Whisper is a Hero!

Yesterday, I had no one to ride with (Whisper will not go out alone), so my plan was to try her Easyboots with the dome pads in the front, and go up and down our gravel road to see how she did in them. When I took her up to the mountains with a hard pack road and rocks, she was very owey even in her boots, so I thought the pads would help. Anyway, after booting her up yeasterday, my neighbor Judy, rode up with her very expensive and highly trained cutting horse, Julia. They were going on a trail ride and asked if I wanted to go, so off we went! Whenever Whisper and Julia get together, they are both full of beans, so we trotted about a mile to get them to settle. They are both in good shape and very fit and well conditioned, and neither of them was puffing and Whisper's heart rate was only about 120 for the trot. That is her usual trotting HR. We backed down to a walk, and suddenly, Julia just stopped. Judy thought she had to pee, so we gave them a chance and when it was obvious they didn't have to pee, we asked them to move on. Julia refused and she doesn't normally do this so Judy knew something was wrong. She immediately dis mounted and tried to lead Julia forward to no avail. Julia wouldn't budge even one foot! She was tying up. This is a veternary emergency with a horse where the huge rear end muscles cramp up. First thing you do is DON'T MOVE THE HORSE. Second thing is get it to the vet as quickly as possible. The horse that has tied up needs immediate attention by a vet because this can lead to death at worst or even kidney failure. However, we were in an area of the desert that was inaccessable to a horse trailer. We needed to walk Julia a mile to get her to an area that a horse trailer could get to, but Julia was going nowhere while she was tied up. Luckily, both Judy and I carry a cell phone with us while we ride and I had the local vet pre-programmed into my cell. The vet would give Judy a shot of Ace which would relax Julia enough to uncramp her muscles and allow us to walk her to where we could get a horse trailer. Our other neighbor, Sharon, was called and just happened to be in the area of the vet, so she would pick up the Ace and I would ride Whisper home and bring Sharon back in our quad since the area we were in was inaccessable to anything but a quad or a Jeep. But this would mean riding Whisper home alone, and she has refused in the past to go out alone. I told Whisper we HAD to do it and that Julia needed us. So off we rode towards home. Leaving another horse behind on the trail is also a big challange, but Whisper rose to the occasion and not only went home, but went home at a trot the whole way without the slighest hesitation!

Once home, I untacked her and put her up all sweaty and dirty and didn't even take her boots off! What a bad horse mommie! I did shove several carrots in her mouth and promised her I would take care of her later, and I really think she did understand the situation. About the time I finished getting water in a container for Julia, Sharon arrived with the shot of Ace and we went tearing out into the desert back to Julia. Judy administered the shot, we gave Julia some water and waited for 30-40 minutes for the shot to take effect so Julia would be able to walk. We then got Julia walking the mile to the point where Judy could get her horse trailer and Sharon and I waited with Julia while Judy took the quad to her house to get her horse trailer.

I later talked to Judy and Julia is doing fine and the vet says Julia was treated just in time and the best thing Judy did was not move her when it began. Forcing Julia to move at that point might have ended up either killing her or ruining her kidneys which would have eventually killed her.

I am so proud of Whisper I have no words. She came thru for me and Julia when it was needed. I think she knew we were on a rescue mission and I was depending on her. She is the best mare in the world!