Losing Sophie Rose

Hi, my name is Liz.
My best friend Emma and I breed miniature ponies.  I am a vet nurse and Emma is currently studying to become a psychologist.
Both of us love our ponies and would do anything for them.
This is not my story, it's Emma's story.
Possum Hollow Sophie Rose was Emma's pony. Emma had tried for several years to buy Sophie from her previous owner and eventually was able to buy her a couple of years ago. Sophie was her dream pony.
She was supposed to be pregnant when she bought her but unfortunately she wasn't and although it was increadibly disappointing, Emma bred her to her beloved stallion, Dynamite.
Sophie was 7 weeks away from having her much awaited baby, and disaster struck on the weekend. She became ill. The cause wasn't known, "colic" was suspected - which for horse people is a very broad term. But she was in a lot of pain, unable to eat/drink etc. Her tiny baby was active and doing a lot of kicking but this wasn't anything to do with her foal.
She was given pain relief and for 12 hours she looked improved, but she deteriorated rapidly the next day and was rushed to the equine center in Newcastle.
After several hours of treatment it became obvious that she was in serious trouble. Her foal was still very lively but Sophie-Rose was deteriorating. The option was given to operate to see if she could be saved, but like many of us, another $4000 to $10,000 was not something that could really be found, and after much discussing with the equine center, myself, my employers etc, the decision was made to treat her with aggressive medical treatment, and pray that she responded.
Sadly after a few hours of this she deteriorated further. They were struggling to control the pain the little pony was in, despite their best efforts and it looked like Emma was going to lose her beautiful Sophie.
When all was lost, the question was asked whether her tiny baby could be removed before Sophie was put to sleep. 

This little baby would've been delivered so very early and it was a massive gamble that even it's lungs would be able to inflate enough for it to breathe unassisted.
There were so many unknowns with such a premature baby, even IF he/she had lungs that were able to cope without mum.
But how do you put a dying mother to sleep with her little baby still obviously alive and well inside her.
I spent a lot of time liasing for her on the phone with the equine center and my bosses trying to decide if this was something that could work, if the baby would have a chance, or were we removing it only to have it pass away due to being too young.
The wonderful vets at the equine center were very doubtful that it was going to work, and of course being the equine experts eventually, after much agonizing, the decision had to be made to let Sophie and her baby pass over the rainbow bridge.
Although Sophie wasn't mine, I sit here typing this with tears in my eyes, thinking of how agonizing that decision would be to make if it was one of my precious ponies and their undelivered babies that was on the line.
Unfortunately this has not been a good year for Emma.
A month ago she lost her beautiful filly, Arianna to tick paralysis at the age of 2 years.
Arianna was one in a million as well. Emma bred her, and she had won many beautiful garlands and awards already. To have her die in her arms from a deadly tick was an awful experience.
Two days later her new foal became ill and spent three days at the Equine center as she was a slight "dummy foal" - she had a problem going to the toilet and needed several hundred dollars worth of treatment to nurse her back to health.
As you can imagine, a university student working one day a week doesn't earn a lot of money.

Sophie's death along with losing Arianna and then a sick baby have left Emma with massive costs.
I have set up this page so that the generous people out here who have ever loved a horse or worse still, lost a horse can perhaps spare a few dollars to help her dig out of the massive hole she finds herself in now, with 2 out of her three precious babies gone.
Emma isn't aware at this point that I have done this, and thank you to Karen for the idea.
I would donate a kidney to save mine, and I know that sometimes it doesn't matter how much money you have, you're just not going to win the battle.
This has been a soul-destroying month for my friend... I know there are great people out there in the world. I'm hoping that if they read this story they are able to help in any way they can.
At this point she is asking herself if she can keep going on... I know she has to. She has worked too hard to get where she is to give it away due to a broken heart.
Thanks for reading this
Liz M