Well It Started with Sarabear,

and went downhill from there...
As most of you figured out, the correct answer from last week's post was *V8 Whap* J. All of the Above - and golly what a non-shock, right? With me being me and all. Ha. I guess I'll begin at the beginning and bring you up to speed a little at a time over the next several posts. 
Some of you may remember that Miss Sarabear was diagnosed with heaves (COPD) a few years ago (here, here, here and here). Although we did everything we could to make her comfortable, it was pretty much a train wreck from the get go between the dry, dusty drought conditions and a sudden seemingly endless barrage of neighbors burning fires; all of which drifted straight through the pasture (where else?) In any case, these things combined to make poor Sara's life here a misery. Since the biggest help for a horse with heaves is to get them out of a dusty barn (which we don't have) on to a 24/7 turnout schedule (which we already had), we were not starting from a good place. The treatment options available to us were no longer helping, and we found ourselves standing at an unhappy crossroads...

Sometimes it just comes down to the tough choices; the kind you hope you never have to make. Sarabear's health had deteriorated to the point where she was really starting to suffer, and we had exhausted all of our options. After prayerful consideration we made the difficult decision to donate her to Auburn University (which has an awesome equine veterinary program). As much as I would have loved to be able to send her up there for treatment, financially it just wasn't an option for us (treatment costs can run up into the thousands). We had 8 other horses to consider, not to mention my own medical misadventures and we just couldn't take on a [potentially huge] financial burden for a giant question mark.  I knew Auburn had much more advanced options available there than we did here, and they would either be able to help ease her symptoms which would in turn alleviate her suffering (heaves is incurable) or put her down humanely and maybe be able to discover something that would help someone else's horse in the future. So, with lots of prayer and heavy hearts we bid a tearful farewell to our Sarabear in early spring of last year. I miss you very much sweet pea...

- Stay tuned for the letter B -

Since I hate to sign off on such a sad note, won't you please visit Sara's lens on Squidoo to read the silly story about her arrival? Hopefully, you'll find your smile while you're there (Disclaimer: this is a multitasking moment for me, since I'm supposed to be promoting Epic Farms's lenses - yet one more thing that has fallen by the wayside *sigh*). 

I hope you will enjoy: 

"The Sarabear Chronicles"

Have a blessed week everyone. Horsey hugs!!