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Jewel
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Little Romeo
Jewel |
Little Romeo |
| Jewel came to me
though a very dear friend. She told me she was well bred (Czortan out of
Amurath Kashmira - her mom produced 4 national champions she's an aristocrat
mare). But She needed some work. I would be crazy not to buy her so as usual
I did what she told me (never did she steer me wrong). Well the horse was hot with no brakes. I think someone cowboy'd the heck out of her. She was 15 yrs old. I took her home and bred her right away and worked on her to calm down and give her brakes. She came along quickly but in the beginning I thought, well I guess she's mine. I didn't even like gray they show so much dirt. She did some trail riding with a client I trusted. On 5/9/99 EQ Eternal Spirit was born. He was a hand full. I sold him to a client that still is my friend. The word in the barn was I had a heaven and a hellion that year. My daughter Amanda started showing her in the fall and did great on her walk trot at the open shows. She loved her so much but in the late fall of 2000 she came up lame so she went on to a younger horse named Autumn Wind. I gave her a legion shot and she was sound again (great stuff) so I put my good hands and leg beginners on her and they did great at the shows. Most of the time to good 1st. show high points. I hate when my students start at the top! In 2001 a client brought her stallion in to be broke to ride. I knew him when he was little and now he was a 16 hand copper chestnut with a head and eye to die for (2 inch bug eyes a beautiful head - never got a picture that did that horse justice). So of coarse I bred all my mares to him (Jewel ,Autumn and Star). It took a while to get her in foal but we did it . Then in Sept. she was just standing at the gate not acting right and she acted lame but it moved from the front to the back. It was weird. I had given her a legion shot and the west Nile at the same time - never again. The vet says no but I don't care I just won't repeat it . He thought EPM and she tested positive for it but she was in foal so we started her on antibiotics and she recovered. We did a little showing in the late Fall. In 2002 Dane was born but she had a hard time having him. She just didn't have the energy so we helped and pulled him out. He was huge but a lovely colt and I really wanted to keep him but I only had 2 mares then and I couldn't see having a stallion. So I found a great owner for him that wanted an endurance horse (his dad was EQ Vital Statisk out of Statistic and his mother was a race horse too) so he was bred to go. I had lost Autumn that year with a premature delivery and the placenta coming 1 st. She had bleed to death (that's a different story) so I was afraid to breed her for a while. We took the kids to the show and life was good and she stayed healthy so in 2004 I found the right stallion and we were in foal again. This time to Imtaarif and all was well. We did shows and lessons and she was in great shape and Jan.. came so we slowed down to a trail ride once in awhile . Her heart was huge she would never stop with out being told to. The 2nd.week in March I noticed the flies were eating her legs up so I ordered the fly leg wraps. I put my old shipping boots on her (make a note this mare always retained fluid - called stocked up - so I wanted her out side walking). Then on 3/30 she was laying down which is not unusual most horses do here but not with Lucky near by. I went down and got her and put her in her stall and she wanted to lay back down. I went and got the bammine and gave her 8ccs and called the vet. He asked me her due date which was the next day. He says she's going to have the baby and I say no she isn't she has no signs that tells me she's in labor. Also she always goes 2 weeks past her due date. I told him she isn't stocked up today, why? He tells me, well it could be Boston hicks. So with that, he reassured me. We sat down and watched her moan and groan and push (then I saw the pink mucus so I called him back and he said she having the baby. I said, no way she has no signs of having it no dripping & tail is solid. I told him I wanted some one to come out and see her. So at 3 she comes and her pulse rate is 70 (20 to 40 is normal). She tubes her with mineral oil and water and tells me she may have some cramping then leaves (which she lays down and starts moaning and groaning again). After an hour or so she's pretty normal except she's moving around a lot. The other vet calls me back and asks what her pulse rate is. So I call my friend down the street who was a nurse. She gets here in no time with her 4 horse slant in case she has to go to Gainesville. Her pulse rate is 62 still high, he said it's been high for too long, he said you don't need me. He couldn't help her medically she