Gabby

She has an eye infection that is not being treated and their are no flymasks in the feedlot.

Thanks to the efforts of Linda, Gabby's Lady will be leaving for her new home in the morning. Where is she going??? She will be living with good friend Shelly who has been so instrumental in helping Vintage Moonshine, Bunny, Shayla, Sahara, the two young saddlebreds and now........Gabby's Lady! 

Thank you so much Linda. Also a big thanks to Shelly. We will anxiously be waiting to hear how Gabby makes the trip and how her eye is. Shelly has been trying so hard to get her out of there quickly so she could get her some medical attention!

Update 8/15/00 - Now I can tell you all about Mrs. Gabby. I just love her! She is so sweet she nickers at me any time I go out. She is getting lots of goodies, the other day we cut up little chunks of carrots and apples for her. She has some swelling in her right rear leg and has a bowed left front leg due to being raced at an early age. She has been sound for our walks and is GREAT with the kids. One of the girls I give lessons to has fallen for her and will be spending lots of time with her. She would like to adopt her but, we need to get her in good health before that is possible. We will have a better idea in 2 months or so. I will get some pictures this weekend. I want to give her a bath and get her all dolled up! Shelly

Update 9/20/00 - This is gabby about 2 weeks after her surgery to remove a cancer tumor from her eyelid. The entire 3rd eyelid was removed. You might remember Gabby from the feed lot, she was the horse with the awful eye infection. A wonderful person paid for her ransom so she could come and live her life with me. As you can see the eye looks great and you cant even tell there was ever a problem. Gabby seems so much more comfortable. She is a real sweety and I feel lucky to have her as a part of my herd. 

Update 12/19/00 - for some reason she has suddenly decided life is worth living. She is in the pasture with the rest of the horses! I started working her a bit in the arena and she made some big improvements. I wouldn't say she is 100% sound but I can tell you she can get in to a canter for a short moment when she is really feeling good. I am not sure what brought on her change but I am so happy to see it. I almost never see her wind suck any more! She is the biggest cutie around!

Update 6/28/01 - I will get some pictures a bit later this afternoon. She just had a bath yesterday so it is good timing!

She seems to be enjoying the warm weather and with the help of MSM most of her leg swelling has gone. She is feed an alfalfa orchard mix 2 times a day and a scoop of equine senior 2 times a day with the MSM and some horsy vitamins mixed in. I tried Glucosamine but, found the only thing to reduce her leg swelling is high doses of MSM.

She has a bit of an allergy to some kind of fly so she has a special fly sheet and gets weekly citronella baths. She still just loves to wind suck on those bars and I even caught her trying to wind suck off the bottom of her foot one time when I had her tied! I considered a cribbing collar but, as old as she is, if wind sucking makes her happy then she can just be happy. She is a sweet girl who always talks to me when I come outside. I'm guessing that's how she got the name GABBY.

I have done some experimenting with where to keep her. She had too hard of a time in pasture and started to drop weight. It was also a bit too much for her back legs and front leg that has the nasty looking bow with a twist. I had her in a medium sized corral that connected to the pasture with a 3 1/2 sided stall and she never left the stall and got pretty depressed. She wouldn't even perk up for our walks. I then put her down in a covered 12x24 pipe stall next to my especially pesky Shetland pony that thinks he is a stud and she seems happiest here. I tried other horses next to her and she doesn't seem to bond with any of them. Domino (the pony) thinks she is hot stuff and she just sort of puts up with him. She can touch noses with the horses in pasture but they cant push her around. She seems to feel safe here.

When I clean and feed in the mornings I open up her stall so she can come out and help me. She usually prefers to just hang out in her stall but once in a while I can talk her in to coming up to the barn for an extra scoop of goodies. Generally she prefers too have her goodies "served." Kenny bought a lumber mill so we always have a ton of shavings, her stall is always nice and fluffy with a cozy spot to lay down. She tends to get bed sores on just the mats. It is a good thing we have the mill because she would cost a fortune in shavings. She does NOT keep a tidy stall! Hers is the only one that needs cleaning 3 times a day. I think she must just like the company! She has had no problems with the eye post surgery. We keep a special fly
mask on 24 hours a day that has 100% UV sun protection. Most of the scaring from the infection is completely gone.

I really love this little sweet heart. She is just one of those special ones that gets inside your heart. Her cute little face puts a smile on my face each and every day (especially when her little tongue is hanging out) Gabby is so deserving of the opportunity she has been given to live out her life in peace.