BEHS 078 – Miracle

Horse Name’s: Miracle Status: 2006 Rainbow Bridge
Rainbow Bridge
Adoption Fee: Arrived At Rescue: February 25, 2006
Location: Adoption Availability:
Registered: Breed: Grade
Date of Birth: February 25, 2006 Color: Dun
Gender: Female
Filly

About Miracle

A Short Lived MiracleOur wonderful Arkansas Member Representative, Tina, was called by a sheriff’s office and asked to help them investigate a report of horse neglect. When she arrived, she found a filthy place with one fat horse and three emaciated horses. As she stopped over pieces of wire, metal, and trash laying on the ground, the horses’ owner told her about them. He pointed to a red mare and said she was pregnant and due in March. He was so proud of his horses, but Tina could only look around and cringe at their living conditions. He offered to surrender one horse, and she gave him an outline of what needed to be done for the remaining horses if he was to be able to keep them. The list included proper veterinary work, farrier care, and a good feeding program.A month later, Tina and our Arkansas Veterinary Hero Teresa Miller went back to the property. The two mares had lost weight, but the healthy stallion was as fat as ever. Tina told the owner she would be speaking with him in a few days and that she believed that the rescue would seize all three remaining horses. Less than 24 hours later, he called her and told her to come get the two mares. He just wanted to keep his healthy stallion.So Hope and Sweet Pea were quickly loaded on the trailer and hauled out of the horrible pasture. Tina warned the owner that she would be checking up on the stallion and that if he lost weight, she would be back with a deputy and warrant to seize. She also warned him that if he got other horses, she would be keeping an eye on them.Hope settled into her foster home at Dr. Miller’s farm quickly. And Dr. Miller and Tina waited for her to foal. We were worried because Hope was so very thin, but all we could do was feed her and wait.Saturday (Feb. 25), Teresa called to say that the baby was on her way – Hope was restless, biting at her sides, and standoffish. A few hours later, Tina called with the bad news – Hope’s delivery was not going well. She had been in labor two hours (long for a horse!) and seemed to have given up. They were trying to help her, and we were all worried for both mom and foal.The baby was weak, and Hope was even weaker. The placenta had been infected, and we were worried.The next morning dawned and Hope was slowly improving. The baby, Miracle, was still struggling. She could not stand on her own and she had little desire to eat. She received IVs and Tina and Teresa spent all day with the foal. Tina reported that when they held her up and helped her walk around, Miracle would stomp her foot with impatience – it seemed she was irritated at her own limitations!It is so hard for a foal to have a chance when her mom was so badly starved. We all so badly wanted a happy, healthy baby, but it was not to be. Just two days after her birth, Miracle began to crash and the decision was made to euthanize her. The vet felt she had tried everything she could, but Miracle’s liver was failing, she could not eat, and she was slowly fading.It is so hard to lose a baby – only Tina and Teresa got to know her, and they’re both devastated.

Evaluation and Training

Temperament

Trailers: Unknown Bucks: Unknown
Leads: Unknown Bites: Unknown
Ties: Unknown Catches: Unknown
Trims: Unknown Bathes: Unknown
Clips: Unknown

Pictures of Miracle