Coin's
Touch of Magic
V-63
In
this shot Magic just turned six and was 6 months pregnant
with her second foal.
Coin's Touch of Magic came
to us in January 2005 as a 7 1/2 month old filly.
She came a long distance in a pretty open stock trailer
during a very cold, freezing time of year. She and
a riding gelding were part of a trade we had made
with a young lady who had a love of horses but little
practical experience.
When
Magic arrived I just nearly dropped over in a dead faint. My heart just burst
with sympathy for her. Though her young owner was proud of her and did not in
any way abuse Magic knowingly, she had allowed the little filly to starve nearly
to death. You see Magic had been weaned far too young to begin with but then she
was placed in a smaller pen with some older mares. Feed was put in for the horses
of course but the mares would not let the little filly eat so she was cannibalizing
her own body to survive.
Magic
in December 2004 just prior to arriving
It is beyond me as to how
the little thing had survived so long to tell the
truth but she had a valiant heart and a will to live.
Magic had learned to drink lots and lots of water
to keep her belly from feeling quite so empty. That
one habit likely saved her life. Her hind legs were
stocked up badly and she was bracing on all four legs
just to stay on her feet. Truly I do not know how
she had made the trip without hanging herself because
she was tied in the trailer and had leaned back on
the rope for balance because she was too weak to stay
on her feet without support.
Magic had more hair on her
than a good Yak. Even her face had very long hair which nearly hid her eyes. The
hair on her body was so long that is had hidden the fact she was totally emaciated!
On a condition scale she would have been below a '0'. Absolutely no muscle mass
anywhere on her body! She was on the verge of renal failure and was so starved
her belly was distended.
Magic
two weeks after arrival
Her body
had begun breaking down and resorbing her tendons for protein. That made her legs
like rubber. Her legs bent back alarmingly at the knees and the hocks had to brace
against one another to hold her up.
She
was stunted in growth and was so small our smallest foal blanket fit her while
my two month old colts were wearing size large!
My
heart just went out to her. After a good lengthy discussion on how to feed horses
with the owner and her father, the people went away to purchase the needed things
and have since learned the proper way to feed.
It
was all Magic could do to walk to the barn, a matter of about 60 feet. Once inside
she was placed in a well bedded stall where there was fresh hay and water. I blanketed
her because though she had lots of hair she had no body mass so she was still
cold. Her poor little body could not generate heat so anything she did eat just
went to trying to keep warm enough to survive.
Once
in the stall Magic became very defensive. She was exhausted and too weak to fight
for her life so she did the only thing she knew how to do in order to be left
in peace. She snapped like a mad dog at anyone who came near her....except me.
Magic
at the end of February 2005
Magic
could not lay down. She had been bracing so long her legs were stiff and I'm sure
she was afraid to lay down for fear she couldn't get back up. Several times a
day I'd go in and massage her boney little body. Her eyes were feverishly bright
and sunken, her stomach was so shrunken she could not eat much at a time but she
continued to drink gallons of water.
The
vet was there that day and saw the pathetic little filly. He asked me if I wanted
him to put her down there and then. I'm sure most people would have done so but
Magic still had a spark and a will to live and it was my intention to allow her
the chance to do so.
Since it was January and
the coldest part of our Ozark winter which can be
quite brutal, there was not much sunshine with which
to fortify Magic with vitamins and warmth. Her stall
was kept deeply bedding in case she did lay down it
would help insulate her.
Finally
on the third afternoon following her arrival, Magic laid down. Actually I cannot
say whether she laid down on purpose or whether she collapsed and fell down, but
when I checked on her she was laying on the floor. She could not get up. Her legs
were too weak to push her up and she was so exhausted she just fell back and lay
there in defeat.
I went into her stall
and sat with her talking quietly and stroking her gently. After a while she relaxed
and let her head droop onto my lap. She fell into an exhausted deep sleep.
My
hand is resting on the top of her ribs which had absolutely no muscle mass on
them. Her spine was slightly above my hand! Two fingers could disappear between
her ribs. She was nothing but bone and hair...
Every
hour I would roll her over and massage her swollen legs. She was too weak to get
up to defecate or urinate so each hour I would clean up after her and place fresh
bedding under her. Each day I spent a good while just sitting and talking with
her. She would nibble food and guzzle the water I brought her.
Four days later she struggled
to get up. She was not making it on her own so I helped
her and she finally got up. The sun was out and had
a little warmth to it so I took her blanket off and
let her out in the paddock to get some sun while I
cleaned her stall and rebedded it. She was still very
wobbly on her legs
Several
weeks after arriving Magic was no longer bracing her hocks together to stand and
could come out in the sun for short periods. She still had to rest a lot.
