MARYBELLE
Marybelle gave us cause for great concern when she arrived here in September 2008 – she was so thin and weak after her ordeal. Our concerns about her condition were confirmed when, despite being fed with lots of bulk feed at least five times a day, she continued to lose weight. Vet visits were fruitless, their only suggestion was having her ‘humanely put to sleep’. Finally, so weak and frail her young son ‘Snowberry’ playfully knocked her to the ground, Marybelle was too weak to get up and lay there while Snowberry was trampling over her head to get out of the way. We couldn’t get to her fast enough – we decided to put her in a stable on her own, we had an infra-red heat lamp installed and wrapped her up in a very warm donkey rug. Marybelle was extremely unwell for the weeks that followed and several times we thought we were going to lose her.
As she continued to fade, Gill Spinney, our equine dentist, came to see her. The teeth were in a terrible state, which we had suspected anyway; due to her health issues we had hoped for her to be fit enough before we embarked on any dental treatment for her. We were now between a ‘rock and a hard place’, Marybelle was going to die without dental treatment, and very possibly, with dental treatment. It seemed so unfair, she had suffered from cruelty and neglect for so many years, endured a traumatic journey, for no-one knows how many weeks, in the back of a lorry, only to arrive where she would be loved and cared for the rest of her days, to perhaps lose her life in a few short weeks.
We were so upset at this possible scenario, we had no choice, but to pursue the dental treatment and deal with her mouth abscess (which she was receiving drug therapy for, but of course, because of her acute weakened state, was not working). Marybelle could not be sedated because of her very weak state. Gill got to work, poor little donkey had infected gums, mouth ulcers and teeth digging into her cheeks.
Gill was marvelous, quiet and gentle, we held her up while work commenced – without sedation. Marybelle was very trusting and accepted all that was done to her. Sharp long pointed teeth that were digging into her cheeks, creating ulcerations, were filed down and three loose decayed teeth removed. After two hours treatment she was taken to rest under her heat lamp. Marybelle then had to have a long course of anti-biotics and an antiseptic mouthwash administered about three times a day.
Over the days that followed, she became weaker than ever, as expected and spent most days lying flat out in the straw. We spent three weeks keeping a vigil over her 24/7 and lifting her bodily to her feet to encourage her to eat. Lifting her up was easy, she was so light, just a skeleton. Very often when we approached her stable we feared she may be gone. The one aspect that gave us encouragement was that Marybelle wanted to eat, we sometimes hand fed her, little and often.
After a couple of weeks we brought her out of her stable to have a walk around the yard, she seemed to really enjoy these excursions, she then started coming out unaided, although it was still necessary to lift her when she had been lying down, she was beginning to walk a little steadier. Finally, a turning point came, Marybelle got down for a nap one sunny morning in our hay barn after enjoying her amble around the yard, as we approached to help her up……..yes, you guessed, she managed to get to her feet herself!! We were overjoyed …..Although there were times we still helped her up, these became less and less.
Marybelle improved daily, she put on weight, her ribs became well covered and her quarters rounded up. In fact when we put her out in a small fenced paddock; she was so fit that she ‘galloped’ and ‘bucked’ all around the paddock and even stirred up all the other horses in every single field.
Marybelle is quite the character, feisty and full of beans – we never thought we would see her so fit and well, we truly thought we were going to lose her, thank goodness we didn’t……… better than any lottery win !!
Marybelle gave us cause for great concern when she arrived here in September 2008 – she was so thin and weak after her ordeal. Our concerns about her condition were confirmed when, despite being fed with lots of bulk feed at least five times a day, she continued to lose weight. Vet visits were fruitless, their only suggestion was having her ‘humanely put to sleep’. Finally, so weak and frail her young son ‘Snowberry’ playfully knocked her to the ground, Marybelle was too weak to get up and lay there while Snowberry was trampling over her head to get out of the way. We couldn’t get to her fast enough – we decided to put her in a stable on her own, we had an infra-red heat lamp installed and wrapped her up in a very warm donkey rug. Marybelle was extremely unwell for the weeks that followed and several times we thought we were going to lose her.
As she continued to fade, Gill Spinney, our equine dentist, came to see her. The teeth were in a terrible state, which we had suspected anyway; due to her health issues we had hoped for her to be fit enough before we embarked on any dental treatment for her. We were now between a ‘rock and a hard place’, Marybelle was going to die without dental treatment, and very possibly, with dental treatment. It seemed so unfair, she had suffered from cruelty and neglect for so many years, endured a traumatic journey, for no-one knows how many weeks, in the back of a lorry, only to arrive where she would be loved and cared for the rest of her days, to perhaps lose her life in a few short weeks.
We were so upset at this possible scenario, we had no choice, but to pursue the dental treatment and deal with her mouth abscess (which she was receiving drug therapy for, but of course, because of her acute weakened state, was not working). Marybelle could not be sedated because of her very weak state. Gill got to work, poor little donkey had infected gums, mouth ulcers and teeth digging into her cheeks.
Gill was marvelous, quiet and gentle, we held her up while work commenced – without sedation. Marybelle was very trusting and accepted all that was done to her. Sharp long pointed teeth that were digging into her cheeks, creating ulcerations, were filed down and three loose decayed teeth removed. After two hours treatment she was taken to rest under her heat lamp. Marybelle then had to have a long course of anti-biotics and an antiseptic mouthwash administered about three times a day.
Over the days that followed, she became weaker than ever, as expected and spent most days lying flat out in the straw. We spent three weeks keeping a vigil over her 24/7 and lifting her bodily to her feet to encourage her to eat. Lifting her up was easy, she was so light, just a skeleton. Very often when we approached her stable we feared she may be gone. The one aspect that gave us encouragement was that Marybelle wanted to eat, we sometimes hand fed her, little and often.
After a couple of weeks we brought her out of her stable to have a walk around the yard, she seemed to really enjoy these excursions, she then started coming out unaided, although it was still necessary to lift her when she had been lying down, she was beginning to walk a little steadier. Finally, a turning point came, Marybelle got down for a nap one sunny morning in our hay barn after enjoying her amble around the yard, as we approached to help her up……..yes, you guessed, she managed to get to her feet herself!! We were overjoyed …..Although there were times we still helped her up, these became less and less.
Marybelle improved daily, she put on weight, her ribs became well covered and her quarters rounded up. In fact when we put her out in a small fenced paddock; she was so fit that she ‘galloped’ and ‘bucked’ all around the paddock and even stirred up all the other horses in every single field.
Marybelle is quite the character, feisty and full of beans – we never thought we would see her so fit and well, we truly thought we were going to lose her, thank goodness we didn’t……… better than any lottery win !!
