Velvet
Velvet is a 3 year old miniature mare. She was an unexpected addition to the ever growing Davis Family in January of 2007. As you know, Julie works at an equine vet clinic where she sees a lot of sad cases day after day. This one struck a cord in her. This little girl came in with a severe case of sand colic and the owners where not prepared nor were they willing to spend a lot of money on her. It was suggested she needed surgery to correct the problem. They instead decided to wait and see if the sand would pass. After four days, Julie was finally able to convince the owners to sign ownership over to her and she rushed Velvet to CSU for her much needed colic surgery.
At the time it was white-out conditions on I25 north to Fort Collins and at a few times on the trip, Julie didn't think they would make it in one piece. They did make it however, and not a moment too soon. Velvet was so distended from four days of not passing anything she had pitted edema on her belly as well as grossly enlarged pitted edema on her stifles. The vets had never seen such a severe case and frankly were a bit concerned that the edema in her stifles might be related to another issue. They stated that any other horse in her condition would be thrashing in pain. Little Velvet was strong and was standing and walking on her own but was not going to last much longer. She barely survived anesthesia inducement and was rushed to surgery.
Needless to say, it took several hours and a lot of work to get all the sand out of her. All said and done they believe it was about 100 pounds of sand in her tiny body. This was when her true condition started to show. She was grossly malnourished and was probably eating the sand to keep from starving to death. Normally when a horse undergoes colic surgery, they lose weight while they recover. She didn't have any weight to lose. It was not certain what her fate would be. She did not want to eat and didn't have much to live off of.
Please watch a video I made on her behalf in February 2007 on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP1s-g6Zad0
To make a long story short - she is well now, flourishing and full of spunk and has turned out to be quite a handful. We were able to pay off the nearly $5,000 of medical bills with donations made from around the world. A truly remarkable story and another example of defying the odds!!
Velvet meets her new big bro Gus for the first time in February 2007
Velvet finally gets to stretch her legs after over a month of recovery from surgery
Velvet in her new pasture sporting her fuzzy winter coat and shaved belly
May of 2007 - Velvet with her new custom sized loafing shed and dad
May 2007 Velvet and her big bro have a little visit
All photos on this website are the property of either Defiance Friesians, LLC or Christina Turissini of Alphabet Ranch Studio. Any duplication, sale and/or use of any photos without written permission is strictly prohibited.
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At the time it was white-out conditions on I25 north to Fort Collins and at a few times on the trip, Julie didn't think they would make it in one piece. They did make it however, and not a moment too soon. Velvet was so distended from four days of not passing anything she had pitted edema on her belly as well as grossly enlarged pitted edema on her stifles. The vets had never seen such a severe case and frankly were a bit concerned that the edema in her stifles might be related to another issue. They stated that any other horse in her condition would be thrashing in pain. Little Velvet was strong and was standing and walking on her own but was not going to last much longer. She barely survived anesthesia inducement and was rushed to surgery.
Needless to say, it took several hours and a lot of work to get all the sand out of her. All said and done they believe it was about 100 pounds of sand in her tiny body. This was when her true condition started to show. She was grossly malnourished and was probably eating the sand to keep from starving to death. Normally when a horse undergoes colic surgery, they lose weight while they recover. She didn't have any weight to lose. It was not certain what her fate would be. She did not want to eat and didn't have much to live off of.
Please watch a video I made on her behalf in February 2007 on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP1s-g6Zad0
To make a long story short - she is well now, flourishing and full of spunk and has turned out to be quite a handful. We were able to pay off the nearly $5,000 of medical bills with donations made from around the world. A truly remarkable story and another example of defying the odds!!
Velvet meets her new big bro Gus for the first time in February 2007
Velvet finally gets to stretch her legs after over a month of recovery from surgery
Velvet in her new pasture sporting her fuzzy winter coat and shaved belly
May of 2007 - Velvet with her new custom sized loafing shed and dad
May 2007 Velvet and her big bro have a little visit
All photos on this website are the property of either Defiance Friesians, LLC or Christina Turissini of Alphabet Ranch Studio. Any duplication, sale and/or use of any photos without written permission is strictly prohibited.
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