Magic
was so thin I could lay my hand sideways on top of her ribs like a shelf and her
spine was still above my hand. I could lay several fingers between her ribs and
her breast bone was so sharp it felt as though it would break through the skin.
Any place on her body it was very difficult to find any muscle mass. Just lots
of bone and HAIR!
She had a very downy
under coat and long, long hair on top of that. The downy hair matted like angora
cats or rabbits do. Big gobby mats that won't brush out but have to be cut away
or make sores on the body.
Her hooves
had atrophied and were very small and extremely hard. I set up a sort of creep
feeder by hanging a feed bucket on the edge of the water tank. She loved the water
and would nibble bits of senior feed if the bucket was right next to the water.
Magic
could only eat a little at a time but she drank twice what a normal fully grown
horse would drink. That probably saved her life, she never got impacted once she
started eating hay.
By the time March rolled around Magic
was beginning to shape up a bit. On nice days we took her blanket off and let
her wander around in the farm yard for exercise and to nibble some of the winter
grass. We put hay and grain out for her so she would eat as continuously as possible.
Her pot belly began to even out as the Probios went to work to improve
her gut flora and she started digesting better. We had her on what is now called
ADM Moorman's Grostrong minerals to help replenish her body that was so ravaged.
Her eye got brighter and she was becoming much more friendly. She was not up to
much more than just a quiet stroll and then not far from her stall. At least it
got her out and moving a bit.
Magic
in March 2005 was beginning to put on a little muscle mass and was able to go
out part of the day in her own little area.
Magic's tendons and legs began to heal and straighten
as her little body soaked up the good nutrition and
began the long job of repairing itself. She was not
growing but she was starting to fill out a bit. Her
heart girth deepened and her neck began to strengthen
enough to hold her head up.
She was still a pathetic and funny looking little
girl but she was well loved and cared for. People who came to the farm would sneer
and turn up their noses at her but we didn't care. Over the years we have rehabbed
a lot of horses that people passed by without a second glance. Magic was one of
the worst to be certain but we could see her progress and knew it must be slow
if one is not to further damage the horse!
By June Magic was a year old though only about
the size of a weanling. She was beginning to look
like a horse lived inside all that hair all the same!
It took hours each day to brush and cut away the matted
and shaggy hair to reveal a new and much healthier
coat. By this time also, she was straightening significantly
in the legs and her neck was able to come all the
way up without her having to brace in the shoulders
to hold up the weight of her head.
Her ribs still showed just a tiny bit and her
body was finally beginning to grow. Though she was
still a little pot bellied, she was digesting her
food well and was gaining weight at a constant level.
Her hoof atrophy was beginning to correct itself though
her angles were still steep. It would take several
trims to set them to rights and as of yet her feet
simply were not growing enough to get that job done.
Magic
at 13 months June 2005 though still pot bellied from not breaking down fiber efficiently,
she is showing great signs of improvement!
It was in early June that we suffered a set back
with Magic. We had a period of bad storms that made
it necessary to keep her stalled for a week or so.
We live on a hill top that is a lightning magnet and
we have no sheltering hills or trees to buffer the
heavy, straight-line winds that frequent our area.
Not wanting to risk
having harm befall Magic she was kept indoors for the period of storms as were
all the other mares. Unfortunately by then Magic was getting to feel pretty good.
She, like all the others were more than ready to get outdoors at the first opportunity.
When the storms finally passed we let Magic out so I could strip her stall. She
went out in the barn yard as usual because she was still too frail and weak to
defend herself against other horses and we didn't want her to move excessively
until she was stronger.
Off she went like a raging bull. Galloping,bucking,
just having a great time! The first we had seen her
feel up to even doing more than a slow walk! BUT,
her body was not ready for such exercise! Truthfully
that is the one thing that had not occurred to me.
When I finished stripping and rebedding her stall,
filling her water tank and setting out feed I went
out to see where she was. My heart just sank when
I found her. She was in the back yard with her head
hanging low and was unable to use one hind leg! She
was so sore she was having a very difficult time even
trying to walk.
I could find nothing
wrong by examining her but the fact she was walking three legged was not imaginary!
SO I called the vet. He came and was amazed at the progress the little filly had
made and declared she had pulled some tendons and was going to be lame a good
long while. JUST what we didn't want to hear.
Magic
at 14 months. She is starting to look like a horse!
Magic
was so sore that it took three of us to get her into her stall. Once there she
just folded up on the floor and there is where she stayed. For more than two weeks
she could not get up. I went back to rolling her over every hour to keep her from
getting pressure sores and so that I could clean and rebed under her.
Once
again I sat with her and fed her by hand, brought her water and massaged her legs,
hips and shoulders. I don't know who was more depressed...Magic...or me. Some
people thought we should have her put out of her misery yet her eye told me she
had the will to live and wanted a chance. I had to give it to her!
