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Toasty - pregnant
April 2, 2002

For more information please contact us at
gina@vthorse.com.

Or write to:
Gina Lancaster,

Toasty was born and raised here on our farm. She is a curious sort whose favorite toys as a baby were empty grain sacks. Instead of running away she'd pick them up and shake them herself. She did go to a couple of weanling halter classes where she placed but not the best. Usually it was because she wouldn't stand still or she'd try to eat the judge's buttons. For a year or two she didn't get handled enough then when she was 4 she became my daughter's project for riding. The first time we trucked her to a riding lesson she embarrassed us by just parking and refusing to load to go home. No jumping, rearing, kicking, just four feet planted. I ended up asking two strong guys to simply lock arms and shove her on the trailer while I kept her head going in the right direction. It worked. You can be sure she got lots of loading lessons during the next month. That fall she went to our favorite professional trainers and did really well. She showed lots of potential.

THEN - On Valentines Day, 2000 I saw out my window Toasty and her sister investigating the old stump that was piled around with rocks collected from the pasture. That was a normal sight and I went on to making breakfast for the kids. The following is what I wrote about Toasty in letters during the next few months.

8 days ago, Monday morning. It was a rainy, sleeting, dangerous driving type of day, school had been cancelled. I even found out enough in advance so I didn't wake the kids and went back to sleep myself. Except Roy woke me up to say it was 6:20 and shouldn't we be getting up for school? No! Twenty minutes later our neighbor calls to tell me there was no school. Thanks Sandi! I was planning to do the slow drive to work and leave the two kids at home, too rainy for the ski hill. Then Sonia comes in to tell me Toasty had a really bloody foot. Together we washed it all off, she had a bad cut on her heel, damage all around her coronary band and minor scrapes on her other leg. Evidently she had caught the bad foot in some rocks by the old stump. We found hair on the rocks and even a bit of blood. I bet in the spring we will find the shoe she pulled off there too. I was bothered by the amount of swelling in the pastern and fetlock so I called the vet. He didn't like the looks of the swelling either so he took X-rays. I called Kim (my boss at GMHA) and she told me not to come in considering the weather and the horse. The first day in weeks that I didn't have to drive out of Turkey Hollow. I did end up driving up to the other house at least three times for bandages and things. That night the vet called with the news that Toasty had broken her Navicular bone into 4 pieces. (It is a tiny bone in the hoof.) There is no way that she will ever be ride-able again. The trick will be to see if we can get her comfortable enough to have a couple of babies. She may never be pain free, but we won't know for sure for months. We could have had her operated on and had the bone chips removed but that might have cost $4,000, probably more, and no guarantee of success and she still wouldn't have been sound.

So now our daily routine includes changing the support bandage on the good leg, taking her temperature and giving her medicine twice a day and carrying water and hay to the barn morning and night (yes, usually Sonia's job). Toasty stays all day in the barn, at least it is a nice big stall. But it is filthy! This Thursday, my only day off this week, we get to spend the day cleaning that three months worth of manure! Oh joy.

The vet came by this Monday (yesterday) to change the big bandage on the bad leg, I was at work, Mom and Sonia helped him. Toasty had been pretty comfortable, walking on it, normal temperature, eating and drinking all week. Then this morning I found her walking on three legs again, temperature at 102.5, water bucket full. I was just a bit concerned. But I had to go to work; I left a message with Mom. I called her later and she'd just gotten home and hadn't heard the message. She went down to check Toasty and freaked because the mare was lying down. She called Six. I wasn't free so they sent your dad home. Scared Sonia because they told her that the horse was down. Usually that means they are so sick they won't get up again. But Toasty did get up, mad but lively. Your dad gave her a shot of painkiller so when I got home her temperature was back to normal, she was eating and her water bucket was empty. Phew. The vet told me over the phone that he had changed the position of her leg in the new bandage. It is possible that it had already started to heal and the new position hurt. Also he said that the higher temperature could have been due to stress but we are to stay in touch with any other changes.

Sonia and I did get that barn clean yesterday. She did all the shoveling and I hauled quite a few muck buckets to the pile. She added four bags of shavings and Toasty lay down before Sonia could spread them out. You could see the relief in Toasty's whole body. Sonia has been doing most of the work out there. What a great kid!

Here at home not much else has changed. We sleep, eat, go to school, feed the cat and the horses. Toasty is hobbling around the barn. Your dad and Sonia have been caring for her. Which means the stall hasn't been cleaned, probably no one has taken her temperature or brushed her since I last did. Who knows what her bandages look like?

Toasty, the broken horse, is still hanging out in the barn. Sonia does most of her care. Toasty has lost all her muscle tone so she looks thin. We don't know how much time she'll have to spend shut up but at least until the snow is gone and the ground is dry.

Toasty is allowed out now. Sometimes she kind of puts the broken foot down and goes over it. Other times she hops along and lets it dangle. We don't know if it hurts or just feels weird. We will see if she ever puts more weight on it. She has to because she can't carry a foal three legged.

Wait till you guys see Toasty's hoof. Nature has grown her a long heel. It is amazing. She sort of walks on it too. Fria is due to foal in about a month. Keep your fingers crossed.

Just now I had to help Mom separate Sonia's gelding, Kipp, from Toasty, the crippled mare (but getting better!). She is in heat and he's trying to do the stallion thing. She can't kick him the way he deserves so he'd end up knocking her down after a while. (Not up, get it?)

Kipp still loves her because Toasty is still cute even if she walks funny. She has gained a lot since being alone.

Now it has been over two years and indeed Toasty has successfully grown and given birth to a lovely filly. We never took pictures of 'the foot'. At the time it was too terrible and we didn't even think of it. The vet admits that he would have put her down, especially during the time when she'd gotten so lean and had bedsores on both hips. We figure her being thin was an asset and she was smart to lay down. She had a lot of healing to do. And heal she did. During most of this winter Toasty walked without a limp. I got so used to seeing her sound that I would do a double take when she did take a lame step, "Oh yes, that's Toasty. She's supposed to be lame." Her pregnancy didn't seem to stress that leg at all. She didn't even swell behind. To look at the foot is narrower and sort of a club. But it is very healthy. The pastern and fetlock are thicker. When we see her galloping around with her baby we say thanks to Sonia who nursed her so well, to the vet and blacksmith, all the others who helped and to the spirit who keeps their eye on such things.
This summer (2002) the vet took x-rays, out of curiosity mostly. He found that the foot has started to seriously calcify. The space between the lower pastern and pedal bone is filled and there is a cloud of calcification around the whole area. Half the navicular is in place but jagged. A concern is that it could wear through the tendon over time unless the joint becomes totally stiff (which is what we are hoping is happening). Another part of the navicular bone is visible up in the pastern.