Meanwhile our EI nightmare continues ... weeks later ...

Late last night the matriarch of the Byalee broodmare herd, 21yo Virginia, gave up her fight for life, six weeks after showing her first symptoms of EI. Back in September, a week before Byalee Believe died and a week before little "Lucky" (alias Byalee Remember) was born, Virginia contracted EI. She had, we think, a pre-existing hernia in her diaphram, which was made much much worse by her chronic EI coughing. Her intestines flowed through the hole into chest cavity, taking up the room her lungs would usually have, and causing extreme colic, abnormal and exaggerated breathing, and a tachiacardic heart rate as she fought against it.

However, she miraculously lived through it, and through the emergency hour and a half trip to Satur Vet Clinic at Scone. She survived, still with incredibly rapid breathing, until breathing became absolutely impossible last night. She showed no signs of greater discomfort than usual, and picked a night when the vet nurses were actually at the clinic looking after a colic patient. Her groaning alerted them to her situation and so saved the foal, which was delivered by caesarian as she died. Virginia even gave a litre of colustrum post-death as her final contribution to giving the chestnut filly, Byalee Bronte, a chance at life. Any other night and they would've found her dead in the paddock next morning. What a grand old lady - she couldn't have tried any harder for her foal!

Bronte is 24 days premature, which wouldn't be so bad if she hadn't had such a struggle to survive in utero for the past six weeks. She is pysiologically mature, but tiny. She hasn't received enough oxygen nor nutrients. However, she was born alive and is still alive 24 hours later - however she is on oxygen, on a drip, and with a feeding tube while her sucking reflex develops. She is reasonably bright and responsive and "talks" to people and the clinic cat. She knows who feeds her and would love to escape from her blankets to wriggle around and try to stand up (not that she could!). She is definitely NOT allowed to try to stand up while attached to all her paraphenalia. She will be in intensive care for at least the next three days until she can be weaned off her oxygen and drip, and only when she has a sucking reflex and takes a bottle will she come home - in the car! Oh joy, and so we will begin hourly feeds all over again, only this time for MUCH longer than with Lucky.

I am aware that some people might say we shouldn't have bothered trying to keep her alive, and it probably isn't economic time-wise nor money-wise, but we figured that since old Virginia tried so hard to hang on for her, we really should give it a go. Fingers crossed yet again.

After all, "Lucky" defied the odds - today he cantered outside for the first time (in hand, five weeks old in half an hour!). He will be the perfect led exhibit by the time he is six weeks old at this rate. For those wondering - he isn't allowed to go free - that would be like galloping a dressage horse first ride back post-EI, after it's been locked in a box for five weeks. And when it has never been out of the box!! We didn't get him this far to see him drop dead from too much too soon!


Update on Tuesday: Little Bronte is still there ... her oxygen has been turned back a bit - a bad foal apparently would be on 8 to 12, while Bronte started on a 6, and is back to a 4, and it will go down again until it is off. She actually flicked the breathing tube out twice during the night and didn't deteriorate without it so I guess her lungs are okay. She is having a greater amount of milk tubed per hour. Her sucking reflex is getting better, and she will have a reasonable drink from a bottle when stimulated. They tested her response to food by not feeding her on the half hour this morning and sure enough by 40minutes she was screaming for her milk when they came near her. Oh dear, a demanding female already! They wanted to check that she wasn't just lying there ... guess not! She's had all of her mother's colustrum and is into the frozen mare milk at the clinic, and her systems are all fine with no reflux ... nothing has gone wrong, so she is just getting bigger and stronger, I guess.
On the down side, she isn't quite as alert and bright today - nothing they can put their finger on - so they are a little worried about that. She is better in all the physical ways but her attitude isn't as perky.
Damn, just when we were getting hopeful....

Ann-Maree Lourey