Eventually she managed to get up again. First
with help and then within a few days on her own. All
together she was down most of the month of July. When
she got back to her feet she could touch the foot
to the ground but could not bear weight on it. She
had a very dreadful limp. A limp the vet said would
likely stay with her!
Magic had other ideas however. I put her on Aniflex
GL along with her Grostrong minerals, Probios and
all the clean hay and water she could eat as well
as her grain. By late August she was walking with
just a little limp. She could not run but at the walk
she was fairly comfortable. She knew not to get carried
away. Some days she would be more sore if she had
done too much the day before but overall she was showing
signs of improvement.
Her
once twisted and bowed legs had straightened out and her pasterns had come up.
Her body was rapidly catching up in size, in fact she had finally outgrown the
two colts that were in the barn the day she arrived.
She was bright as a penny and very easy to work
with. She KNEW she was one lucky little girl. We could
overlook the lame leg considering all she had been
through. We had quite made up our minds she was likely
going to be lame the rest of her life.
Coin's
Touch Of Magic at 15 months. She is making steady progress. No one would believe
she was the same starving waif that arrived in January
By early October of 2005 Magic was then 17 months
old. She was really beginning to shape up even though
she rested her leg quite frequently she had hardly
any limp left at the walk. She would trot on occasion
and then show signs of stiffness but the next morning
she would be fine again. If she cantered she got real
sore and would be lame the next couple days. We were
resigned to her lameness and did what we could to
keep her as comfortable as possible. She continued
to get the Aniflex GL to help her tendons heal and
develop.
Even given her limp she
had come light-years from where she was only ten months before! In fact the vet
could not believe it was even the same horse!
By the end of October,
2005, Magic was able to walk and trot without a limp or getting stiff. She could
canter for a short distance but budgeted her motion so she didn't get too sore.
We began to integrate her with a few of the young horses on the place so she would
have companionship and learn herd dynamics. It was at this time also that her
hooves finally began to grow again. We were able to get her first trim and looked
forward to getting her angles set to rights.
Magic nearly developed up to where she would have
been without her set backs. She had made a remarkable
recovery. The average eye would never know she had
suffered so much.
Fortunately she is a robust mare who has never been sick.
Considering her state of condition and all the stresses she went through it is
amazing she has never had a cold or an illness of any sort!
In latter November, 2005 Magic began to bulk up
and bone up. In fact she began to look like quite
the little chunk! Her winter hair came in fine and
silky and quite short like most of our other horses.
She was nearly black and was well on her way to becoming
a nice mare!
January
2006, 20 months old and one year after she arrived. Quite some difference!
From
this point on Magic's progress was very normal. Her feet, joints and bone caught
up and she began to grow along normal lines. She pastured with others and came
in at night. She got along with everyone and kept herself to a moderate amount
of exercise. At that point we thought she would never be able to run with the
other horses. She always seemed to lag behind and just take her time.
When
March of 2006 came around Magic was nearly two and was just as developed as any
other two year old. She still tired easier than the others but given the amount
of healing and catching up her body had to do it is no wonder in our opinion that
her energy was still a bit limited! She was hip high again and her body was lengthening.
When Magic turned two years old in May of
2006, she was a whole new horse. Shiny, sleek, fit and beautiful. She was beginning
to play more in the pasture and was able to canter and run for short distances
without going sore. She was by then totally in our hearts and was quite the pocket
pet. Oh she had a mind of her own at times but she was never difficult to handle
or in any way less than friendly. She remained a bit shy of strangers but would
soon warm to them if they spoke softly to her.
She
stuck out like a sore thumb on our farm because we had no other black based horse
on the place!
Magic
in March of 2006. She had become a very nice looking filly!
I
had never been real fond of blacks or bays but Magic's color is so rich and glossy
that I've become very fond of it. Most of the year she is very dark and never
faded looking.
Magic
in May of 2006 just turned 2 years.
It
was in the fall of 2006 that all of a sudden one day we realized that Magic was
galloping with the other mares without a limp or getting sore. Evidently her injury
had finally fully healed and she was just as sound as any other horse! We were
so pleased we had to call the vet! After all he was the one who had wanted to
put her down claiming she would die anyway...! He just shook his head in wonder
at the amazing recovery this little mare made.
The last photo we have of
Magic before she was sold was taken in December of
2006. She was two and a half years old and fit as
a fiddle as they say. Shortly after that in February
of 2007 we sold Magic. We had not planned to sell
her but there was a couple who were building a breeding
herd for a specific stallion that Magic would match
exceedingly well with. Though we had thought to keep
her for our own breeding program we let her go because
we felt she would do the breed and those people good
and would be an asset to them.
January
2007,Magic age 2 1/2..one month before we sold her.
