Lynda' Story

Lynda tragically lost a horse to Large Strongyles earlier this year. Her story, is to use the words of my eldest daughter 'very interesting and quite moving too'. Although Lynda had done everything right the worming programme she was following, failed when a simple worm count would probably have identified the problem early enough to have administered the correct wormer. Although she lives in the USA  it eventually fell to us to identify the worm and help her to gain understanding of what went wrong.

I asked her if we could tell the conclusion to her story on the site as I admire her courage and the the narrative is most compelling. Lynda's reply in her own words was "I would be most honored that our experience may be of help to someone through your website. It is greatly hoped that our loss may in some way help others realize the importance of this issue. And thus, FanC's life will continue to bless people."

25th April 2006

Things are ok here so far. We have cleaned the paddocks & wormed everyone. The first horses wormed  are due their recheck first week of May, & the others follow weekly thereafter. I am glad to say that so far no one else seems ill. Although they all did have worms.

I have spoken to everyone I can about this experience, & how lethal it is. So far, it seems that lay people like myself, & even some more experienced people, do not really understand what the large strongyle actually are, what damage they actually create, & what other names they are known as. Most just buy the products, thinking a worm is a worm is worm. They vaccinate their horses & tell doc to tube worm them, thinking that is a cure all. The majority do not seem to realize that the only sure way of monitoring worms in horses is through regular fecal analysis, moving the horses around, &/or raking out the paddocks, rotating with cattle, etc. etc. You know what I'm saying.

I was very ignorant about this facet of care to my horses. Sure, I knew to keep stalls clean, use a reg. worming schedule, but not about the rest of it. & I think most "average horse owners" like myself do not. And sadly, many really don't care. Horse breeders, businesses, professionals, are the majority who use these methods.

I hope to use my experience of losing such a beloved friend to educate others. However, as I said before, many don't  care. They ride, throw their horses out to pasture again, feed them for months, until they decide to ride again. Their horses don't see farriers for a couple of years at a time. And they're lucky to be wormed once a year. Which breaks my heart for my FanC, as we did try so hard to do things right for her. Guess it's just luck of the draw. And my ignorance of how the nature of worms work.

Nevertheless, from our experiences we should learn. So we are trying. Oddly enough, I used to preach to my husband about needing to get one horse or another to the vet. & Ronnie would drag his feet. Now, he beats me to the draw about checking them, & all the additional things. He learned a real lesson through this as well. I am grateful for that.

When we love our horses as many of us do, they become like children to us. In trying to understand & make sense of losing FanC, there were comments made to me that became a comfort.

The first was "that perhaps Mama horse & little Jubilee were sent along because 1/ they needed someone to really love them, & 2/ perhaps the good Lord knew FanC would be going home soon, & I would need someone else to help my heart heal.  And the other comment was that perhaps FanC had been sent to be a teacher, & with her job done, perhaps God saw that another horse needed me more. For FanC was my first actual experience in raising & training a horse from foal to the higher education of reigning, side passess, etc. She was part of a wonderful experience.

Because of the initial injury, & then my fear, Shiloh became simply a pasture buddy for our foals. FanC was no threat, & easy to ride. Although, I had forgotten that she had not always been that way. Today, Shiloh is learning to reign. He is showing a nice little gait as well, I think a single foot. & I am quite proud of myself for facing the fear of this particular horse. Ironically, I have always been one to get right back on the horse that threw me. But the run-away put the fear of God in me I guess. LoL. And some of his goofy antics between trainings did nothing to boost my confidence. But we are both on the road to recovery of our confidence in one another. And simply put, had FanC not passed away, I would never have dealt with this fear of Shiloh again. He would have remained a pasture buddy with great ground work, & I'd have ridden FanC til she was too old to carry me. So something wonderful has risen from my grief.