America's Horse- Whinny's Way
A TALE OF SURVIVAL - Whinny’s Story
Gainesville, Texas – September 25, 2014 – Red River Equine Center is proud to share the story of Whinny, a three-year-old American Quarter Horse mare who lives in Texas.
Along with oil, cotton, cattle and Dell Computers, the lone star state produces some of the most incredible quarter horses in the world. On one of those Texas mornings between the dew evaporating off the new grass and sun scorching the red dirt, a beautiful little filly was born. You could almost make out the words to the Lyle Lovett song playing on the radio hanging from the tractor’s mirror as she struggled to stand on her own for the first time. Then her world changed in an instant.
Shortly after her birth in 2011 a dog attacked this gorgeous little newborn filly. Generally the foal’s mother provides all the protection a newborn needs, but in this case the mare was worn out from a tough birth and just didn’t have the energy to fend off a stray dog that saw sport in attacking a moving target. Within minutes bite wounds mutilated her buttocks, external genitalia and completely ate the little filly’s tail. Her owners were able to stop the attack and rush the newborn foal to the local equine hospital. She was in pretty bad shape and was given less than a 5 % chance she could survive; much less recover and become a normal functioning horse. If you’ve ever seen a foal struggle to stand and take its first drink of milk from its mother, you know that can be a challenging adventure for a newborn. You can only imagine what being attacked during the process would do to disrupt Mother Nature’s plans. In addition to the normal challenges of getting nutrition and gaining mobility, this little filly went into severe shock with a high probability of infection and physiological complications from her loss of reproductive organs, muscle, skin and her entire tail. But there was something special about this little bay filly and the folks who owned her. Heroic measures were taken by very kind people to save her life.
Miraculously she survived and grew strong despite needing several surgeries to begin to correct the abnormalities caused by her trauma and the complications of the massive scarring that resulted. She was a fighter and had that indelible will to live.
This brave little filly spent her early life with humans instead of horses. She required almost constant care and learned to express her needs quite vocally. Which earned her the name Whinny because she loves to let you know when she’s happy or excited.
Her owners made enormous sacrifices so that as she grew she continued to get the required surgeries to treat contracture and restrictive scar tissue, lameness issues and difficulties with urination. Additionally, the only remnant of her tail was a 3-inch bald black nub that stood straight up pointing to the sky. Sadly, the challenges became too much for the loving owners of this struggling filly. They were psychologically and financially unable to continue to provide the treatments that were needed. But they weren’t ready to give up on her and talked about options with her veterinarian, Dr. Khris Crowe. Dr. Khris had always been impressed with the little bay filly’s will to live and ability to survive shock, pain and seemingly overwhelming health issues. In fact, Dr. Khris was quite in love with her and when the discussion turned to the possibility of putting her to sleep, there was no question that Dr. Khris would take her home and continue the brave fight to save Whinny’s life. The trailer was there in minutes to pick her up and become the newest member of strays and adopted misfits at Red River Equine. As the trailer pulled away from the ranch off to it’s new home, Dr. Khris made a simple promise to herself, to use everything she’d ever learned in all her years of equine medicine to save Whinny, but to do the right thing, to make the hard decision if the time came that Whinny couldn’t function as a “normal” horse with dignity and with purpose in life.
True to her nature, Whinny remained kind and patient, throughout all of her medical and surgical treatments that saved her life allowing her to grow into a young mare. Dr. Khris made sure that Whinny remained comfortable and researched new techniques for skin grafts and hair transplants in horses. Whinny had 22 surgeries in all and eventually was able to be socialized with other horses and run and play like a normal horse.
On her second birthday, it was time to try and see if Whinny wanted to follow in her parent’s footsteps and her exceptional breeding as a reining horse. Her father and mother were champion reining horses and that ability. It turned out the desire to be a Reiner was in her DNA. She was happy to have a job and have found a purpose in life. She began training with Jonathon Baruch in southern Oklahoma.
It was quickly apparent that she was a very talented and happy reining horse but the appearance of her hind end and tail stub was far less than acceptable. She simply needed a fair chance. It was obvious that she would need to be given dignity and modesty during competition. Barb Delf, a talented lady from the Midwest, had been sewing and matching tail extensions for show horses for years and kindly took on Whinny’s special project. Dr. Khris and Barb designed and constructed a prosthetic tail for Whinny that she now wears comfortably and with pride during competition. She can raise it and lower it and wiggle it with joy! In fact, Whinny is fascinated by her prosthesis both on and off and examines it closely in complete amazement. Not unlike Dolphin Tale, Whinny is the proud recipient of some amazing technology provided with by the love and generosity of some special humans.
