Who's there?
 | ||||||
We are so proud of our twins Will and Grace, and of their mother Sue, who is doing such a great job caring for them! It is such a rare treat to have lively, happy, twin foals. Only about 1 set in 10,000 will be born alive. Unfortunately our babies were born a bit premature (as is common with twin foals) and will require extra medical attention to be sure that they grow to be happy, healthy adults! At this time they require routine veterinary visits and among other procedures, leg straightening casts. We are very grateful to have the excellent veterinary services of Dr. Ben Schachter.
Because of the high cost of their ongoing care, we are accepting donations to help offset the veterinary cost for these little ones. You are welcome to come visit them at Sweet Cypress Ranch in Labelle Fl. To send a donation or set up an appointment to visit,
please call Jo at (863) 673-6751. Daily visitors will be limited.
**UPDATE 1/5/09**
Will and Grace are doing so well and we are no longer accepting donations for them.
Please, however come help us celebrate their birthday on 1/31/09!
It's gonna be a GREAT party!
2/21/08 The twins visit a specialist in Wellington Fl.
First ride in a horse trailer
Grace relaxes in her soft bed!
Will naps while the doctors work on his sister!
Grace shows off her new hard cast
The doctors get to work on Grace
Update! 3/3/08 Grace weighed in at 102 lbs,nearly double her birth weight. Will is now 130 lbs and full of himself. We are delighted with their growth and good health. Grace has done well with her cast despite developing a few sores around the bottom. She still lays quietly for us to work on as if she is completely understanding that she is being healed by many that care so much for her. Dr Ben in Wellington will remove the cast on Wednesday to see how her leg responded and will operate on her other leg on Thursday to begin it's healing process. They will come home on Friday. Send prayers for her continued recovery. Dr Ben feels that she will have every opportunity to be a normal horse in time. Thank you to all who have sent the donations and well wishes to help us on this journey.
Newborns
Grace is the first one on her feet
Grace's new cast
Ponch keeps Grace company while Will and Mom are out on pasture time
Who's there?
Siblings
Wellington Equine Associates
Equine Hospital & Surgical Practice
Ben L. Schachter, D.V.M., P.A.
5320 South Shore Blvd.
Lake Worth, FL 33467
561-790-0001 Clinic • 561-682-0473 Emg
Email: horsedocs@aol.com
www.wellingtonequine.com
Update! 3/8/08 Great news still........we are home from Wellington and the surgery went great. Hats off to Dr Schachter and his staff for a job well done. Grace is such a wonderful patient and never gave up or complained. Her cast was removed and her left leg is nice and straight now. He decided to let it begin to work on it's own and see how it goes.
The surgery lasted over two hours. He put two screws into her growth plate in the right knee and then connects them by wire. It retards the growth plate in some way so that the bones normalize in a short amount of time. In three weeks the screws will come back out and she will start being a normal baby with exercise in about a month. We are so thankful that everything has gone so well. Jennah and I were nervous wrecks waiting outside with Will and Momma Sue for those long hours. Will is constantly concerned about her and watched the barn from his paddock for her return. You never heard so much whinnying when she came out of recovery. They are really "joined at the hip".
