| They called a few cowboys and were able to get a crew of cowboys who were duck hunting within a few miles of the incident. They were able to pull the mare from the mucky hole. After a few minutes the mare identified as Little Bee was able to get up on her own power. As a precaution we took to the carnival grounds medical barn to help with any hypothermia. She has been a part of the carnival gang since then.
Our second rescue was last week, we were called for a pony seemingly deceased in the hard marsh nearly to the Md Va line. A cowboy went by boat, found the mare alive but tired, he was able to dig her out of the slight hole she had created. Once out of danger she seemingly couldn’t stand. We assembled a crew with the Polaris UTV, to retrieve her and get her somewhere where we could help her stand. Crews were able to get her off the marsh without complications and into a trailer. She started receiving hay and began a warming process. When we consulted veterinarians and tried to assist with raising her to her feet it was obvious there was something else wrong. She became incoherent and had very little neurological response, her leg movements became involuntary and she gradually declined even with added medication and fluids. We attempted to hoist her all the way up to no avail, at that point we decided to let her rest. Shortly after 1 am she passed away peacefully. While there may have been other factors; the way she got stuck placed all her weight on her right side causing loss of circulation and nerve damage. Her right side seemingly never recovered after flipping and hoisting, most all of the ponies we rescue out of the mud have some ability to stand on their own but unfortunately that was not the case here. The mare, named Winter Moon was a descendant of Misty and was graciously donated to us to further the prevalence of Misty blood on the island, which she thankfully has. We are thankful to her donor, the the mare herself, and to the volunteers and vets who attempted to save her.
This afternoon we were alerted to a mare with an injury to the back of her hock. The mare, Grandma’s Dream was not putting much weight on her leg. She subsequently laid/fell down. Our crews were en route and thankfully able to capture her with a makeshift corral and walk her into a horse trailer which she gladly hopped into (very rare). We took her to receive treatments, she received antibiotics and anti inflammatory drugs, as well as some easy to reach hay and grain. We are confident in her prognosis and she will stay at the carnival unless further more complex procedures need to be done in which case we will take to the vet. |
