Rebel has had surgery. Dr Richardson (Barbaro's surgeon) is happy with the progress Rebel is making. He has Rebel on only a small dose of bute (horse type aspirin). Considering he has had a bone removed from his hip and calcified excess bone growth literally sawed from his ankle, he is amazingly in good spirits. Once the cast is removed sometime next week, Rebel will be released and returned to the rescue farm in Georgia. He will need daily special attention and care.

Rebel is his loving self!

Kathy visited Rebel this morning. He was pretty sore walking down the hall but was in good spirit. Poor guy will have to learn to walk on the new angle of his foot. He is still trying to step down on his toe rather than flat and more normal. He has a 12 inch incision on his leg. It will take time to heal, what an ambitious surgery it was. Kathy saw the before and after x-rays. She said they really made a diference. So Rebel's Guardian Angel, Kathy, kissed him goodbye and headed to the airport. She will bring pictures and more stories for us to enjoy. We need to plan a coming home party for Rebel! Good boy, Rebel.

Morning After Surgery

March 15, 2007

Rebel's medication from surgery is out of his system now. He will be on 1.5 grams of bute and they veterinarians are hoping that is all he will need to keep him comfortable. He is on antibiotic to insure no infection gets into his leg. That was a long surgery and germs could have entered that area. Let's hope it is all under control and Rebel progresses well. He should be home in a few weeks if all goes well. The worst is over. Kathy can catch her breath and we can all breath a little easier.

Update After Surgery

The picture at the right was taken at the rescue barn before Rebel left for New Bolton. It is a picture of his guardian angels, Kathy and Larry and the other guardian angel (circle above and left of Rebel). Believe what you want to believe.

OK, now the Update.

Rebel has a cast on his leg from the knee down. You can not see his hoof but he is not in pain. A bone and bone marrow was also taken from his hip to add to the bone removed during surgery. He walked down the isle and went into his stall. He happily eat grain and hay. Kathy stayed and visited him after surgery. Dr. Richardson said the surgery went well. Rebel's bones were much stronger than he expected. The surgery lasted several hours but the outcome looks good for Rebel. He may not be perfect but his foot will now step more correctly. He will be much more comfortable. He may need a special shoe but that will be determined later. Rebel will stay in this cast for about 2 weeks. Once the new cast is put on and he looks like everything is healing well, he can come home. Oh, the anxiety for us humans.

Rebel acts like this is just another day...for him it may seem that way but we know it is really series of better days and better years for Rebel and all who love him.

Rebel the Racking Horse March 13, 2007

Meet Rebel. He's 9 years old. He was donated to the Rescue Farm over a year ago. The farm is in Cumming, GA. http://www.savethehorses.org/ We take in needy and unwanted horses regularly. This is just one special case.

Rebel was trained well and shown in Racking horse classes. The previous owner called Rebel a World Famous Horse but Rebel was injured. The local owner stopped by the farm to talk about Rebel's injury. He described it to me as proud flesh from a wound. He told me Rebel's leg had fallen through a wooden bridge and Rebel was stuck in the bridge for 3 days. Does this mean people watched him stuck in a bridge for 3 days or that no one checked him for 3 days? I don't have that answer.

What I do know is Rebel's leg needed help. The owner brought Rebel to the rescue farm to show me the injury. He said he had taken him to a local veterinarian but the injury was still bad. He unloaded the horse from the trailer, handed me the lead rope and said, "He's yours." I didn't need another horse, especially one that needed vet bills added to regular care. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. Rebel needed help desperately.

Dr. Ken Marcella x-rayed the injury and said it was about 8 months old. He was disappointed because he was hoping the bones were not yet fused and we had room to change the angle of his fetlock joint. The only thing we could do was have a custom made shoe made to keep his foot landing flat. Our farrier forged a shoe and Rebel walked pretty well but keeping the shoe on was a real problem. Different things were tried to keep the shoe on so we just left him barefoot.

Rebel is a very sweet horse. He tugs at the hearts of the volunteers and visitors alike but he especially got deep into the heart of long time volunteer, Kathy. Kathy went on a mission of finding help for Rebel. She asked Veterinarians at Vet schools in the South to look at his x-rays. Then hope came from North Carolina but after the surgeon took a closer look, he referred Rebel's x-rays to Dr Dean Richardson at New Bolton. (Dr Richardson was the surgeon that operated and cared for Barbaro).

When Dr Richardson agreed to do the surgery, arrangements were made for Rebel to go to Pennsylvania. You may be wondering the estimated cost...how does $7000. sound? That doesn't include transport to and from Georgia. That's only an estimate! It could go higher. Surgery was scheduled for yesterday, Tuesday, March 13, 2007. Kathy flew up on Monday so she could be there to make Rebel feel comfortable and because she cares for Rebel so much. He doesn't know what his biggest fan had done for him. She never gave up, never took "NO" for an answer. All he knows is he is at a new barn and Kathy is there to love and groom him. An emergency came in Tuesday morning so Rebel's surgery was rescheduled for today, Wednesday, March 14. Hold tight and wait for an update!

If you have an extra dollar or two you won't miss, please donate to Rebel's costs at Paypal http://savethehorses.org/html/donations.html.