The highs & lows of daily life with Mama & Filly are almost manic. There were so many highs, laughter, & smiles over the weekend. Then Monday brought the heavy hearted lows. Filly's legs are unbelievably worse. Poor little thing can't walk normal on either front leg. The right front had been so strong & stable that it was only support wrapped to provide protection from the splinting of the left leg. Now both are collapsing over when she tries to walk. Actually they now even collapse as she stands still. She was only without her splints for about an hour. It was just too heartbreaking to watch her flounder around. Her wonderful grandpa will be making new splints for her tomorrow. They will be shorter & less cumbersome, hopefully allowing for more movement & ease of mobility while still holding the fetlock rigid for support. Hopes of having her out of the splints in the near future have faded away. If there's any chance of success, it's now obvious that it'll take many, many, long weeks in the making. There is now a fear that Filly's bones are not growing properly & that they aren't getting the density they need to function normally. It's just so devastating to see all the progress totally fail in less than 24 hours. Why oh why?
The cause of the regression is unknown, but the suspect is the nutritional devastation of Mama. It's highly probable that her "out-of-whack" body isn't producing the nutrition that Filly needs. So not only did Filly not get what she needed for normal growth within the womb, she's most likely not getting it now as well. There was discussion of doing bloodwork on Mama, & maybe even testing Mama's milk would be a better plan. If Filly has no improvement by tomorrow, it will be time to explore other options & hopefully a successful solution will be found.
I have to say that my dad, Filly's grandpa, is the most wonderful person I know. He just called to tell me he'd not only completed Filly's splints, but that he'd taken them to my place and left them in the barn. Today it's really hard for me to be at work, knowing my little filly isn't doing well at home. Thankfully her grandpa checked in on her and another friend will be looking in later today. I'm maudlin and heavy hearted today, but still have hopes that Filly's legs will rebound once again. Only time will tell.
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