I began thinking I may not be massaging enough in the right place or was I using the heat and cold in the right place? That’s when I had thought that some chiropractic advice may help to keep her growing straight as with this growth spurt she was going through a lot of changes. A couple, she, a massage therapist and he a chiropractor came to visit Tifrons.   By the second treatment, I was already second guessing my decision.  It was during one of the chiro treatments that Tifrons was hurt. The manipulation of one hip was too much. She had been acting all feisty and the second he did the maneuver she dropped her head, ears went back, started to roll back and the hind leg vibrating. He had said her hip was out. I checked on her often the rest of that day and she was still having difficulty so I gave her pain meds and massage. I massaged several times a day and used lots of blue lotion for warmth.

This was very slow to improve.  When I opened the stall to let her play in the alley she came out slowly and stiff. I contacted the therapist and expressed my concern; I did not like to keep giving the medication as it had its risks too.  She had recommended that I give Tifrons some herbal treatments. The therapist made a concoction of what looked like a variety of leaves that I was to soak like tea and then give to Tifrons. It contained natural anti-inflammatory, something for pain and something to protect the stomach. I found that it made her a poop a little runny and let her know. My farm vet was due the next day to give vaccinations to several horses, including Tifrons and I thought I would ask him about Tifrons. On the day the vet came to the barn, I went to halter Tifrons and thought that she was not her usual cheeky self. When I walked her outside, I could see that she was not right and looked slightly bloated.  The vet arrived just as I was to take her temperature. He said she had no fever and did not believe her to be sick. I explained the situation with the hip and he asked about pain meds  (I told him what I knew) he suggested I keep massaging and give it more time.  He gave her the vaccination and put her back in the stall.  I noticed that she laid down right away and not poking her nose through the bars to watch what was going on, as she usually did.  He finished and left, and I took her back out. She did not want to have an apple so I new her tummy was upset. I walked her for close to an hour and she had lots of gas.  I kept a close eye on her food and water consumption from then on.  I wondered if she was still in the stall too much and decided to put her out with her mom every day for several hours for more exercise and stimulation.  She seemed to be eating and drinking normally. Rhonda, a good friend to me and the horses, recommended her vet several times as my current one seemed to be uninterested. Dr. M and his wife came and visited with Tifrons for several hours in the freezing cold barn. Evaluating her from top to bottom and got to know her big heart and special spirit.  He was very honest and said he did not know what the answers were, but assured me that what I was doing was the right things for her EXCEPT the chiropractic work.  He explained that the muscles in her back end are not as strong as a normal filly, because she was on stall rest most of the time now.  It was his belief that because of her atrophied muscles she did not have the structure to have these manipulations done, without causing damage.  I told him of her gas colic the previous week and said I'd thought her stool was plentiful but now that I stopped the "tea" a little dry.  He suggested during this visit that she "looks somewhat like a dwarf" Of course I looked it up on the internet and found nothing to confirm it.

Dr. M visited our barn two days later and told me that Tifrons has made a spot in his heart and the he had experience with electro-acupuncture and was not sure if it would work but really wanted to try.  He said he wanted to help her and would not charge me, even though he would have to come three times a week for treatments.  I wasn't sure. I told him that I felt guilty that I had gone with the chiropractic treatments and that she was hurt.  He explained how the treatment worked and I decided to go with it. He was to start in March.

February 8, was her first birthday. We took lots of walks around the yard and she was bright eyed and frisky.  I thought a lot that day of what the previous year was all about for the both of us.  She and I were very close because we had spent so much time together. Even as I cleaned the barn she would be in the alley way, bugging the other horses through the stall bars or making sure if there was any halter, ropes, brooms, shovels, phones, coffees anything that was hanging up was knocked to the floor. She would even grab the broom by the bristles and drag it about the alley like she was helping. When she would finish eating and I would let her out right away and if I were late, she would be waiting at the stall door like a race horse at the starting gate and once the door was open she would give me a shoulder check and charge out of the barn tossing her head and striking the ground, chasing off the cat and dog and sassing any horse that was around. She kept me in my place and let me know when I was slipping.

On February 9, our morning visit went fine; I put on her rain coat and put her in the stall/ walk out, with her mom.  She ran about being cheeky.  By noon, I could here her mom calling.  I was in the house and she usually would call if she heard me come out, as she always thought I was coming to feed her. But from in the house I could hear her call and call and call. I figured she was really wanting me for something so my daughter and I headed to the barn.  Inside the stall, Tifrons had been cast against the wall. When we flipped her over, we saw that she was covered in diarrhea. I removed her rain sheet, put on her halter and headed outside.  I could see she was bloated again. I walked her a while and then she fell and rolled violently, I couldn't stop her right away and finally tugged her enough to stand her up.  Rhonda came right away and we gave Tifrons Banamine then she seemed to settle. I stayed in the stall with her as she was lying down, but several hours later she started rolling again. Another dose of Bananmine and I called Dr. Claire (the vet on call). She arrived quickly and after examining Tifrons, determined there was a blockage, either impaction or twist. She hydrated and administered mineral oil in hopes to get things moving.  Dr. Claire was very honest and explained everything that was going on insides Tifrons' little body.  I was so thankful that Rhonda had stayed as she had seen horses colic before and also confirmed the minute by minute management and expectations. Tifrons' pain was difficult to manage. Dr. Claire gave her injections to relieve pain and Tifrons would walk and rest but then again fall to the ground, all the time her tummy bloating larger. We spent the night walking her between pain spells, it was determined that nothing was moving and the gas build up was so severe, Tifrons intestine would eventually burst. We decided that we would not allow any more suffering and took her to see her mom.  The mare is big enough to look over the dividing walls in the barn and had kept looking into Tifrons' stall to see her baby struggling and us cuddling her. I led Tifrons to the front of her moms stall so that she could be close. The mare made those low sounds she made at the birth, bonding.  I played a song that Tifrons and I had cuddled to many times "The dance" by Garth Brooks.  It was on one of my barn CD's and previously when it played it made me really feel close with her and appreciate who she was to me.   I wrapped her in the same wool blanket that she and I would sit on while giving her oxygen. She lay quietly with all of us, I caressed her face and told her she was my beauty, loving her and telling her how special she was, and very peacefully she was put to sleep, just as the sun broke at dawn. 
Thank you to Dr. Claire and good friend Rhonda for staying with us, crying with us, in the freezing barn, all night long.

The days had been cold and wet, but this day was clear, cloudless and warm. 
I knew that she could find her way to the green grasses of heaven. She can run straight and strong remembering me as I remember her, with love.