One Eye Open......

Raising horses is full of peaks and valley's as well as moments of pure joy and heartache. Then there are the moments you hold your breath, just praying that your horses has enough fight in them and a strong desire to live.

One of the "forgotten ones"..... Lemon....had her foal last night. Her labor lasted longer then it should have...and being a horse that had been mis-handled....didn't trust us at first to help her. Her foal was large...and presented upside down. Took 15 minutes to reposition him before he slid into this world.

I knew something was not right with him the moment I grabbed a hold of his hoof in the birth canal. Pasterns felt strangely stiff and long. Forgetting all of what I felt, as soon as that colt slide into this world...my only thought was to get him breathing. He had so much fluid in his airway. We picked him up and let the fluid drain from his nose. Dried him off a bit...all the while trying to keep the mare on the ground long enough to let the umbilical cord break properly.

She fought and fought so we let her jump to her feet....not realizing that she was clueless as to where her feet were...and without our intervention would have stepped all over this struggling colt. Quickly through a halter and lead rope on her and we started to assess the foals situation.

Back legs were fine. Strong and correct. Beautiful Head and neck, deep girth, and wonderful markings. Front legs....we had an issue.

Called my vet...asked her opinion on what to do. She said to let him rest then help him stand. then try to treat him like any other foal. Well....that wasn't going to work....after 5 hours of attempting to get him in a normal position to nurse when his front end was 6 inches lower then the rest of him.....we ended up bottle feeding him after the first hour of trying.

By 3 AM....I was really not happy with the way this was going....foal would breath normally when at rest, but once standing....it was like he was running the race of his life. He would fight and fight to walk on those awful flippers he was born with....and exhaust himself trying to find his way around.

Vet was there by 3:30....we splinted his front legs, and tried the nursing thing again. Now at this point, he thought I was mama, so I had to stay away. Nothing was working....very hungry colt, could not lift his head high enough to nurse.

Sedated him...gave him fluids and calories as well as DMSO. She told us to let him rest another hour....and start all over again with the nursing thing. By 8:30 AM....nearly 12 hours after his birth, he was finally slurping his mommy's plentiful milk.

To quick to breath a sigh of relief quite yet....he started getting gas colic. YIPS...here we go again.
1 cc of banamine, gastro guard and baby anti-gas drops. Twenty more minutes of "Please God let him live"..... and that little fighter jumped to his feet searching for something to eat.

Touch and go all day....everyone is tired, everyone cranky. In steps the hero Tyler. With the heart of an angel, he took over all by himself....teaching the mare to stand with her butt at the back wall....letting the baby walk endless circles around her until he found his milky delight. Of course....like all racehorse....he only knew how to go left! So around and around he went to the left....but we didn't care...he was nursing.

Here was are , it's 7:00 pm and this little fighter with his flippers flopping....is able to stand on his own, walk half way gracefully around his stall and lay down when he is tired. Oh...and Tyler taught him to go right too!

We are not out of the woods yet. But God gave this little "forgotten one" to us...because he knew we would fight as hard as he is to make it all okay.

Off to the barn for yet another night....Starlite should be next!

PS. Our little fighters name....is Caden....which means "fighter"