The Little Angel With The Crooked Legs

The Angel With The Crooked Legs

One day our Veternarian called and told us about a little Thoroughbred filly who had very crooked legs. She felt this baby could be saved but the rancher who had her didn't have the time to devote to the filly because of the demands ranching puts on one. The Vet. asked if we would like to try helping this baby. She was only 3-4 weeks old. I love giving babies or animals who need a little hand up to live a happy life. My husband and I talked it over. We had plenty of room and wanted to help if we could. So I called the vet. back and we began discussing when and how to get the baby to our place. The rancher turned out to be a very nice lady and she took us to where the filly was stabled with her mother.

The mare was very well built but was run down and too thin for my tast. Not really enough to consider a neglect case or anything but a little TLC would go a long way. I also noticed how gentle and tolerant she was considering strangers were entering her area when she had such a young foal with her. In my book any animal is well within it's rights if it tries to defend it's young.

We took our time in catching the filly and as we did I began stroking the mare's neck to reassure her a bit. Well, it was instant love but we were there for the foal. I felt soooo bad taking this sweet lady's baby from her I almost wanted to cry. It wasn't until we managed to get the tiny filly into the horse trailer that the lady mentioned that she was going to sell the momma. My heart jumped!

I knew this had been a successful race horse and they had been breeding her for racing colts. We didn't give a hoot about racing horses but she was such a sweet, lovely tempered lady. I just had to ask how much they wanted for this sweet momma. My husband gave me a sideward glance. The rancher said that she didn't want the mare to go back to the tracks, it was time she had her chance to a good life. She gave us a rediculously low price but still far more than we had to give at the moment. My husband said, "Let's see how this one does first, Honey." I agreed for the moment but knew I just had to have that mare.

I got into the trailer with little Angel both to calm her as much as I could and to make sure the bumpy ride didn't cause her to fall with those bad legs. No baby animal wants to be separated from it's mother, certainly now when they are so very young. As we pulled away from the barn I could hear Angel's mother crying to her. I sent her a mental message that we would take good care of her and not to worry, I was coming back to get her too just as soon as I could!

Under such a traumatic circumstance Angel did very well but we did hit one huge bump in the ranch road that caused the front legs to give. You have to understand true "ranch roads". Hubby wasn't even doing 5 mph but the ride in back was so rough it was hard for me to stand, much less this little filly. I could hold onto the sides of the trailer but she had nothing, not even a decent leg to stand on...literally!

I had tightened her halter rope fairly close to keep little Angel from backing up too far and getting tangled or trying to turn around. I knew she was frightened and at her age would never wander more than a few feet from her mother if she were able. As the legs buckled and she went down the rope served to keep her little head from bashing against the front panel of the trailer. I braced her, trying to help her stay up but wasn't able to actually hold her up. I threw my hand between her vulnerable little eyes and the side of the trailer. Between the lead rope and my bracing her she didn't fall very hard and had kept the bad legs in good enough position not to injure them further.

I slammed my foot on the sides of the trailer several times so hubby would know we needed help...NOW. There was no way he could see us from inside the Bronco. He slowly stopped, not knowing what might be wrong and trying not to make things any worse. I'm sure he could imagine anything from little Angel having fallen on top of me to my just wanting a hand with the rope.

With my husband's' wonderful strength and a little ingenuity we managed to get the litte one back on her feet and she had remained pretty calm through out it all. Our next stop was at the Vet.s office so Becky could take a look at the legs and Angel's general condition. Becky was quite upset that the rancher hadn't brought this baby in sooner and now said she wasn't sure just what the outcome might be. She just shook her head in what I could tell was frustration mixed with a bit of anger at having let this go so long. She gave us initial instructions for creating braces for Angel and asked we keep her as quiet as possible and in as small a pen as possible.

We managed to make the rest of the trip home without incident. When we unloaded Angel she was crying for her momma and very anxious. We had expected this though and we knew how tough it was on her but it was better than the fate that had awaited her otherwise. Hubby went right to work creating the badly needed braces. Their function was both for support of her weight and to prevent further bending.

With my husband's' wonderful strength and a little ingenuity we managed to get the litte one back on her feet and she had remained pretty calm through out it all. Our next stop was at the Vet.s office so Becky could take a look at the legs and Angel's general condition. Becky was quite upset that the rancher hadn't brought this baby in sooner and now said she wasn't sure just what the outcome might be. She just shook her head in what I could tell was frustration mixed with a bit of anger at having let this go so long. She gave us initial instructions for creating braces for Angel and asked we keep her as quiet as possible and in as small a pen as possible.
We managed to make the rest of the trip home without incident.

When we unloaded Angel she was crying for her momma and very anxious. We had expected this though and we knew how tough it was on her but it was better than the fate that had awaited her otherwise. I went to work making her new home comfortable for her. We had built a 4-panel pen just outside our bedroom window so that if she should have any trouble I could hear her from in the house. Hubby went right to work creating the badly needed braces. Their function was both for support of her weight and to prevent further bending.

The braces were made of PVC pipe padded by just about all the cloth I could find and egg-crate matress. It was all held together by good old fashioned duck tape. Angel had not been worked with prior to this yet she was amazingly well behaved as hubby and I struggled to figure out exactly how to get just the right fit and keep the braces on. Not once did this sweet little lady try to resist or kick at us and I am just sure she felt we deserved a good kick more than once.

The braces had to be monitored very closely, especially at first. We couldn't allow any abrasions or pressure points to form. She had enough problems without adding to them. She stood still and cooperated completely every time we checked them or readjusted things. She began exploring her new little world the next morning. Becky had said that she could take one short walk each day to start out. Angel had bad legs but she sure made up for it in curiosity. She had to explore everything and her favorite way to explore was by taste.

Over the next few weeks we got to walk Angel a little more each day and Becky would come out regularly to check on her. Then one day Becky said that the splints just weren't going to be enough to do the job. Angel was going to need surgery one each leg. This news devistated us and made me wonder if we had made a tragic mistake. .

Please go to "Angelic Angel" to find out the answer to the questions I was asking myself.