Precious Gem
Precious is home! Read below...

#146 Gray Arabian Mare. Appx. 20 yrs. old. Appx. 14 - 14.1 hands .This is a petite mare that is somewhat shy. She rides and would require an advanced intermediate rider.

She arrived at TIER yesterday! A wonderful lady by the name of Kelly C. sent TIER the ransom for this lovely little mare. There will be updates/followups tomorrow. We named her Precious Gem because when I told Blair that the little gray mare that looked like Prince's twin was coming, he was watching TV and didn't hear what I said. He looked up and said "Precious Gem?" I said, "NO, Prince's twin". But the name stuck! HA!

Precious Gem came to TIER as the result of a wonderful lady named Kelly C. She is in serious need of farrier work (as you can tell by the pictures below), vet care for her eye (part of her inner lid is covering her left eye), weight gain and attention to the sores on her legs. She stood in knee deep mud which contains a lot of urine for a long time at the feedlots. The acid in the urine caused painful sores on her legs. I have been washing of the mud daily as gently as possible without rubbing, coating her little legs with nitrofurazone and using aloe vera gel in between. The worst sores are under her fetlocks and on her shins. She is more comfortable now, but has quite a ways to go. As you can see from the pictures, she also has a clubbed left forefoot. Once the farrier is able to come out, I am sure we will have her even more comfortable. She is a shy mare, but once she has been haltered, she is very obedient and knows her manners. Somewhere, Sometime, Someone spent some time with mare to teach her manners and respect. Too bad her last owner before the feedlots did not respect her back!

Update 1/30/01 - Precious Gem is an older, elegant gray Arabian Mare. Precious has String Halt in her right rear leg which is obvious in a walk, but not in a trot and does cause her some discomfort if lunged. She has an old eyelid injury which is unsightly, but does not hamper her vision. Precious is high strung, and slow to trust people. Adoption as companion only.

Precious Gem is available for Sponsorship or Adoption.

Update 2/27/01 - The lovely Arabian mare, Precious Gem, has been displaying colic type symptoms over the past 3 days. Our vet has done a blood panel and we have been injecting her with 10 cc's of Banamine. The vet returned today, checked her vital signs- all is normal - and did a rectal exam which indicated that she was producing small, dry, mucous covered droppings. He then gave her some mineral oil and a laxative. The blood panel came back normal. It is his feeling that she has a large stone in her intestinal tract. If the laxative/mineral oil treatment does not dislodge the stone, we will send her to surgery before she goes into distress. ($2,500.00) Even though she is an older mare, her vital signs are good and she is in otherwise good health, which contributes to making her a good candidate for
surgery. (Our vet is impressed with her and said he is quite sure she has Arabian Registration papers somewhere. Unfortunately, papers did not follow her path to the feedlot where she was rescued.) We are monitoring her and will relay any updates. As of this writing, we have notified our emergency hauler of the situation and they will be ready should the need arise to move her to the surgical center.

Please send healing thoughts/prayers to Precious Gem.

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Update 3/1/2001, 9:26 am - Precious will be leaving shortly to go to the surgical clinic. I am posting prior info below. Should anyone consider donating to directly to Precious Gem's account at the veterinarian's,our vet is willing to take Visa or Mastercard donations toward the bill. (Please make sure TIER has your name, address, etc. for tax deductions.)

Thomas Hoyme, D.V.M. 909-627-2816

Precious will immediately go on I.V. fluids to prepare her for surgery. Should the situation be extremely bad once he has started surgery, the vet will euthanize. Cost = $900.00

If she stabilizes and he is able to remove the blockage (perhaps stones), costs for surgery, pre-op and post-op care = $2,500.00.

I will keep you updated as much as possible. I'm off to the vet with Precious. Please Pray and send healing thoughts for this absolutely awesome girl!

Update 3/1/2001, 9:57 pm - Precious Gem came through surgery ok! Yee Haw! We received a message from the vet that Precious was doing good, was under
sedation and we would know a little more by tomorrow morning. A large stone and a tumor on her cecum were removed! Apparently, the surgery took a little longer than usual, which has taken it's toll on the old girl (20+ years). Therefore, we are still monitoring Precious' condition. I will keep everyone aprised of the situation as news arrives.

