Celebrating Penny's Life 1997-2010

I have been dreading and procrastinating writing about this for nearly a week now. As many of you know, we very sadly let Penny go last Wednesday night. We had a really bad day, a better day that gave me hope, a day where she was blocked and it was hard to tell, and then another really bad day. She was in a lot of pain, her stomach muscles were cramped again, her heart rate was elevated at 48bpm at rest, you could see the pain hit her suddenly as she nearly fell to the ground several times while we were there with her. She wasn't laying down to rest... and then we spoke to the farrier who gave us the more grim side of the injury - what I was expecting to hear but hadn't gotten anyone to talk to me about. We all loved her so very much, but it wasn't fair to put her through that much pain for most likely several painful complications and surgeries to come over the next year, and possibly to be in pain the rest of her life. After all the love that Penny gave to us, the greatest gift I could give her in return was a pain-free death with dignity.

On to her story...

I was finally approved to foster for the rescue and went to pick Penny up when I was 5 mo pregnant with Christopher! What was I thinking? Somewhere my heart got the best of me - I had 3 horses on 23 acres, and gosh, wouldn't it be nice to have a horse available to keep horse #3 company if we took #1 & 2 off the property? Harlan rode with me in the truck as we drove about an hour to the place where she was being held. A herd of emaciated horses awaited us - they had been eating hay for about a week and were much better off than they had been. All I knew was "palomino mare" - but I had chosen the name Penny before I met her. Penny was the name of Harlan's beloved dog that he grew up with, and the name of another palomino mare I knew at the barn where I grew up.

We managed to load up another mare & foal first (that I would be taking to another foster home). Rocket was the baby - I can't remember the mare's name right now. I remember looking at Penny's belly and saying out loud - "Oh, great, she's pregnant, too." I look back and have learned quite a few things - or, well, made some mistakes and the animals were gracious enough not to take advantage of them.

I didn't have a way to separate Penny from my herd, so when we got back to our place, we drove into the field, opened the trailer door, and let Penny out of the trailer into our field - and luckily my "herd" of 3 was more relaxed than some and she integrated easily. Of course, Penny put her head down to the fresh grass and never lifted it up. She didn't care about meeting anyone - just eating. Her dull, yellow coat would soon turn into gorgeous shining dapples as she filled out. It wasn't long before we confirmed that she was pregnant, too.

Christopher was born in October, and then "Athens" was born the following March. We kept Penny in our yard for her delivery, and a few weeks after that as Athens grew up. I would take Christopher out in the stroller into the yard to feed the horses and play with Athens, who in return was very curious about Christopher, who survived the stroller almost getting knocked over and having his fingers nibbled on... When Athens was about a month old, I found him in the field, and Penny still in the yard - he had managed to jump the fence - on more than one occasion, and all the horses soon lived in the field in harmony.

Penny was always at the bottom of the pecking order. When I brought in another foster horse, Penny would assert herself for about 24 hours before she gave in and accepted her role again at the bottom. She babysitted Ricochet when he was weaned at our house, and would have adopted Goose if Charlie would let her. (Lucky for Penny, she didn't get the chance - Goose was an 17+ hh draft by the time he was grown - Penny just barely 14hh :) )

Everyone who came to our house always complimented us on our beautiful palomino. She had the gentlest personality, the biggest doe eyes, and was one of the most beautiful horses I have ever known. And she was as gentle as she was beautiful. She loved people more than horses, it seemed, and she was always the first to the fence to greet you. With the kids, she was always ever so careful to look out for them whether they were on the ground or on her back. She would almost tiptoe when they were riding her, and would always take tiny steps when they were leading her with her nose down low at their level so she could watch them carefully. I remember her pausing with her hoof in the air to wait and see whether one of the kids was going to keep walking or not. And Sammie and I would go out to the field and I would set her on Penny's bare back just to ride her for a few minutes. Penny always stood still, loving the attention and the scratches.

Here are some of my favorite photos of Penny with the kids. Please forgive my lack of common sense about not having a helmet on the kids when they were very young - they wear them all the time now, no matter what. We usually had someone holding on to their leg to steady them. I will post more as I get them together.

Missing her dearly...


Sammie loved Penny right from the start:

Aug 2006



She gave the best Pony rides:



Nov. 2006



Dec 2007




August 2008

Improvement!

