Taylor went early - today is day 338! Can you believe I didn't have my phone on me when I went to bed because I foolishly thought she would be like all my other mares and go a week or too late? Silly me! I got to work Friday morning and happened to check my phone and saw a missed call from Don of Liberty Hill Farm. I checked my message, and Taylor had foaled last night/early this morning!
Lazlo was big, and was stuck at the shoulders. Taylor had a really rough time of it, but not quite as rough as Lazlo! Don had to pull him (and it took quite a while), and when he finally was out he was not breathing. Don gave the foal CPR and saved his life. Words cannot describe my gratitude!
Taylor took care of Lazlo right away, she loved this colt! Don had to hold her for a while so she would let him nurse because she had no idea what was going on. She wasn't mean, but kept nosing him out of the way when he tried to nurse. By that evening, he was nursing on his own and she finally figured out her job as the major milk machine!
Tears of joy change their face...keep scrolling to the end
Lazlo is very friendly and people-oriented. He loves to be petted! I spent the evening grooming Taylor and patting Lazlo. What a joyous moment this is for me...I bred and raised Taylor, and now I have a 'grandfoal' out of Taylor.
Lazlo has a blaze, a white sock on the left hind leg that goes halfway up the cannon bone, a sock on the right front leg that reaches over the ankle, and a small triangle on his right hind foot that matches the one Taylor has on her left hind! He looks to be a dark chocolate bay, possibly will shed out to be brown.
Lazlo - 4 weeks old, and ill with tetanus, thanks to an antibiotic treatment that was too weak and insufficient for this type of infection. Read the full story HERE (scroll to March/April entries).
I hauled Lazlo to the Ohio State Veterinary Hospital on Saturday, April 18. I brought him home from Kentucky with an umbilical stump infection. The veterinarian in Kentucky gave me some paste antibiotic to give him every day for the next week or so, and told me he would be fine.
I hauled him home on Monday evening, and he was happy and full of energy the rest of the week. On Saturday afternoon he started laying down a lot and didn't want to get up. I called a somewhat local veterinarian out to check him, he came out around 9pm and ultrasounded his abdomen where the infection was. He recommended I haul him to OSU for further diagnosis. I packed up and left around 11pm that night with Taylor and Lazlo in the trailer.
Sunday morning the surgeons performed an extensive surgery, removing the infection and resectioning his bowel where the infection had spread. He came out of surgery pretty well, and I sat with him for hours on the floor of the recovery stall, propping him up on pillows so he could breathe easier. I left Ohio State around 8pm, planning to come back the next day after work. I received a phone call around 10:30pm telling me that Lazlo died. The tetanus infection had gotten into his bloodstream and there was nothing we could do. It took me 6 months before I could type this out. If I had known about this infection sooner, this could have been handled better and all would have turned out OK. Unfortunately, I was not notified of the problem until I picked Lazlo up, and by then things had already been progressing internally. I will not be so trusting in the future.
Rest in peace, Lazlo: March 20, 2009 - April 19, 2009
