Teddy's Angels

Monday was a Red-Letter Day.??

Why? Those of you who read “Shock and Awe” will remember the terrible tale of Teddy.

Teddy’s a large, strapping Thoroughbred gelding. His coat gleams like a new penny. He’s got a big white blaze and stockings, a powerful stride, a prodigious leap, and a horse-nality of a teddy bear, hence the name “Teddy.”

During the summer I bring my horses in the barn in the morning and turn them out at night. In the cool sanctuary of their stalls during the day, they are spared from the infernal heat and the incessant squadrons of flies that land on them no matter what fly spray you use.

On the morning of June 16, I came into the horse paddock to put the horses up, I noticed a shocking amount of flies crawling on Teddy’s front legs.?Why wasn’t he stomping to shoo them away???I could see through his sheer fly sheet, that his respiration rate was abnormally high.??When I asked him to take a step forward, he groaned.??Stripping him of the sheet, the reasons for these anomalies became clear:??He had had an accident in the night.

“Shock and Awe” relays what happened next: The arrival of the vet, the prognosis, the extraction of a 16” log from his chest, the cleansing of debris, flushing, packing, and suturing the wound, the discussion of continuing treatment, speculating if Teddy would tolerate the treatment and pain, if he would heal, and if not, when to euthanize.?

How fast had Teddy been running to ram a tree branch of that size into his chest???What made him do that in the night???Coyotes? (We’re regularly serenaded at night by packs of them.)??A nightmare???A hellish tiff with a pasture mate???Who knows. I just know that angels were watching over him, because the limb missed his heart, his lungs, and any major organs and although he was in shock, he was still alive.?

And angels just kept coming. They were there for him throughout the extraction. There for him in those who helped with his care and treatment.??There in those who who donated money to help pay for the veterinary expenses and in those who gave much needed medical supplies. There for him in all the offers to help with other farm chores, household needs, prayers, and good wishes.??

As Amelia Earhart, aviator and author, said “a single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.”?

Teddy had a forest of angels around him the whole time.

And Monday, after weeks of being cooped up in a stall, daily treatments, shots, and pills, Teddy got turned out to be in his treelined paddock once again.?

He bounded with joy. Sound, exuberant, beautiful.

Watching him brought tears to my eyes, and profound gratitude for angels abounding.

Cheery bye,

Susanna