Jewel's Road to recovery
Jewel's Story
In early October, the staff at Lift Me Up! became very concerned about Jewel -last year's "Horse of the Year"- when she was coughing and having trouble breathing. Haymarket Vets started treating her for pneumonia and watched her closely. Even with antibiotics, she got worse over the next few days and finally collapsed in the field.
Jewel was rushed to the Emergency Vet at Morven Park and they found 4 strains of bacteria causing the pneumonia. Even worse, the medications caused her to colic (not pass manure) -a dangerous condition for a horse. With round-the-clock medication and monitoring at the hospital, she slowly got better and after 10 days under Emergency Vet care, she came back to the Lift Me Up! barn.
Taking over for doctors, many staff & volunteers pitched in for our own round-the-clock care of feeding every 4 hours (including a 4am shift) and giving meds every 8 hours (including a midnight shift). It was a Herculean effort, but many felt that Jewel was worth it! Jewel has clocked thousands of hours with riders over many years -including the most riding hours of all in 2022- as well as always being there for Wellness groups.
Jewel is back to good health and beaming with happiness! She returned to her cheerful and hardworking self and is greeting Wellness participants several days a week. But now, we are strapped with the vet bills and emergency vet stay that saved her life, but added up to a big amount!
Would you consider helping us relieve the $20K in vet and emergency stay bills with a donation? Any amount will help. Please indicate with your donation that you want to DONATE to Jewel's "Emergency Fund."