I was pretty dismayed yesterday after visiting Penny at the vet's and seeing how much pain she was in. However, today when we went, Penny felt much better! She wasn't quite as "dazed" with pain - her ears moved to watch Sammie and I as we groomed her, and she was putting more weight on her LF - even put it down to shift her RF around. The difference was the addition of "Previcox" - a drug prescribed for canine arthritis, but has recently been put in a paste form for horses called "Equioxx". Interestingly, the total dose that would treat a small dog would also treat a 1000 pound horse with the same efficacy, so the small dog pills are often used instead as they are 1/10th the cost (yay!) (<$1 a day vs. $12/day)

Here is Penny yesterday:


You can see her pointing the LF - owwie! She shifted it around a lot and seemed overall very uncomfortable. The nerve block from Sat. had worn off, and the banamine was obviously not doing a good job with the pain.

Here is Penny today:


She is holding her weight more evenly between her front feet, and much more relaxed. You can also see that she is not clenching her stomach muscles like she was yesterday. Her heart rate was down to 36, but I could feel the pulses in her RF had increased. Hopefully, the Soft Ride boot will support her and keep her comfortable to prevent any laminitis issues.

Other things that helped me relax a bit is to hear that the procedure to drill into the hoof to remove any dead bone is relatively simple, and cheap (considering! $1-200 instead of the $1-2K I thought it could be) They do it while the horse is standing, but sedated, so it would not involve major anesthesia to do it. The senior vets do believe it is probable that it will happen, and we will see it on the followup radiographs in 4-6 weeks. Or maybe after that. Because the fracture is completely across and already appears separated, it is likely, but she could yet surprise us.

It was nice to hear that the prognosis was better than I was feeling yesterday, and that this certainly should be something we can make it through with proper care (my specialty!). The key will be managing her pain so that she does not get laminitis in her good foot. If we can do that, then I think we're going to be okay!

Radiographs

Here are radiographs of Penny's LF. You can see the fracture(s) towards the toe - the dark areas are where there is a fracture. It looks like a severe concussion/crushing force hit from the bottom. Some of the vertical lines are blood vessels - I think even a lay person can see the disorderly lines of the fracture.





Looking at the lateral view- the force seems to have gone all the way through the bone to the front of the coffin bone - notice the separation there.



I've never seen anything like it. I doubt others have as well. Usually it is one of the "wings" that fracture slightly and can be corrected - this one is pretty unusual.

Still praying...

Penny's Fractured Coffin Bone

When I first looked out the window this morning and saw Penny lying down in the hay remnants by the barn, I thought she must be enjoying the warm sunny morning with a nice nap. The rest of the herd wasn't too far away, and she was laying flat out like possibly in a deep sleep and hadn't noticed when they began to meander away from the barn. But after I had put out grain & hay and let the horses in, I looked out the end of the barn to see Penny still laying there, on her belly, not even trying to get up. She was looking at me, but not getting up. She wasn't struggling, wasn't rolling, just looked comfortable where she was. I walked out to where she was laying and could see that her breathing was elevated, but she started nibbling on some old hay remnants. I leaned over her and laid my head to her belly and listened for gut sounds, and there were plenty! Lots of gurgles and pings, plenty of noise. Which was good news - probably not a colic - but left me confused. So I ran 20 yards back to the barn and grabbed her halter and came back and put it on. I clucked gently and Penny looked at me, but didn't offer to get up. So I twirled the end of the lead rope and tapped it on the ground behind her, and she stood up. I didn't notice that she did the whole dance without putting her left front hoof down, but as she stood, she held her left leg off the ground and would not put it down. I gently lifted it up to look at her hoof and I could immediately see drops of blood slowly oozing from the middle of the bottom of her hoof - about a centimeter away from the point of her frog. There was no obvious culprit - no foreign body sticking out to give me more information, but Penny was clearly in a lot of pain.

20 yards does not seem far, but for a horse to hobble on 3 legs, it seems like forever. We took it slowly and stopped several times as she hobbled into her stall - not once letting her hoof touch the ground. She was happy to nibble on some hay when she got there, (I took her handful of grain away just in case) and I ran inside to call the vet.

I didn't want to haul her anywhere in her condition, but the mobile vet I knew did not have access to an x-ray machine this week, and after telling her about the location of the injury, she urged me to take her to Elgin Vet so they could treat her right away. I knew that she needed to be seen right away, but hated to trailer her. By the time I had the trailer hooked up and backed up right to the barn, Penny was already laying down in her stall, still breathing heavily.

By the grace of God, Penny hobbled down the aisleway and into the trailer without incident or hesitation. I drove slowly and carefully to the vet, and to my amazement, she was still stand ing up after the 20 minute ride to the vet clinic. She had put her hoof down flat for balance, but when we unloaded her, she again would not let the hoof touch the ground. We got her as close as we could to the barn, and slowly walked to a stall bedded deeply in soft shavings.

