Monday Memoir, April 8, 1966

 April 1966, all at once we were besieged with equine sickness again. Twinkles was Patsy's second colt, about a year old at this time. The next few weeks were an almost endless sequence of equine health problems, not all of which ended well. By the end of it I was a wreck!

April 8, 1966 Fri

A hard day’s night and a hard night’s day following one another. I slept about two hours last night on the kitchen floor between Twinkles watches. At daylight we gave her another enema (Charlie Mike and I) and got several bits of mucus and pus out of  her. She just kept getting worse, though. Finally we headed for  the pasture. Charlie Mike and I did the chores and Mom went over to Shauffler’s for some medicine. Some creep from Texas came by to 'look at the mules' and about scared me. I was so tired. I knew I’d be dead if I was any tireder. When we got home, a guy was there talking to the Boss. He wanted to buy  burro to go on a pack trip into Sycamore hunting buried treasure. He and a buddy bought Lila for $60.  In the afternoon Dad hauled them up to the tank where we released Rita and left them. Charlie Mike and I did the chores and hunted a little pottery. Twink was still worse so we took her over to Shauffler. He met us on the road and treated her in the trailer. He said he thought she had an aneurysm and might die. But anyway she had a chance.  Chief had a little distress while we did the evening chores so we had to watch him. At 10:00 we gave Twink another shot of tranquilizer and went to bed. Charlie Mike and I went down to check at 12:00. Twink was a little restless but she seemed better. Chief was not getting bad fast anyway. This has been quite an amazing day--good and bad. I had a two hour nap in mid-afternoon that saved me, more or less. 

Over the next couple of weeks I spent quite a few nights on the kitchen floor, fully dressed with maybe a pillow and a light blanket so I could get up every other hour to go check on, administer medicine or get and walk an animal in distress. I've always been a light sleeper and if needed, I could almost make myself wake up on a pre-set schedule. I used that many years later when my husband had a severe staff infection and had to have an IV antibiotic via a surgically inserted port several times in each 24 hour period for about ten days. Back in 1966, it became an ongoing near-nightmare as one after another of our herd fell ill to this peculiar ailment. There was colic, some signs of distemper and in some cases other symptoms. In some ways it almost seemed there was "something in the air"  for I knew of some other people's equines having problem about the same time. I guess I will never know. 

We took several over the the Vet Clinic and had Dr Shauffler out to Clarkdale as well . The sickness all occurred there at our corrals in the canyon, none at the pasture. Equine colic is a digestive problem--a bit like a fussy baby-- when there is pain and may be diarrhea or blockage. The biggest danger is for the animal to get down and roll in their agony, frequently twisting a gut in the process.  Surgery is usually the only way to save them and can still be very iffy. Walking them and keeping them on their feet is about the only way to deal with it. How many miles did I stumble up and down the alley in the dark...not quite sleep walking.

 Lila was a little black jenny burro we had.  The would-be-treasure-hunters returned in a day or two and we took the burro back, charging them some rent for her use. That was just one example of weird things that happened off and on. We once almost rented some mules to a Walt Disney production being filmed in the Verde Valley but the stock boss balked at what seemed to us a reasonable contract. They may have gotten some mules elsewhere.

Twinkles did recover, by the way, and was still with us some months later. Her final story will be related in 1967-8 events if I get that far. She had a sweet nature as a young mare and I am sorry I did not get to train her as I had her brother Patrick. Unfortunately, although she did recover within a few days, a number of others soon had their turns with this mysterious sickness and there were many more hard nights to get through. 

Photos: First is Patsy with new Twinkles the previous late spring. Then Charlie Mike with Twink, about the time of this situation. He had claimed her and named her for that pretty star on her face.  And finally, Lila with one of her colts. Baby burros are so darn cute!