[RC] Perle's Passage - Roberta LiebermanDear 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 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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