needed surgery so (jewel thought we lost our mind ) we loaded her up and started on our journey to a place I'd never been before. On the way Sharon asked if we should check on her. (I had a dream about 6 weeks before any of this happened and I had told it too a couple of people). I was in this place I'd never been before and this gorgeous foal is putting his head to me but there is no mare with it. When I was telling it 6 weeks before they asked me who's foal was it and I answered I presumed it was jewels but she wasn't in sight. Where was it they asked, and I said I don't know I never saw it before. Well that dream kicked in. I told her to step on it that we can't help her on the road no matter what, the only place that could was Gainesville. We got there in 2 hours. We were afraid to open the trailer, but she was there looking at us like you guys are out of your mind where the hell am I !! The staff at Gainesville were great and they listened to the days events. I told them that when I was pregnant I got dehydrated I felt like I was having my baby. They tubed her with some water but they couldn't see anything except the spleen (the ultra sound machine can usually tell you what's wrong but being so pregnant the only thing they could see) and she showed it to me and said it doesn't look right it, may mean something. Well she started moaning and groaning again and she wanted to do surgery. She explained that if they could fix her they would put the foal back in her and let her have it naturally. I was appalled. She said that C sections are not wise that the foals don't survive and if they do they don't usually do well. So hearing that I wanted to wait. They saved a mare with a foal on her side and a 3 week old foal that needed surgery. It was now 2:30 am and I had lived and breathed Jewel all day and night and hadn't eaten. They wanted me to go home (but I remembered that dream I and thought I may not see her again). So we left to eat. When we came back they wouldn't let me see her so I got right in the orderly's face and said I am not leaving until I know she's not in pain and you're doing your job watching her. Then the vet came and I said to her I had a kitten, I took it to the vet to be fixed (I didn't kiss him good bye ) he didn't make it and it's not going to happen again, do you understand me? she took me right to her and I kissed her and watched her, she was resting comfortably and she wasn't suffering. I could see in her eyes she was worried and the vet agreed with me. They were watchdogs there, they really keep a 24 hr watch on sick ones, so I left to take care of the other 25 horses at home with the feeling in my heart that I wouldn't be seeing her again . I got home around 7 and at 8:45 it was them saying we shouldn't wait any longer (I said that's why she's there) do what you feel is best. About 45 minutes later they called and explained that she had DIC (internal bleeding) and (metastatic melanoma) a form of cancer that is common in grays. They couldn't help her but they may be able to save the foal, so they went on to the C section. They called for permission to put her to sleep (that's what they said) no big words and I said yes, put her to sleep. The dream that I had had was a night mare come true. 3/31/05 a foal was born and his mother (Jewel) was not there. She was a great horse with a pleasant way about her she didn't make it to the A shows but with all the kids she took to the open shows and taught to ride she was a leader of the Arabian breed. To the people who may never had ridden, touched, or looked in an Arabian's eyes she was a beauty an angel horse. My student (Delaney) called and said she is in heaven now watching over all our horses and babies. What a wonderful thought! Children are closer to God because they haven't been away from him for as long. Romeo is the colts name. He weighed 90 pounds at birth and never drank from a bottle. He was their 1st. orphan that drank from a pan from his first meal. Others have told me that they at other teaching vet schools have never had one that did it ! So he's a special one at Gainesville. They told me because the mother was stressed he was stronger. By waiting they saved 2 others that may not have been saved. In the morning they had a full staff there which was very important in this case. Two months before, she had developed a lump between her shoulder and neck. We didn't do anything. If we had, it may have made the cancer spread faster and the story would have been a lot sadder. God has a plan we just don't know it. It was not in our hands, it was in his. Romeo is now 6 weeks old he weighs 160 pounds he goes out with Lucky Star and 8 week old Sky (Arabian Andalusian cross). He'll always prefer humans to horses ( that could be an Arabian trait don't you think)? They are so human sometimes. May god bless you and keep you and all you love. Karleen |