My wife took pictures as the events of yesterday unfolded. They will be burned in my mind forever, but I'm posting them here for y'all to see what happened.
This is how I found her. We have had an abnormal amount of rain this fall and winter. 4 months ago, this was not here. I think underneath the root s of the trees, the dirt was washing out. Lily stepped on it, and it collapsed under her. She kept moving and moving till she couldn't more anymore.
She had moved forward until she hit a bunch of roots.
I took a saw, and had to cut away all the roots in front of her, and behind her so that we could have room to work.
She was very very tired. For a while she was resting her head high like this, but soon she didn't even have strength for that.
Lily was weak, and started putting her nose down into the cold water and mud. I spent most of my time at her head, calming her, and keeping her nose above the water. She was groaning with each exhale.
My friends (who are the best friends anyone could ask for) soon arrived with all the tools necessary to remove her from this wash.
We began feeding straps under her belly to get ready to lift her out.
Knots were tied, as we prepared for the lift.
Almost ready.
The tractor did the work, and I can say that we would not have gotten her out of the hole without it. We had to cut 2 fence lines and cut down 3 trees to get the tractor to where we needed it, but it had to be done.
The straps held, and slowly, we got her out of the hole.
Almost there. I was keeping her head steady with the lead rope and handed that off to someone on higher ground.
Once above the hole, we drug her to the side, and let her rest out of the icy water and mud.
She was in shock. We began covering her in blankets (more than shown here). She tried to stand 3 times on her own, but her rear legs just would not work for her.
The vet showed up, gave her some banamine, and some sugar water for energy (in her veins). We tried to get her to stand on her own, but she couldn't.
This was the hole she was in. We counted 3 different spots where she was stuck at one time. It's no wonder she was worn out.
We decided that we needed to get her on her feet. Since she wouldn't do it on her own, we had to help. Once again we put straps around her belly, and used the tractor.
Another view of getting ready to lift her for the first time to her feet.
We got her to her feet. We had to place her rear legs under her, but she was able to stand. She walked a little bit, but I tried to keep her still for a minute like the vet said.
I was very happy to see her on her feet, however, her legs were all trembling very bad. After 5 minutes on her feet, she collapsed again. We let her rest some more.
At this point the vet told me that she was done. He tried to tube her but couldn't do it. He told me I just needed to let her go. She was so alert, that I couldn't. I determined to lift her again, and try to get her walking so we could get out of the brush, and up by the house.
We got her up again, and quickly took the straps off from her so I could start walking her.
With friends on either side of her back end, we started the long walk to the house (around 100 yards). Lily did it. She was in real bad pain on her right rear leg, but she followed my lead. I believe this was one of her final few acts that she did just for me.
Once up at the house, she stood for a few more minutes, and acted like she had some interest in food. I went to get her a handfull of food, and she decided to lay down again. She laid and breathed very heavy. Both Duncan, and Pam came to her sides to see if she was okay.
At this point, the options were to put her down, or take her to a equine specialist. After all Lily has done for me, I couldn't give up on her, not yet. We used the tractor one final time to lift her, and she walked and actually loaded in the trailer for me. She was a pro, just like she always was. We then took off for the Vet.
Once there, the vet did all they could. The pumped her full of calcium, and gave her pain meds. As her electrolytes and calcium began to get better, she acted much more alert, and like herself. I stayed at her head most of the time, talking to her, and letting her know I was there.
We were in a minute by minute situation. The vet said she was in bad shape. She was severly dehydrated, her rear legs would not work well, and she kept going into complete body cramps. The vet looked and determined that she was trying to abort her baby.
We got her on her side, and the vet began pumping IV fluid into her. I sat with her, for over an hour. It was nearly 11PM, and we needed to get to Riley so he could get home and in his own bed. I brushed her one more time to get some of the mud off her, rubbed her face, and then I held her head in a big hug. She sat up for me, alert, and calm. She was groaning with each breathe, but she seemed okay. I kissed her and whispered a few things into her ear, and then we had to leave.
These were the last moments I had with her. Within an hour, the vet called, and I had to make the toughest decision ever.
Good bye sweet girl. Thank you for teaching me everything I know about horses. Thank you for guiding me every step of the way as I began working hitches. Thank you for your un-wavering love, and willingness to follow my every command. Thank you for your patience, as I learned how to do things. Thank you for your love of my son, and for carrying the both of us on your back many times. You will never be replaced, and will never be forgotten. Please wait for me at the rainbow bridge. I love you!
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