As Hurricane Irene approached and the air pressure started to drop on Thursday, it sent our oldest mare, Messenger of Light, aka "Leia", into a gas colic. She has been sensitive to drops in air pressure, int he past, suffering a gas colic about once a year, for the past 4 years or so. We gave her some Banamine and she was quickly much better and never had anymore signs of a problem. We kept a close watch on her for the next few days, but it appears that this episode had been mild, thank goodness, so no vet was needed.
We brought the horses into the barn on Friday evening, as the rain was supposed to start between 3 to 5 AM on Saturday. We filled up all 3 huge water troughs, knowing we'd lose power, we wanted to make sure we had plenty of water for the horses. After Hurricane Isabel, we were without power for a full week, actually about 6 hours or so past a full week. So, I wanted to be ready for the worst.
We had our tub filled with water, I had cleaned out milk jugs and juice containers, and filled them with water, and I had a few big pots of water for the dogs and cat.
We woke up on Saturday morning to strong winds and heavy rain, but still had power. I started lunch shortly after we finished breakfast, as I wanted to make sure we had something nice to eat before we lost power. I also had my husband run some of my frozen foods over to a friend's house, as she had space in her chest freezer for them and had a generator, so i wouldn't lose all my food.
My planning paid off and we lost power right after lunch, at about 1 PM.
We put our youngest daughter, almost 2 years old, down for her nap, hoping she'd sleep throught he storm and she did somewhat. Her nap was a bit shorter than usual, but you couldn't blame her.
We had an old transister radio, so were able to listen to the news reports as to how bad things were, where the storm was going, etc.
Since we'd lost power I was not going to be able to watch any of the big horse races of this past weekend, but a friend of mine was willing to talk to me ont he phone and relay to me what was happening with the races. I got to hear about the King's Bishop and Travers as they were happening. She promised to call me the on Sunday so I could hear the big races from Del Mar.
Then it was time to feed everyone, so my husband went to check on the horses and feed them their dinner as I prepared our dinner in the house.
We got the girls ready for bed a bit earlier than their usual 8:30 bedtime and got them into bed as it got dark.
We had batteries to run the CD player for our youngest daughter, so she'd have her music to fall asleep to, but our oldest, almost 6 years old, was just a bit too scared by the wind and storm, so I laid some blankets on the floor next to my side of the bed and told her she could sleep there.
My two dogs, Nalley, an 11 year old Golden Retriever, my retired Seeing Eye Dog, and Dextra, a 2 year old yellow Labrador Retriever, my current Seeing Eye Dog, laid on the floor on either side of our oldest daughter.
Several times through the night, our youngest daughter woke up crying, so I had to go check on her. I did try to bring her into bed with us, but she just will not sleep in our bed, prefering to play or talk. When my husband started snoring she blurted out, at almost full volume, "Daddy, what are you doing?" I tried to hush her and told her that Daddy was snoring, but she just wouldn't quiet down, so I took her back to her room, put the music back on and rocked her in the glider for a little while. She did go back to sleep and I was able to get a bit more sleep.
We were then rudely woken up at 6 AM by our oldest daughter, who jumped up and called out, "There is no more storm!" She was so excited that it was over.
My husband knew I hadn't slept well, due to our youngest, so he took our oldest and let me sleep in a bit more, as our youngest was also still sleeping.
They got dressed and went to feed the horses, let them out of the barn, and survey the damage to our property.
We were pretty lucky, no trees down, but some minor gutter damage and the roof over our patio got ripped off the house and flipped over the back yard fence, almost landing in our pond. The legs are bent, the roof is bent, so I think it can't be put back up, it will have to be replaced, at some point. Our mailbox also got damaged, so over all we were very lucky.
Sunday was hot, but there was a wind for mos tof the day. In the evening we all went out to feed the horses and spend some time with them.
As they ate, Leia started to cough, and I instantly knew she was starting to choke, something else that she does about once a year, like the gas colic. We were working with the other group of horses, but I kept an ear out for Leia and paid attention to how often she was coughing.
