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July 2005 Report
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July was another hard month for the horses, though some progress was made.
We lost the young Mare Spica to the same lung congestion that took Mare Deneb. There were no prior indications. One morning she was breathing hard and four days later she was gone. She did have the lingering thinness which may have contributed to the speed with which she went down. And she had the pre existing condition of lumps on her body. A biopsy was done of one of the lumps a few years ago and it was apparently mostly calcium. (The August report will have details on Deneb necropsy samples results. There was no infection. Damage from other causes).
Due to lack of funding we have been unable to do the extensive health checks on the horses that would give us clear pictures of each horse's health so we don't know if Spica's death could have been prevented. Given the necropsy sample report, there oprobably wasn't much we could have done. She was a few months over six years old, the age at which Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease tends to make its appearance, though it usually only affects stabled horses. One of our stallions, Achernar, has had rough breathing for several years now and he will remain a source of concern until we can get his health check done.Indications are that something from the farm affected these horse and we are only now seeing the deadly results.
There is some good news, however. Analysis of four food samples shows that the horses are receiving adequate if not outstanding nutrition. We are waiting for vitamin and mineral analysis results. We plan to send in a few more samples in the near future. The four remaining mares look very good and we are about to put Stallion Sirius back out to pasture and will be bringing Mimosa in. Mimosa is hugely overweight and is a proven sire. We don't know if Sirius is capable of being a sire.
The Preserve is lush and green and once again the forest is filled with birdsong. It had been silent most of the winter after the hurricanes. |
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