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CAN
YOU HELP US WITH HOLLY?
Give this little filly a fighting chance!!
New Mexico Horse Rescue at Walkin N Circles
Ranch answered the call when sheriffs recently found a tiny newborn foal near
death in Torrance County.
Holly was born in late April. Somehow, her mother was taken away from her
before she had a chance to nurse even once. Foals are usually on their feet
within 20 or 30 minutes after birth and begin nursing within the first hour.
She was left, apparently, where she was born. Dogs attacked her, injuring
a leg and shoulder. When the deputy found her, she was near death from dehydration
and lack of nourishment. He immediately lifted her tiny, 60 lb body into his
arms and hurried her to a
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vet. The vet started an IV and
began hydrating the baby right away. Her wounds were cleaned and dressed.
Though they were fairly superficial, the risk of infection was great so a
course of antibiotics was started.
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The first fluid that a baby usually receives when it first nurses from its mother is known as colostrums.This fluid contains antibodies that help protect the foal from infection and disease while its own immune system is maturing. Blood work revealed that this foal did not get her colostrums. That made the dog bites even more dangerous. The vet wanted to give the baby a course of plasma from a super-immune horse to help her fight the infection already setting into her leg. Without it she would likely die. Up to this point, Torrance County was paying for her care but the plasma would cost as much as $500.00 and they had already reached the limit of the funds they had for a situation like this. They called New Mexico Horse Rescue at Walkin N Circles for help. We agreed to pay for the plasma and assume responsibility for the foal in protective custody. At that time we intend to look for a mare with milk that might accept this baby as her own. We have done something like this in the past with great success and hope to do it again for Holly.
The plasma was administered
on Saturday, April 26th and we picked Holly up and brought her to Walkin N
Circles on Sunday April 27th. She spent Sunday through Saturday, May 3rd living
in a large, carefully prepared horse trailer. Deep shavings on the floor and
padded walls made a safe, warm environment for this wobbly little girl. She
was too weak to get up on her own so we had to help her to stand. We fed her
foal formula from a bowl every hour around the clock for the first 2 days,
then gradually stretched her feeding schedule to larger amounts every 3 hours.
She will remain on that schedule until we can graft her to a mare.
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On Sunday, May 4th we moved
Holly to a stall in the barn. It is filled with shavings like her trailer
was. Her schedule is much the same – feedings every 3 hours around the
clock with supervised exercise sessions during the daylight hours. She loves
to go for walks around the ranch. Well, now they are more like runs. We are
having a tough time keeping up with her! Her wounds are still washed and dressed
at least once per day, more often if anything is weeping but that has nearly
stopped completely. She has completed her course of antibiotics and there
is very little swelling left in the leg. Her vet visits her every other day.
The cost of saving this little life is now up around $1,000.00. This doesn’t
include anything for the woman-hours necessary for her care. That is being
done just for love. Our little filly thinks she’s human at this point
because all of her “mothers” are human. In the barn, she can see
other horses at least and we have introduced her to Beegee, who loves babies
and who we hope will help Holly understand she’s a horse.
Any help you can give us will assure that this little fighter (she’s named after fighter Holly Holm) will take her one step closer to a good and long life.
Walkin'
N Circles Ranch
P.O. Box 626
Edgewood, NM 87015
Telephone: (505) 286-0779