Within two minutes, Penny laid down in the stall to rest, and she spent most of the next hour or more laying down while we waited for the vet seeing other emergencies. Even after resting for that time, her heart rate was still elevated at 60bpm, and her respiration rate was 40. Those numbers to me were typical of a surgery-bound colic.

Penny hobbled to the x-ray room, and within minutes after some pain medication and sedation and x-rays, it was obvious that she had fractured her coffin bone. There seems to be a "track" that goes nearly if not all the way to the bone, and you can clearly see where the bone has cracked all the way through - with more than one possible fragment. The good news is that if your horse is going to break a bone, this is the one to do as it heals eventually on its own. But there are many possible complications.

The first and most serious is she might get laminitis in her good, supporting leg (like Barbaro did) and the pain and bone rotation from founder after laminitis (pain in the hoof) sets in would probably mean the most humane thing at that point would be to euthanize her. The good news is that Penny has been very smart about laying down - she knows she's hurt and she's smart enough to take care of herself - and she needs to lay down as much as possible. The bad news is that Penny already has a small amount of rotation in her "good" hoof, and thus will be more prone to laminitis than a horse who has never experienced it before. Other things in her favor are that she is muscular ("stocky") and small-framed.

Another complication would be if one of the bone fragments "dies" and causes an infection deep inside the hoof. The vets can surgically go in and remove the dead piece of bone, but infections inside the bone like that can be difficult to cure. Or even just having the tiniest of openings (like the one that she has) that goes all the way into the hoof to the bone could lead to an infection. Cleanliness is of highest importance.

So, the vets have started by soaking the hoof with a betadine solution to kill the bacteria, and wrapping the hoof until a hoof specialist farrier can come out (Monday, we hope) and put a special shoe on her hoof - that will have a plate at the bottom of it that you can unscrew to treat the area, and otherwise will support the hoof and stabilize it. It will have a rim that goes all the way around the hoof to keep it from the constant expansion/contraction that the hoof normally goes through with every step. Stabilizing the hoof will be key to helping the bone heal, and making Penny feel more comfortable. The shoe will have to be reset every 3-4 weeks for the first month or two to keep it fitting well and secure. Oh, and it will cost more than any pair of shoes I have ever owned (hiking boots included).

The other key is pain management - to keep Penny happy, and eating/drinking normally so that she doesn't have digestive issues as well, and also so she doesn't break down on her good hoof. They have a special boot with pads in the bottom to support her good hoof, and hopefully prevent the dreaded laminitis from occurring. When she comes home, it will be my job to monitor her carefully for any change in pain levels, as the sooner we catch issues, the less severe they become.

She will be confined to a stall for at least 6 weeks. But for now, I've got to take it one day at a time. Sammie and I will be going for a visit tomorrow morning to groom her and give here lots of carrots. So please, say a prayer for Penny, for we have a long road ahead of us.

One of my favorite rides...

I think that every horse-loving parent hopes that at least one of their children will love horses the way they do. But even more than that, you look forward to the day when you can ride with your children. When they are small, that time seems so far away, and yet you don't dare speed up time as it is already passing too fast as your children grow so quickly.

On Thursday, I stayed home with Sammie since she was still recovering from a stomach bug. She was much better, but she still hadn't eaten a "normal" sized meal, and there was no reason to hurry back. She was resting on the couch when it was time for me to go care for the horses, and she really wanted to come help! (I don't ever refuse that!). She does a great job pouring grain into all of their buckets, and likes to give Penny extra handfuls of hay. Once they were all in and eating, Sammie went out to the ring to play in the sand. I asked her if she'd like to ride Arthur when he was done and she emphatically said, "yes!" So I set to fix the gate to the ring (it fallen off the hinges) so she could practice more steering. (Arthur likes to go to the gate and without it there he would probably walk back to the barn if I wasn't there to stop him).

