Save Dee The Loyalist
Donation protected
My name is Saralynne Hudgins and I’ve ridden and trained horses all my life. I help manage a hardware store and when I’m not there, I’m at the barn. This is my horse Dee (Dee the Loyalist). Dee is an off track thoroughbred. She raced in California as a 2-year old. I bought her as a retired race horse & I accepted the challenge of training her. I shipped her in from California in June 2016.
Dee is 5yrs old now and we have come a long way from where we started.
Dee will go out on trails now instead of snorting and running back towards the farm. She jumps 2’3”, she speaks to everyone who walks into the barn and rides like a Cadillac, even for children. She is my miracle horse and I love her.
I dreamed of training an OTTB horse like Dee to ride and show “normally”-aside from its trained athletic ability to “run” and their “in-bred” desire to do so. They are majestic creatures and from whom you have to earn their cooperation & respect. So powerful. So rewarding. She looks like “Black Beauty” only she is chestnut colored. She is a little “flighty” & runs a bit “hot” at times, but she’s absolutely gorgeous & an interesting work partner. Dee is my friend.
On June 11th, this month... nearly 2 years from the date I got her, I went to bring Dee in from the pasture in the evening to eat and she was limping. I stopped her at the gate to look. The shoe was hanging by a nail and had shifted instead of cleanly falling off. She had stepped on the sharp toe clip. Essentially, the outer nails of her horse shoe, not once-but twice!
I texted the farrier who told me the injury didn’t look good.
I called my vet back and X-rays then revealed that she has a chipped bones in her hoof that has to be removed.
The vet and I discussed this today and I responded, “ok, so your saying I gotta do a surgery on Dee or put her down? Aren’t there other options? What can we do now to stop the bacteria from growing, can’t we do local & systemic treatments, won’t it just heal if we do that & I keep it clean”?
“No” the vet says. “She needs a surgical plate with screws on it, to attach to her shoe on that foot, while she recovers. That plate covers the bottom of the foot, it supports her weight since the bone cannot & keeps that exposed area cut out, clean to heal. That’s the treatment after I remove the bone fragments”.
“How much is surgery”? I ask.
He replied, “$3,000. Dee will be healing and boarding at our facility so we can adequately treat her after the surgery, I will send her home as quickly as I can but it’s $60/day boarding; plus medical costs/daily”.
This is the worst news, I’m thinking. Asking questions. Adding numbers in my head & realizing that’s about two months worth of pay for me and I don’t have the money for that surgery plus after care.
I asked questions, I write a check for $521.00, shake the vets hand. “Thanks- how long have I got”?
The vet replied, “ I think you ought to get her in Saturday. It’s already been 2 weeks & infection is there”.
I begin feeding the other horses on the farm and I burst into tears. My horse needs surgery or I have to kill her/put her down, to keep her from hurting and save that foot?
Humbly, I tell you that my goal is $3,500.00. If you are willing to donate $5-10 bucks to help me fix my horse I would really appreciate it . She is a funny, smart and strong animal that runs in her field each day just for fun and she befriends two pasture mates (a goat and donkey) and sleeps in a stall beneath my apartment at night.
She’s in pain and needs surgery like in 2 days .
Please help me save my sweet Dee. Please. ❤️
Dee is 5yrs old now and we have come a long way from where we started.
Dee will go out on trails now instead of snorting and running back towards the farm. She jumps 2’3”, she speaks to everyone who walks into the barn and rides like a Cadillac, even for children. She is my miracle horse and I love her.
I dreamed of training an OTTB horse like Dee to ride and show “normally”-aside from its trained athletic ability to “run” and their “in-bred” desire to do so. They are majestic creatures and from whom you have to earn their cooperation & respect. So powerful. So rewarding. She looks like “Black Beauty” only she is chestnut colored. She is a little “flighty” & runs a bit “hot” at times, but she’s absolutely gorgeous & an interesting work partner. Dee is my friend.
On June 11th, this month... nearly 2 years from the date I got her, I went to bring Dee in from the pasture in the evening to eat and she was limping. I stopped her at the gate to look. The shoe was hanging by a nail and had shifted instead of cleanly falling off. She had stepped on the sharp toe clip. Essentially, the outer nails of her horse shoe, not once-but twice!
I texted the farrier who told me the injury didn’t look good.
I called my vet back and X-rays then revealed that she has a chipped bones in her hoof that has to be removed.
The vet and I discussed this today and I responded, “ok, so your saying I gotta do a surgery on Dee or put her down? Aren’t there other options? What can we do now to stop the bacteria from growing, can’t we do local & systemic treatments, won’t it just heal if we do that & I keep it clean”?
“No” the vet says. “She needs a surgical plate with screws on it, to attach to her shoe on that foot, while she recovers. That plate covers the bottom of the foot, it supports her weight since the bone cannot & keeps that exposed area cut out, clean to heal. That’s the treatment after I remove the bone fragments”.
“How much is surgery”? I ask.
He replied, “$3,000. Dee will be healing and boarding at our facility so we can adequately treat her after the surgery, I will send her home as quickly as I can but it’s $60/day boarding; plus medical costs/daily”.
This is the worst news, I’m thinking. Asking questions. Adding numbers in my head & realizing that’s about two months worth of pay for me and I don’t have the money for that surgery plus after care.
I asked questions, I write a check for $521.00, shake the vets hand. “Thanks- how long have I got”?
The vet replied, “ I think you ought to get her in Saturday. It’s already been 2 weeks & infection is there”.
I begin feeding the other horses on the farm and I burst into tears. My horse needs surgery or I have to kill her/put her down, to keep her from hurting and save that foot?
Humbly, I tell you that my goal is $3,500.00. If you are willing to donate $5-10 bucks to help me fix my horse I would really appreciate it . She is a funny, smart and strong animal that runs in her field each day just for fun and she befriends two pasture mates (a goat and donkey) and sleeps in a stall beneath my apartment at night.
She’s in pain and needs surgery like in 2 days .
Please help me save my sweet Dee. Please. ❤️
Organizer
Sara E. Hudgins
Organizer
Conyers, GA