A Tale of Survival
CroftCnoc Clover
Clover arrived on Thursday afternoon after 3 days on the truck. She was abnormally thirsty but apart from that seemed ok. I checked her at regular intervals, the last at 10 o'clock that night. She was a bit restless but I put that down to her long journey.
At about 5.30 the next morning I checked her and she was down! We couldn't get her up and I flew down and rang the vet. By the time he arrived we had got her up, thinking it was colic and had her walking slowly around the yard. It didn't take long for our vet to pick up the real problem. She had pneumonia...temp 41.5, heart rate 120!!! and respiratory rate twice the normal. She was critically ill and I could tell our vet was not hopeful of the outcome. He gave her 3 different antibiotics plus Finidyne and she was also given fluids. I've never slept with a horse before! On the Friday night we were too scared to leave her in case she lay down and didn't have the strength to get up. She was so weak and we had noticed that day that lying down made her breathing much, much worse. So we never left her that first night. I sat out with her till 1.30 and then my husband did the next shift till 5.30 and everytime she wanted to lie down we stopped her. Amazingly by the next day her temp had returned to normal and she had responded so incredibly well to the treatment.
By the Saturday morning she was starting to nibble the tiniest bits of grass and by Sunday was eating and drinking small amounts. Her appetite has well and truly returned now. She has also amazed my vet. We all thought we would lose her on that first awful day.
The worst thing about all of this, is that it was probably preventable. The truck driver had had her tied so short in the truck and she was on the truck for sooooo long. This is apparently a classic way that horses can develop pneumonia. They absolutely have to be able to get their head down to keep their airways clear. I haven't tackled the truck driver yet, I need to be quite calm before I do, as I don't want him to think I'm a hysterical woman, as it's vital that he listens and changes the way he ties them. I don't want any horse or owner to have to go through what Clover and I have in the past few days.
But Clover is obviously a fighter, her vital forces have returned and she is once again a picture of health. I know what happened to her would have killed most horses. I don't want to think too much about the foal, we will just have to see whether she keeps it and if it is born ok. If it is we'll have to call it "Miracle"! (Hmmmm another margarine, we already have a MacGregor and a Flora!) Sue Moore Qld