We got Arthur out and groomed him and saddled him, and took him to the ring. Sammie and I practiced steering on figure 8's going between poles on the ground through the middle. She was doing so well, I couldn't help but suggest, "Would you like me to go get Sweetie and ride her with you?" She again nodded happily, and after making sure Arthur was standing courteously at the gate, ran in to get Sweetie. Sweetie was a little put off that I did the "quick" version of grooming ( just the saddle area) and dared to put the saddle on in her stall without the proper cross-tying routine, but she gave in and sighed and followed me out to the ring in about 2 minutes flat. :)

I carefully mounted up and then talked Sammie through steering away from the gate. I gently asked Sweetie to walk off and turned my head around to see what Arthur was doing. Mr. Perfect Pony was walking right behind us as though he had been doing it all of is life. Sammie and I rode around the ring at the walk for the next 20 minutes, practicing turning and keeping Arthur away from the gate, changing directions, and just enjoying the gorgeous 70 degree Texas winter. I found my eyes tearing up as I realized that I was actually riding with my daughter! I was so delighted. At the end, we turned into the middle of the ring, I dismounted first and helped her down, and then we went to the gate. Everything was perfect, until Arthur stepped on Sammie's toes while I was opening the gate... The sand is so soft there and Arthur so small that she really wasn't hurt, and I told her that she would have to get stepped on at least 10 times before she would be a really good rider. (Heaven knows my toes have been stepped on at least that many times!) It seemed to cheer her up, and we walked the horses back to the barn to finish out the morning ride.

We finished by giving Arthur carrots and telling we loved him anyways and knew that he didn't mean to step on her toes. (Although I secretly believe Sweetie used to do it to me on purpose). I've promised Sammie to do more steering practice with me on the ground in the ring before we ride together again. But Arthur (toes excluded) was such a wonderful pony!

Arthur a.k.a. "Napoleon"

I just love this little pony. Arthur is 12.2hh, 26yo, and has cushings, so he gets soaked beet pulp every meal (always warm in the winter) with a handful of grain sprinkled across the top. Well, it is his FAVORITE meal. We have 6 horses in our "herd", and Arthur is usually at the bottom out in the field - mostly due to his size and that he's old enough to know better than to put up a fight with the bigger, younger horses. But lately, this morning included, Arthur has decided that his beet pulp meal is worth fighting for. Sweetie (alpha mare) is always at the door to the barn - even kicking the door when I take too long! And her son, Rocky, is always behind her. But lately, Arthur has decided he can't wait any longer for the rest of the herd and pins his ears madly and pushes himself in front of 17hh Charlie! It is a sight to see! Charlie would easily beat him in any dispute out in the field, but when it comes to mealtime, Arthur pins his ears and goes for it! The look on Charlie's face is always bewilderment that a small pony thinks he's tougher than she is, and luckily her stall is right next to the door, so she's usually preoccupied about getting her small amount of grain as well. (Charlie seems to gain weight on air...) Silly Horses. I sure do love that little pony!

A beautiful day for a ride!

Some days are just so warm and sunny that it would be sinful to not take advantage of it and ride! Today was such a day. But before I could get to the "fun" part, I also had to do some mini-doctoring on Rocky. He apparently played too hard in the mud over the last couple of days and was showing some soreness in his LF leg - pretty dang lame as well. Not sure yet whether it is an abcess or he strained a tendon - I'm hoping for an abcess, but the heat in his leg suggests otherwise. The current protocol for a tendon injury is complete stall rest for a month, and then slowly increasing handwalking & exercise. I could probably do that, but Rocky would race around his stall upset about being left in, and possibly do more damage to himself than he would in the field. The "old" protocol (10+years ago) was to turn the horse out and let them be in a field, slowly healing over 6mo-1year. I put standing bandages on him and let him out, but he was in the barn for nearly 8 hours today resting it as well, and tonight he looks much better.

Once Rocky was wrapped and back in his stall after a thorough grooming complete with carrots for a treat, I pulled out Arwen from her stall. Well, I didn't actually pull - in fact, I have learned that Arwen really appreciates it if I don't pull. When she first got here, when I would let her out of her stall, I would loop a rope around her neck and gently tug on it until she moved forward and followed me out of her stall. She usually would pull back a step and wait before moving - seeming a little annoyed about it - but always followed me out no problem, when she was ready. It didn't take me long to figure out that all I really needed to do was loop the rope over her neck, pause, and let her make the first step forward. Whenever I "pulled" she would always resist at first, before she gave in. Now, I put the rope over and wait for her to move forward first, and everything seems more peaceful without any resistance. I think she even respects me more for not "annoying" her so much. :) And although my singing may be annoying to some, I think Arwen liked it the other night when I had to put her blanket on in the dark. :)

My goal today was to get her into the ring and longe her a bit in a relaxed manner, possibly mount up if she was particularly good. But considering that the last time she was ridden was about 3 months ago, and it was only one time (and by a professional), I figured that would be overly ambitious. I am more cautious (and timid) in my "old" age. :) I no longer worry about myself, but rather worry how it would affect my kids/husband if I got hurt.

