Terri Farley

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Thankful

Dear Readers,
"Sweetheart", the little Sand Springs orphan foal that has been having such a tough time is finally improving. She is eating, drinking and she's showing interest in other animals and her human mom! I know she would thank you for all your kind thoughts, if she could.

Here's the link to her web page, where you can see lots of new photos.

http://equine.wisecomp.com/SSOrphan.html

Since you can't give her a hug, find someone who needs one!
Happy Thanksgiving,
Terri

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Saturday, November 19, 2005

More from Last Chance Ranch

From Andi:
Just 3 weeks after we lost our last orphan mustang,in comes little Sweetheart. We are bound and determined not to let her die too! And the amazing part is she is just as determined to live! I have never seen an orphan foal as "down" as she is and still keeping fighting.
Generally, scours makes them so sick and depressed they lose the desire to eat, and can die if not tended to.Not Sweetheart! She's had one hoof in the grave and struggles with the other 3 to bring herself back out again!
She has never stopped eating or drinking, allows us to blanket her, clean her up, stuff things in her mouth, check her temperature daily and poke her with needles.And after we are all done messing with her, I squat down in front of her and we talk. I tell her there are tons of people out there all praying for her to live and she can't let them down.
She drops her head to my face and nuzzles me, as if she's saying it's OK, she won't let them, or us, down. She'll bump me with her nose, wanting me to scratch all those itchy spots. I oblige. I hug her and she leans into me, enjoying the contact of this strange, 2 legged mother of hers.
For 4 days now,the weather has cooperated with sunshine to allow her short spells out in the sun and fresh air and she relishes every minute. She is just so happy to be alive and we are happy she's alive too!

Andi of Last Chance Ranch has an article called "Simply Amazing" about Sweetheart in November's Equestrian Trails Incorporated.

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Orphan Update

from Andi at Last Chance Ranch:

I got Sweetheart some Vitamin B complex with Thiamine shots. She was laying down next to her feed trough when I went out yesterday morning, with her head in the trough eating. She hadn’t drank much water and if I had known she was down like that, I would have brought some milk for her to drink because she was thirsty! But all I had was the Resorb electrolyte water and poured some in a bucket and took to her where she was laying down and she drank about ½ gallon right off the bat! But she still wouldn’t/couldn’t get up. I finished with my chores and went to the clinic and got the “Super B” shots. I gave her one while she was laying down and in about 15 minutes, she was interested in getting up. Even when she was laying down, she was alert, perky, ears up, eyes bright, whinnied at me, etc. After about 3 tries, she got up and started eating her Foal Lac pellets. She was a little wobbly but the longer she ate, the better she got. I stayed out with her most of the morning and she was doing better for sure. This girl has the strongest will to live of any orphan I have ever seen!

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Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Exploring Artists

Dear Readers,
Lots of you are artists as well as readers and writers & you've asked me about Greg Call, cover artist for the Phantom Stallion series. Though I've never met Greg Call, I'm a great admirer of his work. Here's how to peek at his portfolio.

1. Go to : kidshannon.com
2. At the top of the home page, there's a drop down menu which says SELECT AN ARTIST
Select : Greg Call
3. Enjoy samples of his beautiful work including (on page 4) the Phantom and New Moon!

Best,
Terri

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Monday, November 14, 2005

Wild Orphans, Poetry & You

Dear Readers,
PhantomStallion.com's mini-update over the weekend includes things like...
News page: Last Chance Ranch's name choice for the orphan filly & a new photo
The Author page: a new link (scroll way down to turquoise handwriting)
Writers Workshop: the Writingkid link offers young authors chances to write on topics from The Day I Would Like to Forget to peer pressure, announces writing contests limited to 7-8 graders, to Floridians, Canadians, teens whose parents were born in other countries, and well, let's put it this way. If you can't find a competition which catches your interest, you don't really want to write.
Best to you,
Terri

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Posted by Terri Farley @ 6:16 PM 0 comments

News from Last Chance Ranch

Dear Readers,

Sorry for the blog problems.

