Surely

 

Surely in January 2010 - pic taken by DeeAnn Bradley

 

This is Surely.  This beautiful QH mare was the next horse to be loaded on a truck bound for Mexico, but the truck was full. And before the next truck arrived, Shirley Puga arrived and saved this mare and 24 others.  Shirley contacted me for help placing the horses, and I told her if she had an older horse, or disabled one, I would take it.  I was delighted when I saw that Surely has 4 white socks (Bobby Sox and Prophet, two of my favorites, both did).

Poor Surely.  She was deeply exhausted when she arrived after an 18 hour trailer ride from Central California. That was only a day after she rode from the Nevada feed lot to the Central California Coast.  And of course that was back to back with 10 days at that lot, competing with many other horses for food, who knows how long a stay at auction; and all the confusion and uncertainty of the horse cast off by their family. She was fat, muscular and healthy looking in appearance, but had a little nasal discharge on arrival. It took another 10 days to turn into a life threatening strep/drylands distemper situation.

Look at that moustache! (right)

Surely is a chestnut (or sorrel) QH mare, approximately age 16, with the obvious big white blaze and nose, and four white feet. But look at that moustache!!  I swear it’s only on that left side – I thought at first she might have one on the other side, and someone cut it off, but no.  She has just the one whisker.  It’s adorable, I think, but as it turns out, with her horribly runny nose, it’s a “booger” to keep clean!  (sorry, I had to do that)

 

I had at first intended to call her Socks – four white feet after all. Then saw the whisker and considered Whiskers.  But I decided to honor her ‘savior’ Shirley Puga, and chose “Surely” because she surely had been through hell, and surely was a well behaved girl, and surely deserves a better shake …

 

The day after she arrived, she slept all day.  And for 9 days, she was on and off her feed; in and out of her stall; close to the herd, or completely separate.  I thought she was tired, or shy. But actually, Dr. Zadick believes she was ‘brewing’ up a constellation of ailments which exploded on the 10th day.  I post this on 12/10/08, as she’s been struggling to overcome respiratory problems and drylands distemper.  She’s lost an easy 200 pounds, although has never completely stopped eating.  She has good and bad days, but as of today, at least the respiratory problem seems almost completely gone.  Dr. Z said it may take her a month to overcome the drylands; if the swellings would abscess and break, it would greatly relieve her but he indicates it may not.  I will try to post changes as they occur, but feel free to email me with any inquiries in this regard.

 

She’s a sweet tempered mare, and starting to show interest in the world around her.  Here, she wonders if Duffy might be edible….

 

Another shot of the moustache

 

Surely’s Legs

 

How horrible is this?  12/26/08 Poor Surely – the abscessing which normally drains from the belly area in drylands distemper, or from throat and jaw area in strangles, dragged down; first swelling her upper legs to enormous proportions, and then finally spilling pus, blood and serous fluid down her legs.  Although I cleaned and scrubbed as best I could, at first, these areas were very sensitive, and once the blood and serum dried, it was like lacquer to remove.  And once enough pressure was relieved, the skin which had been stretched with the swelling, began to die.  I’ve removed giant chunks of dead skin and blood; Dr. Z has removed more.  Thankfully, she’s much less sensitive about it now  and little by little, parts of it are drying and healing.

Right Hock, Surely's legs 4-7-09

 

Right Hock (dark spots are bare skin, the dark red is the actual un-healed part.)

 

Now, the healing may seem slow.  It sure does to me!  Surely herself is sick and tired of getting cleaned and medicated yet again - see her comment below!

 

Her appetite has finally become more normal (I’m so thankful as she has lost a great deal of weight) and she nickers for me everytime she sees me – comes out of her stall every day (although not yet willing to join the herd); and altogether is showing enormous improvement.  I hope to have pictures in a month that show a different horse.

And finally, I have pictures of her legs in November, 2009.

 

The girl is healed!  And in recent weeks, as the anniversary of her ailment’s inception approaches, Surely runs out every morning at top speed, bucking and head tossing!  I keep massaging lotion into those scars, and slowly they decrease, but she’s well now.  Time to start some training.

But look how good she looks otherwise - her weight is starting to look better; she has four white socks again and her whisker has come back, on both sides!