Cindarella's One Month Update

Cinda 9-20-2011

 Cindarella's One Month Update:

Cinda's trip to the vet the day we picked her up 8-16-2011

As you can see by her foto at the vet clinic, Cindarella was not living a fairy tale life, she was enduring the nightmare of a slow but sure death by dehydration and starvation. Her rating on the body scale was 1.5 and she was so weak she could barely stand for the trailer ride to go see the vet. The light in her eyes was slowly burning out and the struggle to survive was getting too hard to endure. Thankfully due to concerned citizens reporting Cinda's situation, intervention came in time. Upon arrival her height and weight estimates were taken and are as follows:

Cinda: 12-18 months old

13.2 hands tall

420 lbs

Her weight after one month is 530 lbs

Upon arrival her condition was very poor. Initially she did not want to eat or drink. Our vet was on stand by if we weren't able to correct that issue in short order. We put her on 2 hour watch, only after she was finally beginning to drink water (which we spiked with electrolytes, iron, salt & vitamins). It was a huge relief when she started drinking and eating on her own. Her meals consisted of a "itsy-bitsy" portion of chopped dehydrated alfalfa, gradually adding in a smidgeon of rice bran.It is so hard to only be able to feed a small amount at a time, looking at all those bones sticking out everywhere, you wish you could just smother them with feed but you can't. After the first 4 days of around the clock tiny portions being gradually increased the critical point for her came and went. Her portions increased and a variety of sources of fats, proteins, fiber, minerals, vitamins were added to her diet. Little by little her meals became the Triple O gourmet mix. The gleam in her eyes shines bright now. At first she seemed so old and tired.Her appetite increased right on schedule. Her favorite time of day is BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER. She went from being semi invisible on the scene, to being into anything and everything. We were thrilled to see her become like a young horse should be....energetic and vibrant. She's not the same girl that arrived her last month, she's a newer and better version of herself...the one she was meant to be from the beginning. Young and spirited and enjoying all of the days on this Earth. Oh and by the way, she still receives an extra feeding between breakfast and dinner, which she asks for at 3pm like clockwork, and which by the way makes EVERYONE ELSE around the main barnyard is envious. We tell them it's because she has already missed too many meals in her young life  and besides all that....she IS the baby of the family NOW. Cinda had better enjoy that status, because around here that could all change with just one phone call from our local law enforcement. We never know, when or where we'll be asked to go, but we do know if they call us because a horse is in big trouble, we will try to help somehow. Our motto of, .....making the world a better place, one horse at a time goes goes hand in hand with our attitude that when someone is trying to help a horse, we'd like to be able to help them in their endeavor, whenever possible.