After grooming Arwen, I went ahead and put the saddle on her - it would be good for her to have it on just to feel it there. I used a rope halter, and walked to the ring "armed" only with the 12' rope I led her with. Arwen was not anxious, but rather, very alert - even excited that I was working with her. I led her around the ring a bit, checking out the damp footing. I made sure to work her in the firmer areas. Arwen, like most Thoroughbreds, is on the sensitive/reactive side of things. We started out to the left - and I "pushed" her away from me by swinging the loop of rope I held between my hands towards her shoulder. She picked up her feet and started cantering right by my body - on a tiny circle (as the lead wasn't that long). She slowed down to a trot and I relaxed my body position and she came down to a walk and came to me. We did this a few more times - and to the right she was a little more explosive at first - letting out a good buck and a jump in the air. (I immediately decided that I wasn't going to ride her today - just wasn't worth it. I didn't think I could ride through that buck very well - even if she probably wouldn't do anything like that under saddle as a trained ex-racehorse, I just didn't want to chance it). But her behavior still wasn't acceptable - I was looking for calmness and we hadn't found it yet. So I led her around some more to a different area of the ring, and again asked her to make a circle around me - with the smallest amount of "ask" as possible - talking to her, "Just Waaaaaaallk." She did so nicely to the left, and just as politely to the right, and we quit after several times around each direction. While grooming, I again attempted to introduce her to carrots - something she is obviously not familiar with. I even had the special pre-cut baby carrots (leftover from New Year's) - and at least she took one in her mouth and chewed it up, but then shook her head up and down until it fell out. I will eventually teach her that they are yummy. :)

I was itching to ride, though, and so I pulled out my steadfast horse, Sweetie (now 23!). I thought it would be a nice break for her to work in the rope halter instead of a bridle/bit, especially since I had no intentions of doing anything more than walking with her. I recalled making a decision a year or two ago that Sweetie did much better with a bridle, but it seemed so long ago, I had forgotten the exact details.

It was a very pleasant ride, but my normally super sensitive turn-on-a-dime-with-a- lift-of-a-finger show hunter decided that she didn't really need to listen to my lateral requests since she wasn't wearing a bridle. In fact, it took all my strength ( and leaning hard!) to turn her at my request. Silly mare. We walked around the ring for 10 minutes or so and I vaguely felt the guilt of needing to get back inside to the family, but I was in my favorite place, in "horse heaven." We came to a halt and I just sat there in the saddle, procrastinating. I didn't want to get down. Reality came back and I knew that it was lunchtime and I needed to get back, so down I came, loosened the girth, rubbed Sweetie's forehead, and back to the barn we went. Until next time...

2010! Brrr!

Okay, it has officially been pretty cold here in TX! We got down into the teens several nights last week - and getting water to the horses is an issue down here - usually, we Texans don't bother with heated buckets as it is so rare that the temps drop below freezing (and when they do, it is usually for a matter of a few hours). Everyone here has done well - I have an old tank heater that has been with me from VA that kept my trough de-iced, and we have a large pond that did not freeze. Also, I trucked fresh warm water out to the horses every morning, and made hot mashes (beet pulp/senior) for Sweetie and Arthur.

Those two are both doing great - I'm so pleased with their body condition and attitude this winter. I find it hard to believe that Arthur is now 26 and Sweetie will officially be 23 on Feb. 7! She has been with me for 20 years now! That is just amazing to me. She's been with me through all of life's major changes. I'm so glad that I am able to provide the retirement for her that she deserves.

This weekend, "Mr. Bear" visited us from Christopher's class, and Mr. Bear insisted on meeting the horses, so we took him out to the barn, and tacked up Arthur, and Christopher rode around with Mr. Bear in his lap. :) It was so cute! Christopher can steer pretty well (so long as Arthur isn't being onery about the gate) and I let him walk on his own most of the time. Then he came up behind me once and said he had asked Arthur to go faster. He was just speed-walking, but I wondered if he was ready to trot. I asked Christopher if he wanted to try going faster and he enthusiastically said, "Yeah!" so I jogged along Arthur until he broke into a trot - it was so cute. Christopher bounced around quite a bit but hung on there. Arthur was a good pony and put up with the beginner attempt at sitting a trot. :) They were adorable! Afterwards, Christopher exclaimed, "I'm Level 2 in riding now!" :) It was his first time trotting, and he was so proud! Momma was, too! I think the experience was a great one, and I look forward to more lessons with Christopher!