Even though she's not a barrel horse yet, my hope and dreams ride on her back. She's smart, willing, athletic, and sweet as can be. I may be a little biased but I see a lot in store for her future. I dreamt about this filly for a long time before she was born. The way she floats out in the pasture, I can just picture her flying towards that first barrel and inhaling it like her mother. Like I said, she's special.
As a two year old I was very pleased with how she was looking. In fact, I was thinking it was time to get her in and start doing some ground work in preparations for Philip in riding her. My heart fluttered at the thought of getting to swing my leg over her back! All looked like it was going to be smooth sailing until....
About a month ago, Honey stuck her head between a fence post and gate. Needless to say, she pulled back trapped and ended up breaking her jaw. It could have been worse. She could have broke her neck. All the trauma caused a lot of swelling around her head which in turn pinched or damaged the facial nerve. This resulted in her left side of her face to be paralyzed. Basically, it looked like her face was lopsided.
Luckily, from the beginning, Honey was able to eat well enough to sustain herself with senior feed, alfalfa pellets and beet pulp. She ate hay, but not much at first. However, she was doing really well. In fact so well, I turned her out to pasture after three weeks when she started eating hay easily.
Yesterday, four weeks after the accident, Honey was looking much better. She's eating her regular diet and doing well. Her face has returned to 90% normal. The only remnant of what happened is that her left ear droops down some but it continues to improve. She looked to be on the mend and everything was going to be smooth sailing from there.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. Today, Honey came in from the pasture with her eye swelled up and sunken in. At first glance, I thought her eye was gone. It turns out that her nerve to her eye has been injured and has left her unable to close her eye.
I really don't know where it will go from here. We will see what she looks like tomorrow and reevaluate. There's a chance that the nerve will get better with time. I don't know what will happen if it doesn't.
So with that in mind, Honey needs your help. I don't know how many, or if anyone will read this post, but if anyone does, we sure would appreciate your prayer. The power of prayer is an amazing thing. I know that regardless of the outcome, He is on our side.
Again I am reminded of one of my favorite verses mentioned in my previous post. Jer. 29:11
Thank you all for reading and for your prayers. Give you horses an extra treat tonight!
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