Oy.

Don’t get me started on Stoopid Human Tricks… This one could be the winner for the Most Stoopid of All Stoopid Human Tricks.

Here goes…

MEET TULLIE

You are probably asking yourself, “What in the world happened to this horse?” Nuclear waste spilled on her? Acid? She slipped and fell into a poisonous pond?

Nope. Her owners did this to her. You see, poor Tullie was suffering from Rain Rot (we won’t go into the ‘whys’ of that here). Her owners mistakenly thought that she had the canine disease of mange, so they mixed lime with auto transmission fluid and poured it all over her body.

Let me say that again. THEY MIXED UP LIME AND AUTO TRANSMISSION FLUID AND POURED IT ALL OVER HER BODY.

First of all, even if she did have canine mange, that is not how one should treat any animal, mange or no mange. But, regardless, my mouth is on the ground over this one.

IN COMES HORSE FEATHERS EQUINE RESCUE, INC TO SAVE THE DAY!

I don’t know the details on how Cheri from HORSE FEATHERS EQUINE RESCUE, INC came to treat poor Tullie, but I know she got her just in time. The young mare was 400 lbs underweight — no surprise there — with burns over 70% of her body. She lost the tips of her ears and was in severe pain.

Immediately, Tullie was rushed to the equine hospital. Her Albumin levels were at 2 (a normal range is approx 30). Tullie wouldn’t survive much longer so she was given two pints of plasma right away. Everyone held their breath to see if she would turn the corner.

Cheri said that she knew Tullie would make it because the poor, sick, wounded, hurting little filly wanted to eat and drink all the time, even at the hospital while she was on death’s door.

HER RECOVERY

Slow. As with human burn victims, the process is slow and there is always the risk of infection. Everything has to be done methodically and with very sterile-minded precautions in place.

Tullie couldn’t stand for long periods of time so Cherie had 3-5 volunteers hold her up while they treated her. Can you imagine how much this must have hurt?! But, she did it.

First, they started with debridement of the worst areas. Tullie handled this without sedation. Without sedation. VERY BRAVE MARE, INDEED.

Then, they used a mixture of Aloe Vera Gel and Lidocaine to numb and heal the area. The areas that they could clean, were treated with Tea Tree oil and Clorhex. This process took months…

HER SPIRIT

Cherie said that no one ever gave up because Tullie never gave up. In her words:

“She has so much spirit and all she wanted to do was to eat and drink constantly. Her body needed all it could get to heal inside and out.”

Tullie ate, drank, gained strength, dealt with the pain, dealt with the constant salve applications and dressings, forced herself to move about to gain muscle strength and slowly but surely, she healed.

DIFFICULT TO GAIN WEIGHT

Tullie was healing but not gaining enough weight. Having low Albumin greatly effects fat absorption and the liver. But, her liver was good so it was time to add a fat supplement her feed. After Cherie tried just about every product out there, Tullie finally started to gain the necessary fat with a product called Envision by Progressive. She says that it is expensive but this product is all that she will use now because it works the best. In fact, she uses it on all her horses who need to gain or who are difficult to build.

BEE-CEUTICALS

Some kind donor sent this product to Cherie to use on Tullie’s new skin.

It is made via honey bees. Hospital burn units now use this with human patients. It really helped with healing by keeping the moisture in the skin. Here is the link if you’d like to try it.

TULLIE TODAY

She is almost all healed, physically. It took 3 years. 3 YEARS! That is devotion… Thank you, Cherie.

Cherie had this to say about Tullie now:

“There were many times I wondered if she would make it but Tullie seemed to love being the “auntie” to the babies we had born here. Tullie does have a standoffish attitude with new people… I can’t say I blame her. She is here, she is alive and she is happy.”

DONATE TO TULLIE HERE! TULLIE’S STOCKING STUFFER FUND!

Click here if you’d like to donate/sponsor Tullie and get a donor gift certificate to give as a gift for the Holidays!

DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE MUSTANGS!!

Well, our Bucket Fund for this month, THE WILD MUSTANGS AND BURROS, has stalled a bit. It is still early and I am very appreciative of those who have donated!! But, I want to remind us about the incredible opportunity here to tangibly help the mustangs through DREAMCATCHER Sanctuary who has an opportunity to lease another 20,000 acres to release more gathered and captured mustangs and burros. Please click here to donate so the HORSE AND MAN Group can become a benefactor.

How good would that feel?





HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!

The November Bucket Fund will benefit The Wild Horses and Burros, via DreamCatcher Sanctuary. We are helping them acquire an additional 20,000 acres to release more captured Mustangs/Burros back into the wild. To learn all about the Bucket Fund and to donate to this incredible opportunity for our Mustangs, please click on the photo.