Alita's Story
Weeks Thirty One & Thirty Two December 29th - January 11th Help Arrives It’s strange how all of a sudden you can have so many things happen at once. This time they are for the better. It is also great to have so many friends that you know personally and also those that you have the privilege of meeting along the way. There are even those that you have never met however they are friends just the same. The horse community is a close knit bunch and a supportive group of individuals as well. Alita and I are very honored to know several of these people, some in this story update you are about to read and others we still have yet to meet. On New Years Day our friend Melissa came to visit and see Alita. It was a pretty nice day and we were grooming all the mares. Nothing like a little beauty treatment to make you feel good. Besides that we had the photographer, Susan Riley, that had volunteered to come and take pictures of Alita coming out the following day. She was mentioned in the last update. Alita was in getting accustomed to the foaling stall and turnout as her foaling date was fast approaching. It seems like only yesterday she was confirmed in foal and then 3 days later when she had her terrible accident. My, time can just slip right by. Just before Melissa left I went in to groom Alita in her stall area. She sure did need a little sprucing up. As I stood there I noticed her taking weight off of her good leg. She actually was picking up and holding for some time her good leg off the ground. It was barely off the ground however she took the weight off of her good leg! On a hunch I picked up the hoof pick and gently lifted her leg and cleaned her hoof out! This is a MAJOR accomplishment. I called Melissa over and she could not believe it either. She was raising her foot long enough to have it cleaned out. Remember the battle Melissa and I had several months back just trying to lift her foot onto a board to get it trimmed. I actually got to clean all 4 feet with very little effort or discomfort for Alita. It was the end to an all around GREAT day! I only prayed that it would get better and better for Alita. The following day a young lady by the name of Susan Riley came out to take pictures of Alita. She had heard about her and she wanted to come and take pictures of this courageous mare. We spent a good part of the morning taking head shots of Alita. She has such a beautiful and kind face and those eyes! Of course when you want to take pictures of a normally VERY photogenic horse, person or even an inanimate object it just doesn’t co-operate. Nothing we did would get Alita’s ears up. She was so worried that Aly would leave her that we had to bring Aly into the pen and stand her just outside the shot. No matter what we threw in front of Alita she was somewhere else. Susan was confident she had gotten a few nice shots however. We spent the rest of the afternoon shooting pictures of 9 mares running in the pasture and also the 3 colts in the back pasture. It was a beautiful day to be out with some beautiful animals.
Photo by: Susan Riley The rest of the week was pretty uneventful up until Friday January 10th when we received an e-mail from a lady named Karen Merrill. She had sent an e-mail stating that she had read Alita’s Story and she wanted to donate a pair of SMB boots. This was such a relief as I had been noticing the ones she is using are getting quite worn from the constant wear. They are burgundy to boot. A lovely color I think Alita will be proud to wear! On Saturday Lynn Farr came out to do a massage therapy session on Alita. Melissa came equipped with her farrier tools as we hoped to get those feet trimmed FINALLY! Lynn’s husband Skip came along as well. It was a very cold and dismal day however I knew Alita was going to feel MUCH better once the session was complete. We all got some hot coffee and cocoa and filed in to Alita’s 12x16 foaling stall. Lynn began by moving down the crest of her neck. She moved up and down trying to get her to begin to relax. From there she moved into her withers and began to concentrate on the tight spots she found. Alita enjoyed when her chest was rubbed. Other parts on her body were filled with pain. Parts like her point of croup due to how she had to carry her back legs to compensate for her injury. Lynn’s hands shook as she moved them down her body just above her skin as she could feel the tightness throughout her body. When Lynn reached the inside of her back left leg there was a huge knot that Lynn said she had never felt in a horse before. I felt what she was referring to and it was like a tightened ball of muscle. This was a very tender spot for Alita and even with all of Lynn’s efforts to ball remained. "You will need to concentrate on this area when you massage her." Lynn advised me. If she can’t loosen up back here when she foals she will have problems. We took a small break and then she proceeded to do the right side. This side proved to be more sore than the left. The reason being that this is the side of the injury so it has been compensating more then the left side. Also, when she stands she stands slouched in the rear right side for balance. Shortly after beginning the workout on the right side another friend LaNet showed up for the rest of the session. We all continued to watch as Lynn continued to try and relieve Alita of some of her pain. All along she was showing me different things I could do and areas to concentrate on over the next several weeks. Once the session was over I was told to try and massage her as much as possible before she foaled to try and loosen her up so foaling would not be so hard for her. We then blanketed Alita and went inside to warm up with some fresh homemade chili, coffee and cocoa.
Once Lynn, Skip and LaNet left it was time for Melissa and I to see what could be done about those poor feet! We went back to the stall and I held Alita while Melissa tried to get her to put her feet up. Maybe it was the cold weather or the session that made her more sore as I was told could happen however Alita was not very happy about lifting up her feet. I could not help but tell Melissa "You SAW her pick up her leg just the other day. Right?". After several attempts by Melissa to left up and clip her god leg it was decided to try to place a stone under her foot so she could nip the edges of the hoof. Although Alita was lifting her foot for Melissa she was not holding it long enough to get the job done. Alita was trying very hard to let us do what we needed to do however it was obvious it was still quite painful for her.. Melissa got a flat stone and proceeded to get her to place her foot on top of it to the point the edge. Between the two of us we finally got her foot in a position to clip her hooves. Melissa’s clippers were not her large ones and it was difficult to get off all that was needed. Between clipping, filing and clipping some more her feet were in much better condition than before. I cringed as I looked at Alita’s bad leg supporting her weight. It looked like a lightning bolt all zig-zag and holding all that weight! I had to look but hated myself for looking. It almost turned my stomach. Melissa kept telling me not to look however I just couldn’t help it! Finally her feet were as done as they were going to get. Melissa along with Lynn worked very hard trying to make things a little easier for my angel Alita. Both Melissa and I were confident that her new manicure along with her massage would help her feel a little more "normal" if that is ever possible for her again.
Alita is still eating 8 pounds of feed 2x a day and I am also beginning to give her an afternoon feeding as well. We are out of the Equine Senior and now have her on a mix of 6 parts 14% feed and 1 part alfalfa pellets. The feed we found also has a higher fat content so it should help her to gain yet more weight before the birth of her foal. We still have her in wraps for support, removing them every 3 days for a day or so to let her legs dry out. We don’t want her developing more sores as she did in the beginning. She is also doing very well as we have not had to give her Bute these 2 weeks but once. Now we just wait for the blessed event!
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