Earlier this week I answered the door to find a tearful lady and a lame mare. Lady says she's seen our fat & shiny horses and knows we could help, and to please take this mare. Since I'm a softie and there was no way I was making this poor mare get back into a trailer, I said ok.
Meet Tyla:
We've been getting bits and peices of Tyla's story filtering in and it's not pretty. Seems that 5 months ago, a horse trading #%$^ (pardon my french) loaded 15 horses in a 4-horse stock trailer to take to auction. 4 horses went down in the trailer, Tyla being one of them. Someone else bought all 4 at the auction for $50. This mare was with the original buyer for 4 months, then passed through a couple hands in a couple short weeks before coming to this lady, who didn't have the money but couldn't leave her there to suffer.
Notice that Tyla's favoring her left front? Want to know why? We're waiting for stronger x-ray equipment to arrive, but our vet strongly suspects her shoulder was broken in the accident. So these 'people' watched her limp around for 4 months like that, and did nothing...and some farrier must have seen her like that, as her hooves had been trimmed recently EXCEPT for the good front leg (since she obviously couldn't put weight on the bad leg to trim the good).
Our vet also confirms that she is at least 20 years old and pregnant, and should foal within the month (I kinda figured, since she's bagged up and has other signs). While I am torn between the options of putting her down immediately or letting her keep going at least until the foal is born, I can't let her have carried this baby for almost 11 months and just throw it's life away. Doc confirms she's okay for now; she's learned to carry herself a little differently and stand differently so she's not in AS MUCH pain as she was when it was fresh. As soon as the foal is born, we are looking into having mama tranq'd so we can lay her down to trim her good foot and take a little stress off that leg. We should also hear within the next few days about having stronger x-ray equipment brought in to fully check the shoulder (I could take her to a place about an hour away, but on 3 legs-swaying in a trailer-WITH baby weight...I can't do that to her.)
So for now, Tyla is resting comfortably in her stall and has free turnout to a corral during the day and pasture in the afternoon/evening. She's getting good food and hay and lots of grooming and 'scratches', which she loves, although she is rather fearful still, especially of men. She does seem comfortable at the moment, her ears are always pricked forward when she walks and she does put a little weight on the leg.
So I guess what I'm saying is... I lurk here a lot to see everybody's baby pics, and I know how supportive you all are with each other when someone's 'expecting'... I need some good folks to send happy thoughts and prayers for a safe delivery Tyla's way...