I would like to express our deepest gratitude to all of you who sent healing thoughts and prayers to this lovely mare. We are quite sure this is the reason she came through the surgery so well, but she is still in need of you through the days to come. Please continue to keep her in your hearts.

There are no words to convey our thanks for your assistance with the costs of pre-op, surgery, post-op and continuing care for this lovely mare. Your overwhelming generosity touches us deeply. Thank you just does not seem to be enough.

We wish to offer our condolences on the passing of The Old Man......Khemo. It is my belief that this magnificent stallion galloped by Precious on his way over the Rainbow Bridge to lend her his stregnth and stamina.

When the Heart speaks, the Heart Listens. Thanks for speaking so that Precious Gem could listen!

Update 3/2/2001, 10:01 am - Just spoke to the vet. Will be going to visit her shortly. The stone was the size of a softball. This is what was causing the blockage.

The tumor was larger than the stone, but was not causing blockage. The tumor was located in the bowel. This means they had to open the bowel to get the tumor out, which leads to a possibility (low possibility, but a possibility nevertheless) of peritonitis as it is quite difficult to keep ALL bowel fluids from contaminating the surrounding area.

Her temperature was up 1/2 degree...normal.

She is up and doing well so far.

Keep those prayers and thoughts flowing please. She is not out of the woods yet.

We thank you for your continued care, concern, prayers and support. Because of you, she is still with us! Thank you.

New Pictures - 3/2/01 - Precious Gem recovers

The stone - wow!

Update 3-4-00 - Precious is doing extremely well so far! (Must be all that love you folks are sending her! Thank you so very, very much!) She had a low grade fever (to be expected), but her white count was not up, which indicates that the peritonitis is being controlled so far!!! YES!

The vet indicated that she was somewhat of a "knucklehead". He took her muzzle off (this was placed on Precious to keep her from eating or drinking until they felt her system could handle food/water. She has been on I.V. nutrients) to see if she wanted some water out of a bucket. Due to Precious' being misused in the past, she is very, very skittish around her head, so she jerked away from the vet when he brought the bucket towards her head. He finally set it down and walked away and she drank some. She has always been terribly headshy, but if you approach her slowly she is more responsive and doesn't lift her head to the stars!

Update 3-6-01 P.M. - Precious is not eating and this is causing our vet and us some concern.

Yesterday, I took a bag of the pellets we feed in the hopes that it would stimulate her appetite. She sniffed them and turned away.

I did get her to eat a few mouthfuls of Senior Feed, but that was it. Today, her stall looks like a regular feed store with alfalfa, grass hay, Timothy hay, Equine Senior, 2 different kinds of pellets, cubes. She will take a couple very small bites, but not enough to sustain her.

Precious was eating like that BEFORE her surgery. Therefore, it has been over a week that she has not eaten properly.

The vet is doing another blood panel tonight to see if her liver and/or kidney are functioning properly. Her bowels are moving and she is urinating. The vet said if she does not begin eating my tomorrow night, he will begin tube feeding. Sigh.

I will keep everyone posted. Please continue to send your good thoughts and prayers to Precious. Appetizing prayers and thoughts would be good!

Update 3/18/2001 - Well, we finally got the all clear to bring Precious Gem HOME!! We are in the process of setting up an old shedrow barn (this will be put up tomorrow, 3/19/2001) so that Precious has a contained space with shavings and mats to recuperate. We could not put her in her old pen due to the mud and dirt.
Thanks to supporters, we were able to obtain this used barn quickly. The shedrow is not in the best of shape, lots of rusted out places in the bottom of the frame, but it will be functional. It is a two-stall shedrow, so the plan is to put Prince next to her once she comes home. Each stall with have
a turnout area attached.

Prince has been standing in the corner of his pen looking out at the driveway since Precious left. He has dropped some weight since her absence. Can't wait to hear his welcoming neighs when she gets home!! He will be so relieved...and will probably just pester her to no end asking questions about what she has been up to!