Whinny made her competition debut at the Tulsa Reining Classic in August of this year and, consistent with everything that she has done in her life, Whinny was a WINNER! She placed in the Top Ten of the highest 2 divisions of the developing horse futurity! But more importantly, she is a survivor with a big life and bright future ahead of her.
Whinny and her story are becoming widely known and she is a great example of the value of a life and the ability of a little bay filly to grow up into a talented beautiful show mare with the help of all of her friends.
Her Facebook page Whinny’s Way has reached over 30,000 people in 27 countries, she has inspired a children’s book and even a song has been written for her. She enjoys hearing her fan mail read to her while she’s munching on alfalfa. And all of us who know and love her are certain that the best is yet to come.
The Will to Live, the Power to Survive and the Joy to be Alive!
Red River Equine Center is a state of the art veterinary practice and breeding facility, conveniently located in the heart of horse country, Gainesville, Texas. Owned and operated by Carlton Crow, a lifelong horseman, Show Judge and performance horse breeder and Dr. Khris Crowe, a veterinarian with a Post-Doctoral Masters Degree in equine surgery and awards from the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. Together, the Crowe’s run Red River Equine Center working with some of the performance horse industries top trainers and breeding facilities. They have foaled out over 1,500 mares and performed hundreds of successful embryo transfers in addition to operating a large mobile equine practice in North Texas and Southern Oklahoma. For more information, visit http://www.crowehorses.com, email ccphinc@aol.com or call 940-391-7620 or fax 940-612-4584
Western Horseman- Foal Watch
Western Horseman
March 2013
Written by Khris Crowe DVM MS
No horse is identical to another, and no broodmare shows pregnancy signs in the same manner as another. Here, Dr. Khris Crowe outlines the warning signs owners should know to prevent a potential disaster. No matter how prepared a horse owner is, as soon as the broodmare begins foaling, panic and doubt shadow every decision. While preparing for the foal is the best bet for a smooth birth, awareness of warning signs can often prevent disaster.
“First, I always ask when the mare is due,” says Khris Crowe, DVM, and attending veterinarian at the Red River Reproduction Center in Gainesville, Texas. “A lot of mares transfer around and the information is lost. Many clients can’t tell me the correct due date, and that is a problem. A mare will go between 330 and 350 days of gestation, but she is fair game to foal three weeks early or late. That is the most important thing for a broodmare owner to know.”A reproductive specialist, Crowe has worked in Arizona, Georgia, Oklahoma and Texas, breeding and foaling out thousands of mares. Many performance-focused broodmares are bred to foal earlier, between January and March, while ranchers in colder climates time foaling for summer months. A problem can arise at any time during a mare’s pregnancy, but those in the last few months of gestation may be corrected and still allow birth of a healthy foal, says Crowe.
Here, Crowe shares more than 30 years of veterinary experience and insight on how to recognize a broodmare in trouble. NORMAL VS. ABNORMALA mare begins to “bag up” when she is between three and five weeks of foaling. The mammary gland, or udder, will swell slightly, with the teats forming and beginning to fill. Yearly, Crowe receives calls on mares that begin to bag up three months or so in advance. This is the first sign of a number of potential complications.After ruling out an incorrect due date, which Crowe says is a frequent culprit, she focuses on two common diagnoses.
• Infection- Once the foaling date is confirmed and deemed too far away for bagging up, Crowe says most veterinarians test for placentitis. “Placentitis is an infection in part of the placenta,” she explains. “When this occurs, the mare is often preparing to abort the foal. First, check that the foal is alive and to see how advanced the infection is, then treat it. In the last seven or eight years, [vets] have gotten good at treating placentitis, whereas 30 years ago, when I graduated vet school, the mare always lost the foal. “If a vet can get to the mare soon enough, we can treat the infection and monitor the mare’s hormones to work with her and get a live foal.”
• Twins- While twins are met with joy in humans, two foals in one mare is no reason to rejoice. “Twinning” can endanger the mare and the foals growing within her. “Twinning can cause a mare to bag up early,” Crowe says. “Now, we have a machine called an ultrasound, so twins can be prepared for. It is a tool used to monitor the foal in the mare’s belly. The mare usually aborts the [twin] babies, or has them incredibly premature. A veterinarian must be called to ensure the mare and foals’ safety if this [type of] pregnancy occurs.”
WARNING SIGNS
A mare’s body changes subtly over the course of gestation, so abrupt changes are warning signs for horse owners. Familiarity with the mare’s physical appearance makes it easy to recognize changes worthy of concern.
