Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Dear friends,

I am heartbroken to report that despite heroic veterinary efforts, my  
beloved mare Perle lost her battle of the snakebite yesterday  
afternoon. Her early response to treatment was positive and we  
thought we had it licked. She only had swelling on one side of the  
face, and she was able to eat. However, throughout the night she  
began to regress and by yesterday morning both sides of her face were  
inflamed. The vet was summoned at dawn, more drugs including DMSO  
were given, yet she couldn't turn the corner. The venom was  
apparently very concentrated. Her system wasn't handling it, and she  
continued going downhill. She began having difficulty breathing, so  
my vet performed a tracheotomy, but the venom (we believe it was from  
a green Mojave rattler) had caused so much de-coagulation that she  
wouldn't stop bleeding from the hole in her neck. From there her  
organs just began shutting down. She let us know when it was time to  
let go. We put her to rest around 4:30 p.m. yesterday, just a few  
weeks shy of her tenth birthday.

Perle was by turns a challenge and a delight, and always an  
incredible spirit who pushed us to find solutions for her issues. She  
had finally turned her life around, with the help of a gifted  
trainer, Darcy Buller of Celebrity Farms in Jamul, Calif., who  
retrained Perle from the ground up to be a solid equine citizen.  
Perle responded by completing three AERC rides and a NATRC ride in  
three months, and we were aiming for the Descanso 50 in June.

I will miss her morning whinny when I called her name, her quiet  
nicker when she knew a carrot was coming, her smooth flowing trot and  
bounding canter and oh! that mane. She was still learning the ropes  
of endurance, but catching on fast, and she had no bottom. She was  
barefoot all her life, and did three rides barefoot and her sole 50  
with Epics. I had just ordered her a full set of Easyboot Bares.

You can see a photo of Perle here, taken by Lynne Glazer the day  
Linda Tellington-Jones introduced her to the joy of bridleless  
riding. This is the way I will remember her....

http://bobbiejo.smugmug.com/gallery/543205

Thanks to everyone for your caring and support. I am fortunate to  
have a second horse, the Tennessee Walker mare Gypsy. I'm looking  
forward to seeing y'all out on the trail soon.

Hug your horses, and watch out for rattlers.

Bobbie
Jamul, CA





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