The surgery was quite costly so we will have to continue our fund raising to get to the finish line of her needs, which is clearly in sight. Thank you for all the generous donations. I feel sure Grace knows the power that is behind her healing. God bless. jo
Update 3/11/08 A bump in the road. Grace's "good" leg that had been casted has begun to bow out again and is making it difficult for her to move around as good as she had been doing. The surgical leg seems to be doing ok and I trust the healing is in motion 24x7. Her orthopedic glued on shoe fell off Sunday morning and will have to be put back on tomorrow. Momma Sue probably stepped on it and scared her into torquing it off. That happened with her first full leg bandage. We are heading back to Wellington tomorrow morning at 6am to get her cast back on. It was wishful thinking that it had healed enough I suppose. Sure looked good for a few days. I'll get a chance to have her surgical dressing changed by the pro, which will be reassuring. No infections allowed! Feeling a little scared right now about all this.......keep us in your prayers. Jo
Update 3/12/08 good day for Gracie at her vet's in Wellington. She has a new cast on the left, her surgical wrap was changed and looks fantastic and her orthopedic shoe was put back on. She is happier again and able to get around sooooo much better. I feel more hopeful now that we are still on track for a complete recovery. Dr Ben says she is responding as well as he has hoped. His hope is for the cast to stay good for three weeks and perhaps come off the same time that the screws are removed from her right knee. New pictures coming soon. Thanks for your patience. Jo
Update 3 /22/08 Jennah and Angela (Team Grace) took the threesome to Wellington today and Grace got her hard cast off as well as got to have her surgical bandage removed. So she is down to one pesky wrap that comes off every few days for a massage. Dr Ben continues to be encouraged by her recovery and response to the surgery. She looks straighter in her legs every day. They will soon be 8 weeks old and the News Press is going to do a follow up article. Watch for it next week on Thursday or Friday. Will now weighs 171 lbs and Gracie is about 135. She is such a girly girl and Will is such a boy--distinct personalities have emerged and it's so much fun to see their interactions.
New pictures should be posted soon and I invite anyone local to come out to the ranch and see them. They really love visitors. Thanks again to everyone for your continued support in prayers, thoughts and finances. It is working! Sincerely, Jo
Grace's surgery day
Update 4/1/08 Will and Grace have packed their bags and left home for greener pastures. April Fools! Grace is now free of casts and bandages (most of the time) and loving it. Will is getting so big and strong. Her legs are getting so straight that it's hard to believe in such a short time the improvement. Nothing short of a miracle in my mind. I am sending some new photos to the website manager so that you all can see too. Dr Ben is happy with her progress and says it won't be too long before we operate and take the screws and wire out of her knee so that she can begin her life as a normal, sound foal. That's going to be such a wonderful day when she can run free in the green pasture with her Mom and Will. The Ft Myers News Press is going to run a follow up article on Saturday in the Metro section. Also there will be many new pictures and video on their website. Check back here for the link. Oh, they are changing colors! You'll see that they look like they have black sports on them. Don't know what's in store for sure....will just have to wait in see what God has planned in that department. Thanks again for checking on us and sending the good karma. Life is good at Sweet Cypress Ranch. We are truly blessed
Update 4/21/08 Sorry for the long delay in info on the kids. We are so busy with breeding season, new babies (2) and taking care of the twins. Will and Mom are finally going out with other mares and babies and he is amazed that there is a big world out there. Grace still has to stay in the stall with a pal or go out on the halter. She wants to rip so bad! Her leg is amazingly straight and the surgery to remove the screws and wire will be tomorrow morning in Wellington at Dr Schachter's. We are loading at 5:30am to head that way for a 9am appointment. If all goes well she will be ready to have some freedom to run and play in about two to three weeks. The hurdles are getting smaller all the time and I feel that we are achieving the best outcome possible. Thanks for your continued support and prayers. What a great network of friends we have acquired on this journey. I will report back in tomorrow night when we get home. Jo~
Update 4/30/08 It's one week after the final surgery and Grace is doing super! Sorry for the delay in information......Jennah, Angela and I all went with the threesome as we felt this was perhaps the last trip of many and wanted to be there for Grace in her last "leg" of the journey.
Dr Ben is really pleased how her legs have straightened as are we. We were allowed to observe the surgical removal of the screws as it was not nearly as complicated as when they were put in. Grace was under for about 45 minutes start to finish and woke up in the recovery room anxious to get back outside to waiting anxious brother Will and Mom. We did not have to spend the night this time and returned to Sweet Cypress delighted that our girl was almost done and ready to be a normal filly out running under the blue skies.
Her stitches come out Monday or Tuesday and we will have a celebration of her accomplishments and her first turning out on Tuesday morning. NBC-2 and the News Press will be there to document that wonderful day for everyone. Feel free to join us if you are in the area! Thank you again for the all the prayers, good thoughts and donations. We are in the homestretch of this remarkable journey.
Thanks again to Dr Ben Schachter and his wife and assistant Kitty and staff for investing their talent and hearts in Baby Grace
