Introducing Isabel into the world

Isabel or "Izzy", was born on Monday, March 28th, 2011 sometime in the evening. Her mother abandoned her as soon as she dropped. When Izzy tried to nurse, the mother started going at her and kicking. The mother then abandoned her into the large herd, and she was not accepted by any of the other mares.

I found out about her on Tuesday morning and immediately brought her to my home. There I nursed her every hour and let her outside when t

he sun was shining. She pulled through the afternoon and the vet came out that evening. They checked her blood and gave her a health exam. She was given a clean bill of health, but she needed to have a plasma transfusion because she did not get colostrum from her mother. She pulled through the night; nursing eagerly every hour, going to the bathroom and taking long naps.

We will continue to monitor through the day, and the vet will be out some time to check her blood again. Then we will find out if the plasma worked or if she will need to go on antibiotics.

I now understand exactly why people say "a free horse, is never free". My free, orphan filly, has run a tab with our vet up to $688 and that's just from yesterday!