More seriously, please keep the tiny filly at Last Chance Ranch in your thoughts and prayers. It's cold and snowy in her part of Oregon and she's not doing well, though the humans "mothering" her are working as hard as they can to save her life. Here's my most recent note from Andi Harmon:

The Vet doesn't know why she isn't getting over her scours. He said it's a possibility her immune system has been compromised but the BLM is limited on the amount of funds they spend for such things and we are limited on funds in general just caring for her and our other horses. For BLM the cost of a blood test for a single horse is way more than the adoption fee brings in and to run diagnostics on an orphan that may not make it, and would be adopted for only $25 (orphan foal fee) is hard to justify in their budget.

Still, she is one tough little girl and is a fighter and I'm hoping she pulls thru. She is getting so weak from the scours it scares me but we are doing everything we know of to help her. We have a heater out in her stall but need to get a better one - it doesn't put out much heat. So I'm going to Big R, Rite Aid and King's to see what we have in stock here today. When we are out with her, we have a propane bottle we can run and when she's warm, she feels lots better. If only this dang weather would cooperate! We had snow yesterday and rain and wind today. She wants to go outside and graze so much but we can't let her out in this weather. We keep her blanketed and a light and radio on in her stall and when we sit with her, she eats really good and she drinks lots. The Vet gave us some stuff called "Resorb" that is for calf scours to replace the electrolytes she's lost and she drank 2 gallons of that over the weekend, so that's good. We are giving her all the hay and Foal Lac pellets she will eat but she has lost so much weight and gone down so much, I don't know if it is going to be enough to pull her out of it. We are giving her sucralfate for ulcers along with a little Pepto Bismal and giving her some probiotics foal paste as well.

All we can do is hope and pray at this point, I guess. After I feed all the horses and cows and dogs and cats and eat breakfast myself, I'll get a book and go out and sit with her for a few hours and read and keep her company. She's getting scalded from the scours and doesn't want us cleaning her any more and we've been putting Desenex on her little butt for the "diaper rash", so to speak but I think all that stresses her too because it hurts her.

Life is fragile and all your all your readers' thoughts and prayers for the baby sure wouldn't hurt.

Andi

Burns, Oregon

Last Chance Ranch

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Friday, November 04, 2005

Filly's First Snow

Dear Readers,

You never disappoint me! The Last Chance Ranch is getting hundreds of name suggestions from you and this time next week the orphaned filly will have her own name. I thought you'd like to hear how she's doing from Andi at Last Chance Ranch:

Well, the little girl got to experience her first snow today! And her first foal blanket as well. Not sure which she liked the least! I only put the blanket on her when she went out while it was snowing so she wouldn't get too wet and cold and get sick. The blanket sort of fits . . . her little butt is hanging out but at least it covers her chest area, which is the most important thing! I showed her how to use her foot to scrape away the snow to find grass and she caught on to that quickly! She stayed out about an hour or so this morning, then I put her back in her stall, towel dried her off and gave her some fresh alfalfa pieces and Foal Lac pellets. She seems to be doing well on the pellets and has a pretty good appetite. I wish I had another one about her size for company for her and to help encourage her to eat better. She's a little depressed - common for orphans - and loves the attention. Since it was nasty most of the day today, I spent a lot of time hanging out in her stall with her and I think she liked that.

There are a few more, new photos of her on her site . . .

http://equine.wisecomp.com/SSOrphan.html

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Wednesday, November 02, 2005

A WILD FILLY IS WAITING

THE LAST CHANCE RANCH IN OREGON NEEDS A NAME FOR ITS NEWEST ORPHAN FILLY AND THEY'VE ASKED PHANTOM STALLION READERS TO HELP RIGHT NOW!

THIS BABY, A PAINT MUSTANG, WAS ROUNDED UP BY BLM AND BROUGHT IN OFF THE RANGE. AFTER ALL THE OTHER FOALS HAD FOUND THEIR MOTHERS, SHE WAS STILL ALONE.

If you'd like to SEE this wild filly, give her a name and have a chance to win three autographed PHANTOM STALLION books for your kindness, go to the NEWS page of Phantomstallion.com right away. She needs a name by November 10!

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