• Bell-Shaped Belly- “If the belly increases in size at an alarming rate, that is a potential problem,” she says. “Instead of a normal pregnancy, the mare will look like she has multiple babies in there. Rather than a nice bell shape with a bulge to it, a belly that is too large too fast can drop down all the way to a mare’s hocks. When that happens we can have an abdominal hernia, where we have had a separation of the muscles of the abdomen, and some of the intestines are down in there. “This can also happen with twinning and when there is an abnormality called hydrops, where there is an excessive amount of fetal fluid being produced. Another possibility is when there is a rupture in the pretubic tendon, which is a tendon in the pelvis that all the muscles hook to. This is rare, but it does happen on occasion. All of the muscles have no way of holding on to that pregnancy.”
Call a vet immediately when you notice an alarming change in the mare’s belly, says Crowe. While no horse owner wants to incur a veterinary bill, speed of treatment is key to correcting problems such as these, and increasing the chance for the mare to carry until her foaling date.
• Dramatic Discharge- It is not unusual for a mare to have a small quantity of clear discharge during pregnancy, says Crowe. However, something may be going wrong if a lot of discharge begins to stream from the vulva. “The discharge can be clear or bloody, and it shows that there may be an infected placenta,” she explains. “This may be an impending abortion. Call the veterinarian to rule out an infection or possible abortion.” Small amounts of discharge can be explained, but a veterinarian should be called to investigate. “What is happening as the belly gets bigger and heavier—and on older mares, lower—is that the vagina is no longer horizontal or tipped to the outside,” Crowe says. “It will tip back into the abdomen. The mare may begin to drip a little urine or have vaginitis. It all has to do with the weight of the baby and changing anatomy. Any notice of dis- charge should be investigated.”
MISSING THE DUE DATE
• Premature Delivery- Much like a premature child, a premature foal brings a new set of challenges. If a broodmare that is not within three weeks of foaling shows signs of doing so, call a veterinarian immediately. However, healthy mares can foal prematurely, before 325 days of gestation. “If the foal comes before 325 days, a vet needs to be there to help the foal survive,” Crowe says. “The foal may not be able to control its own temperature or breathe prop- erly, and the mare may not have had enough time to produce colostrum. If the baby doesn’t get the first milk, it may be immune compromised.”
• Over Due- “The opposite happens all the time—a mare going way past her due date. Prolonged gestation is over 360 days,” Crowe says. “One cause of this is Fescue Toxicosis, which comes from fescue grasses. We don’t have fescue grass in Texas, but several states do. “I would say that if your mare has reached 360 days and has no signs of an udder, it is a good idea to call the vet to do a rectal exam or ultrasound and make sure there is a live baby. There is a wonderful drug called domperidone that the vet can treat the mare with to take care of [the disease].”
Crowe also notes that older mares can hold their foals longer, and knowing a mare’s past foaling habits can keep owners from worrying needlessly.
The final reason a mare may be past her due date is one of Crowe’s least favorite diagnoses—she is not pregnant.
“Every year I have some mares who get to their due date and don’t foal. The owner calls and says the mare is big and fat, but doesn’t have an udder by her due date,” she explains. “Often, I do a rectal exam and there is no baby. It is sad to tell an owner who is looking forward to a baby that there is none. The owner has fed and fed this mare thinking she is pregnant, and she is fat from overfeeding and has no horse baby.”
Horse & Rider- Smart Chic Olena
Horse & Rider
February 2004Dr. Khris Crowe, resident veterinarian at the Babcock Ranch, regards her 15-hand charge as one of the most unique equine personalities she's ever come in contact with.
"Intelligence is sometimes hard to measure in a horse," she says. "But Chic is incredibly intuitive. He has an active mind and he knows his environment. Subtle things affect him?for example, he wants to be the first horse to the breeding shed. He also wants to have the first and the last carrot. If I forget and give another horse the last carrot, then go back to the barn a couple of hours later, Chic won't take a carrot from me. That's just how he is."
Crowe believes Chic's personality and intelligence helped him move fluidly between the disciplines of cutting and reining, excelling in both.
"He needs that kind of stimulus and thrives on it," she explains. "A full, active environment makes him a very happy horse."
Crowe, who handles about a hundred Smart Chic Olena offspring each year, says his foals are also highly intelligent.
"They're very accepting of people," she says. "They recognize that what you ask of them is for their own good. There's no escalation of excitement."
Ask The Vet by Dr Khris Crowe
Ask the Vet: By Dr. Khris CroweTraining Young Horses/Eye Sore
Clicking Sounds/Hypothyroidism
Photo to the left:
*ASADD++ THE Lion of Egypt
& his vet Dr Khris Crowe DVM MS