Making the best of a bad situation April, 2007 Another Horse in the House 2007 We received another orphan foal on April 11th that is going to keep Shirley pretty busy. Shirley named the less than a week old foal little Ozzie because he makes little muffling, sneezy chortles like the Lion in Wizard of Oz and because of head injuries that has left him "little out there in the Land of Oz right now." Ozzie apparently got caught in the middle of an altercation between two adult horses, perhaps two stallions mixing it up, and took pretty severe blows to the head and neck. It is possible that a stallion grabbed him by the neck and flung him out of the way.

According to Shirley he is progressing very well considering his injuries and the trauma that he endured in the last few days was major. He's eating very well, drinking plenty of water and is getting physically stronger minute by minute. His neck is very swollen and stiff and his back has bites on it too but he gets up on his own and is a "super trooper" when it is time for him to get doctored. Everyone is praying and hoping he does not have permanent injuries that are beyond our ability to treat control and so far he is responding positively little by little. State Livestock Inspector Mike Holmes was great about quickly getting him to us so we could try our best to help this little guy. We are starting to see signs of personality coming through. He got to play in the back yard for a short time while the sun was out and even though he's very stiff and sore he did a lot of walking around and tried to scout things out. Ozzie has a bad injury to right eye and there were initial fears that he may be blind or partially blind but Shirley is seeing encouraging signs that given time that might heal also. Shirley is getting her camera working so we will be able to post additional photos of Ozzie as he explores his new environment. In the meanwhile here are some views of the little guy. Getting some much needed rest. Exploring the back yard. Showing a wee bit of energy

Continue to Part Two

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