Precious is still not eating as well as the vet would like, but he attributes that to her being homesick and not liking being stalled. He also said that Arabians seem to be more sensitive and attached to their homes/friends than most horses. She does get turnout so she can graze and be close to other horses, but I guess she knows she isn't home. The bandaging that went around her belly to cover the incision was removed and it the incision is healing.

Update 3/26/01 - The new and improved.........Precious Gem!

The Queen has arrived! Yes!!!! Precious Gem is finally home! Her spirit is good and she has settled in her new housing arrangement with Prince right next door. Prince is mooning over the fence, but Precious just cannot be bothered with him! HA! But, I bet if we moved him she would sure have something to say.

Her stitches were removed this morning and we have her on grass hay/pellets. She has regained some of the weight she lost during her experience. I'm sure
she will regain all of it soon. We are also hopeful that Prince will start putting on weight now that Precious is back. He dropped weight while his girlfriend was gone. His appetite seems to be fine this evening!

TIER would like to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of you for your support during this trying time. Also, your donations helped to pay Precious' surgery bill and helped us to be able to obtain a contained stall for her recuperation. Thank you so very much for your kindness, compassion, generosity and caring.

Homecoming pictures will be on the TIER website shortly!

P.S.. Dirty? uh huh! But, she is home!!!

Update 3/30/01 - I turned her out today with Prince. Had to include Prince or he would have gone nuttier than he already is! HA! Prince becomes so stressed out when Precious is out of his sight or not close enough for him to touch her!

Precious is feeling pretty spunky! She ran around like a wild Indian...with Prince right at her flank! Truthfully, even though I was scared to death that she was going to open her incision, it was absolutely beautiful to watch them doing a slow canter in tandem! Of course, I didn't have my camera. Just as well, they are both dirty and shedding, shedding, shedding. No matter how much comes off with the shedding blades and combs, there seems to be at least three more layers waiting!

Precious' incision has one area that we have been puttin Alu-Spray (a liquid bandage) on. It is basically a spot that is somewhat "weepy". After her dashes around the arena (especially when it was time to let someone else have a turn and she didn't want to be caught!...This is way unusual!) the weepy spot was a bit bloody. I washed it, but betadine on her and after that dried put the Alu-Spray on to help with healing and keep the flies away. Left a message with the vet to see if I should be concerned.

So....Precious is home, Prince is delighted (although still miffed at me for taking her away) and this lovely mare is recovering.

Thank you to everyone who has helped and continue to help Precious. Her surgery and the marvelous outcome could not have happened without your caring and support!

Update 4/7/07 - Precious Gem began displaying discomfort in her clubbed foot. Our wonderful farrier for this girl was unable to locate an abcess or foreign object in her hoof. He voiced concern that the hoof was changing shape/narrowing and for the first time since she has been here the hoof began to dish. There was no heat, the foot flexed normally (we thought it might be arthritis or founder) and we were stumped as to what was causing the lameness & weight loss. Last week we called the vet out to do a blood panel and x-rays. (Whew! Vet prices have gone up also!!). On the day that the vet came out, I was cleaning her feet and an abcess had broken through on the sore foot! I cleaned the site well, put some Ichthamol on to draw out any remaining infection, applied cotton and wrapped w/duct tape until the vet’s arrival. My bandage efforts were removed for the x-rays and reapplied after the vet was done. This time we applied iodine to dry up the site while awaiting the results of the blood test & x-rays. She was placed in the arena with her best friend Baxter in the hope that moving around more would encourage blood flow to the hoof.

The results are in and we are heartbroken! It appears that this elegant mare has developed an infection in the coffin bone. Blood tests revealed a high white count. As I am writing this, we are waiting for the vet to arrive to help this awesome friend who has been with us for over 7 years to cross the Rainbow Bridge.

At the time of her arrival in 2000, the vet estimated her age at around 20 yrs. old. She is now 27 yrs. old and we feel that she deserves an exit from this life with the grace, dignity and respect that she gave us over the years. We will miss her lovely ladylike presence greatly!!