Before selling her we made stipulations to the
affect should those people wish to sell Magic that
we would get first right of refusal. We also stipulated
that since Magic was not quite three years of age
that they wait at least until the fall of 2007 to
breed her the first time in order to give her more
time to complete her healing process and develop more.
Unfortunately Magic was bred shortly after leaving
us. She produced a very lovely colt for the people
in May of 2008, the month she turned four. As I had
predicted however, she was not able to maintain her
own body and milk for the foal at the same time. She
was expected to suffer the extreme heat and humidity
we get here in the south while fighting the persistent
biting insects and at the same time try to maintain
her body and still provide for her foal. . As a result
the foal was weaned early but Magic was not being
fed to her needs.
Magic's
foal born in May, 2008
Due to many reasons Magic's owners decided to
get out of breeding in the winter of 2008 after a
short season of disappointments. We reminded the owners
of our first right of refusal on Magic so we jumped
at the chance to get her back again. In January of
2009 Magic came home to us. We were really pleased
to have her back.
When she arrived we were sadly disappointed to
see her once more thin and shaggy. Magic came home
dull and wafer thin with her spine sticking up and
her hips protruding. She was spent and deficient but
ever so happy to be home! We set right to work bringing
her back to bloom and got her sorted out. In only
a few months she came out of her state of deficiency
to once again become the shiny, sleek beauty she was
meant to be.
Magic
as she came home January 2009. Underweight, malnourished and dull with long shaggy
hair again.
Magic enjoyed the summer out in our best pasture
where she played with her friends and spent the days
grazing on sweet Bermuda grass. She was brought back
up to the barn for the fall and winter. Once again
she was fit and healthy.
In November, 2010 we bred Magic to Foxvangen's
Solaris for a late September or early October foal
in 2011. We look forward to this foal with great anticipation.
Magic
running through the wash July 2009
Meantime, Magic is enjoying being part of our
mare band and frolicking in the pasture during the
summer. She comes in at night to her safe stall where
she is always happy to greet us and be loved on. She
has become quite social and sociable! She is the favorite
of our vet who thinks she's quite a miracle but he
also likes her looks! ( He's a QH man...lol)
Magic
in summer of 2009 age 5
While in pasture this summer
Magic seemed to come into her own. She became herd
boss to the group she was with and was more than ready
to be the leader. She broadened out and matured quite
nicely and her legs are now strong and healthy.
Magic
was bred in November 2009 for an early October foal in 2010. Keep watching for
her foal to be posted to her page.
Magic fit right in with
the senior mare band. She is quiet and respectful
even though when our herd alpha challenged her Magic
didn't back down. They got into a back to back kicking
contest that ended in a draw but Magic defers to the
alpha without issue now. She also defers to the other
mares even though she is now stronger than any of
them. They all respect her and give her space. She
has never instigated a problem which is a relief because
she is a very strong mare and could be a dynamo if
she so desired.
She wants to be friends
with everyone and has been seen scratching backs over the fence with the yearlings
as well. She does not mind the dogs, cats, chickens, goats....she is just a very
placid, content mare.
The things we want to capture
about Magic are her solid bones, joints and feet.
Her natural foxtrot and lack of pace. Her lovely,
calm disposition and her people loving spirit. What
we would like to improve would be to put a little
less bulk and coarseness on her offspring. We believe
Foxvangen's Solaris can do that.
Magic at age 5 fully
recovered from her deficient state.
UPDATE: Magic is now 6 years
old. In March 2010, she was 4 months pregnant. Over
the winter she finally finished maturing into a very
strong, robust mare. She is confident and bold and
has a quiet brain. She is starting to show her pregnancy
now. We have been debating whether she is a black
bay or actually a seal brown. We will be getting a
DNA test on her very soon to determine which she is.
Magic taken 3-19-10.
She is now mature at 6 years and is 4 months pregnant
with her second foal, sired by Foxvangen's Solaris.
It is now May 2010. Magic has shed out to her
summer color and is sleek and smooth as satin. She
is now a mature mare with a strong and powerful build
and a good conformation. She foxtrots in pasture and
is a self confident mare. She has a solid top line
and a very strong back. Her croup is well shaped and
she is conformationally correct.
As a blooming six year
old, Magic shows none of her unfortunate start in
life!
No one would ever guess this mare had such a tragic
start to life or the severe set back in condition
and development she suffered while at another home.
She is bright, healthy and active. Magic shows no
signs of her former difficulties. If she retains anything
from her former trials it is that she likes her food!
We look forward to her forthcoming foal with anticipation.
As a mature six year
old mare, Magic is solid and strong with well-balanced
conformation.
Magic is a very self
confident mare with a calm temperament. She is not
intimidated by much of anything and yet remains very
friendly and mild natured.