Our oldest daughter really wanted to get on the backs of Myra and Belle, our two ponies, well, Myra is a Half Welsh, Belle is just pony sized, but is an Anglo-Arabian, they are half sisters. So, I led Myra, while holding our youngest daughter, and my husband held onto our oldest, as she sat on Myra, first. Myra and Belle have not truly been broke to ride, but have been willing to let us put kids on their backs, so far, but this time, Myra decided she really didn't want our oldest up there, so let out a buck, but since my husband had ahold of our daughter, he was able to get her off and she was not hurt. She was crying, but I think it was more from being scared. She quickly stopped crying and I caught Belle and she eagerly got on Belle's back. Belle was very good and didn't do anything, so that was great to help rebuild her confidence.
I noticed Leia was still coughing, so I said it was time for me to check on Leia more closely. I handed our youngest daughter to my husband, so I could go into the pasture with Leia and Glory, to see how Leia was doing. She had some snot coming out of her nose, due to her coughing fromt he choke. I ran my hands down her neck to see if I could feel anything, but I just felt that all the muscles were super tight. I then put my hands on either side of her neck and slowly and gently moved them from her throat latch area down towards her chest, trying to follow where her esophagus is. I did this only twice, not really knowing if it would help or not, but something just told me to do it, so going with my instincts and gut feeling, I did what just seemed to come naturally to me. As I did this, I could feel Leia's neck muscles start to relax. I led her around a few minutes, then turned her lose, when I realized she hadn't coughed even once since I had run my hands down her neck. We stayed out there another 10 minutes or so and there was no more coughing. So, the choking incident was also mild, just like her gas colic.
I have never done that technique on a choking horse before and I just had a strong urge to do it. The only thing I can tell you is that God was telling me what to do to help her, and because I listened she was healed and again, no vet was needed.
Let's just say my husband is so happy that in the two incidents with Leia, in the last week, that I'd saved us, easily, over $600 in emergency vet costs.
All I know is God has given me a gift to just know things about horses, what is wrong with them, how good they are going to be as race horses, if they are a nice spiritted horse or a mean horse, and so on. I just have this sense and I want to try to use it more, share my gift. I don't know how I will do this, but maybe some door will open for me to share this with others and not just use it on my own small herd or share experiences I've had with horses I've worked with int he past on this blog.
Sunday night was very hot and uncomfortable, as there was no wind and the humidity was up, but we managed to get a little sleep.
On Monday, a friend of mine offered to take my kids and I to her sister's house so we could all get cleaned up. It was a nice break.
While we were gone my husband went for more ice and some milk.
Thankfully, at 9:30 PM on Monday, the power came back on, but since we were already in bed, the only enjoyment we got from it was that we turned on the fans.
Home phone is still not working, internet is super slow, but at least we have power now. I've been trying to catch up on some new sin the world and some racing news and when I found out what Uncle Mo's owner said about finishing 2nd in the King's Bishop it has annoyed me greatly. He said it was the "lowest of lows". No, sir, sorry, finishing 2nd in a major Grade 1 stakes race is not a low of any kind. When your beautiful 3 year old filly, who has the heart of a champion, is improving with each race, looks like she is going to finish a clear cut second, suddenly fades and is eased, then requires the horse ambulance to come get her to take her back to her stall, that is the "lowest of lows". Being told she may not survive, because one of her sesamoids is totally shattered, that's a low. So, please do not say finishing 2nd in that race was "the lowest of lows.", you have no idea. I foaled that filly out, helped her come into this world, and it was a very difficult delivery, I halter trained her, loved her, played with her, etc, the heart ache of her injury was more than I can put into words. Luckily, and praise God, she beat all the odds and is standing out in my pasture right now, and will hopefully be bred next year. The jockey said it as a soft spot in the track that she found, it happens in racing, it's hard to deal with, loving horses the way I do, but it could have happened in the field, I've had horses get hurt in stalls, fields, etc, so I will keep racing, loving my horses, and taking care of them the best I can.
Her half brother is gearing up to make his first start this fall. So, watch out for Marq Your Bible!
So, Hurricane Irene is gone, leaving some with more damage than we got and I know some lives were lost. My thoughts and prayers are with those who's lives have been devistated by this storm. I pray lives can get back to some kind of normal as quickly as possible.
