04/16/2024
Our 2024 foaling season has started off late with 1st foal being born on day 370.
Our 1st due & 1st to deliver was Powder Keg Lass, who had a spectacular smokey grulla filly sired by Dun Splash Of Cream on Monday, 4/11/24. Sadly, the filly was very lethargic, not able to stand, & no suckling ability. We treated her as a “dummy foal” & did a Madigan Squeeze technique to try to reset her chemicals in her body, to hopefully correct her, but no luck. We rushed Powder & her filly to vet. I kept the foal on my lap in backseat of truck while Brooke drove.
At vet, we were shocked to find out that she was hypothermic, even with our warm weather. A team of vet techs swarmed her to get her warmed back up with towels and blankets from dryer, a portable heater turned on high, body heat from tech that sat on foam mat on rubber floor, plus heated saline bottles tucked between legs and underside. Once warmed, she got plasma & warmed fluids. Sweet Powder stood still with no one needing to hold her, as team worked to save her foal. Vet milked her and tube fed foal to make sure she got colostrum & nutrients. They did another Madigan Squeeze for 20 minutes at 20 lbs of pressure. She stirred a bit but got sleepy again and just like our experience, foal could not stand & grew tired. Blood test results came back that she was septic. We had to make hard but realistic decision. So far $1,200 and no improvement. The next 24 hours would be at TAMU with round the clock ICU to hold foal in sternal position so she would not aspirate from being tube fed. We were looking at $2,500. Then if she pulled through, each day for next week or more would be $1200-1500/day. She would most likely have joint infections & other complications, & even after all of this, could still die. We called stallion owner to talk to her & let her know what was happening. We had 9 more foals due and lots of animals in our care so we couldn’t justify the expense with such a low chance of survival. Sadly we had to let our dream filly go. 💔