan and I told him I'd like to bring her in once a month for weight and assessment of her condition and improvement.

When I arrived home, I took some pictures of her 1st adventure into the pen that is attached to her stall. It has just a little bit of grass and I am allowing her 5-10 minutes on it 2-3 times a day and then of course her alfalfa gets fed to her in the stall.

Of all 47 horses, why Duchess??

I thought I'd start this blog by giving everyone the backstory on why I went and rescued Duchess. Well here it goes....

My 1st horse Legacy was born in 2004. After he was weaned I took him to a good friends house to grow up on until we would move to College Station for college. There were other horses for Legacy to interact with but they were all very mean to tiny Legacy and shunned him. Because of this, Legacy started becoming a very unhappy foal that didn't have anybody to play with or grow up with. Watching this was very painful to me so I started to search to find him a companion. It took much convincing of my mom at the time explaining to her why I NEEDED another horse. When she finally realized I was being serious and not trying to make excuses to just try and get another horse for myself, she agreed. I decided to go the adoption route because I wasn't looking for anything in particular, just a friend for Legacy. I found a colt that was the exact age as Legacy and was about to adopt him but he was adopted just before I could get him. It worked out for the better because I noticed a 2 year old Arabian gelding. He was everything I needed for Legacy and I couldn't be anymore happy with him for me because I had always been a huge fan of Arabians. I went to meet him before adopting him and I fell in love instantly, just like I did with Legacy the day he was born. I became good friends with the lady who fostered him and she told me his story. ~ If you would like the details of his story, please contact me.~

Fast forward to 2010...I am now with 4 horses, 3 arabians (2 mares and Pilgrim) and Legacy (my Azteca). I am a member of a forum, Arabian Breeders Network, and I read it almost everyday to keep up on what is going on in the Arabian world. I've tended to avoid the rescue and rehoming section like the plague because it always depresses me since I can't just take in horses in need. Well Friday, July 9th, I for some odd reason decided to check the section out and then of all things read the 47 Arabians to Sheriff's Action topic. I opened it and started reading a bit. Well not far into it, I read the name Audrey Lehrman. My first thought was "Wait a minute....that is just to eerily close to Audrey Ehrman who was Pilgrim's breeder and had sold him JUST PRIOR to him being seized due to starvation. So I scrolled down and noticed a list of Star horses. Well I don't know that group of horses but I don't like how close that name is to the lady who put Pilgrim in such a horrid situation, so I decide to check out the last page of the 45 page topic to see was the latest updates were. God must have been directing me to exactly where I needed to be going because I scrolled up that last page just a little bit and right in front of my eyes was the name Duchess Khemnahar and a picture of a severly skinny chestnut mare. I heart pounded hard out of my chest and tears just burst out. I was staring at Pilgrim's mom going through the EXACT same thing Pilgrim went through just 7 years before. Pilgrim was part of what saved my life after my dad died and has become a soulmate to me. Just thinking about what Pilgrim had been through tears me apart and now I am having to see the horse that brought him into this world and blessed my life, suffer the same fate of his son. Once I regained my composure(well enough to see the screen through my tears) I read on and found that there would be a sheriff's auction the next day. This is when I knew God was telling me something.Why would it be of all days I'd check the Rescue forum to find out about Pilgrim's mom and then be just in time to be able to make it to the auction?

7/10/10

Well after rushing around Friday making sure I'd have a safe, isolated area to bring a very emaciated horse to and getting everything ready for the day, I left at 6:30am Saturday. I arrived in McKinney about 10:15 and made my way into the barn. I was to meet a wonderful lady named Jenny but started walking around first. One of the last stalls I walked by was Duchess's. She wasn't the worst but looked horrible. Her hip bones seemed to protrude more than most, including the ones that were the worst. I found out it was because when they came in from the seizure 3-4 weeks prior, she was the worst one coming in and the workers wondered how she was able to even walk, let alone be alive. Well, the time came for bidding and I had already met a savior of a lady who bought me Duchess so I could spend that money I now didn't have to spend on her bills towards recovery. She works with a rescue and also gave me the ability to give Duchess to her for a permanent home If I for some reason in the future can't give her a permanent home anymore. This lady was an angel that day, saving many of those horses. Duchess was bought for $310 and now able to come home with me. I was so excited to be able to give this wonderful mare a home where she will suffer no more and one day, be reunited with her son.

We finally got home about 10pm and I gave her some alfalfa for the night and took some pictures. These pictures add so much weight. Everyone who sees these pictures and then sees her is a little shocked with how much weight the pictures add.