July/August 2024 Issue

The News East Coast Horse Owners Need To Know OUR st YEAR 99 - PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT 280 LANC., PA 17604 Vol. 31 No. 3 July/August 2024 (Continued on page 28) Inside... By Lois Szymanski Every year a few ponies on the Chincoteague National Wild- life Refuge pass on, but efforts in early May to save a Misty descendent named Wildfire were nothing short of heroic. In the process, two unsuspecting visi- tors from Louisianna were drawn into the adventure of a lifetime. Wildfire was one of four Misty descendant mares who arrived in March 2018, that were placed on the island to bring back the Misty of Chincoteague lineage, which no longer existed in the wild herds. These mares joined a stallion who had been donated back in 2015. All five Misty descendants thrived on the island. On May 1, Chincoteague resident, Darcy Cole – who hikes regularly to check on the ponies and report injuries and foal births to the fire company - found Wildfire down in the marsh and immediately called saltwater cowboy, Hunter Leonard. That morning, veterinari- an, Dr. Martha Briley and her friend, vet technician, Ranada Vizena of Lake Charles, LA, were embarking on a two-day dream-of-a-lifetime trip, a boat tour with Cowboy Cruise Com- pany, Hunter’s business. When Hunter arrived, he was on the phone. “I heard him saying, ‘We need to get some calcium for this mare,” Dr. Briley recalled. “’We think she is hypocalcemic.” Hunter apologized and ex- plained that a mare he’d checked on was down in the marsh and he needed to get back to her. He said his dad, Arthur Leonard (the mayor of Chincoteague) could give them the tour instead. That’s when Dr. Briley and Ranada shared that they were a vet and vet tech and offered to help. “He sighed and explained that it was extremely muddy in the marsh, but he didn't actually refuse the offer,” Ranada recalled. “I told him I wouldn't mind ruin- ing a pair of shoes if we could be of help.” After transferring to Arthur Leonard’s boat, their first stop was Little Beach where Rip- tide and his herd of mares were grazing. “As Captain Hunter pulled up in a Polaris, Wildfire's filly chased him to the water,” Ranada recalled. “It was heartbreaking to see her clinging to the only thing that had been near the mare as he’d driven into the marsh to check her.” The ladies, from the swamps of Louisiana, took off their shoes, rolled up their pants and waded from the boat to the ATV. This was no big deal! The local vets, Dr. Jim Beach (who had donated Wildfire to the island), and Hunter all believed the mare could be calcium defi- cient and/or hypoglycemic. “Captain Hunter dropped us off with the mare and left to get his father-in-law [Billy Reed] and the meds the mare required,” Ranada said. Assessing the mare, Dr. Briley saw she had no apparent movement in her rear or rear limbs. Ranada remembered the heartbreak she felt. “The filly trotted about us calling for her mother,” she said. “I reached for her a few times, and she came to me cautiously at one point, barely brushing my outstretched fingers with her muzzle.” Ranada had grown up loving the book Misty of Chincoteague. She said it was a surreal feeling for a horse crazy girl. “If I could tell eight-year-old Ranada that she would one day be barefoot and muddy in the marsh of Assateague trying to help a wild mare and her three- week-old filly, she would have lived the rest of her life counting the days to the event. It was a dream come true, but with unfor- tunate circumstances,” she said. As the foal raced around them, Dr. Briley said Wildfire kept trying to sit up. When the supplies arrived, Ranada put the IV catheter in the mare’s jugular vein while Billy Reed held the bag. Wildfire, Treasured Misty of Chincoteague Descendent, is Lost But Her Filly Lives On Renata Vizena of Lake Charles, LA, comforts a prostrate Wildfire while trying to calm her filly. Vizena and her friend Dr. Martha Briley put their veterinary skills to good use when the pleasant boat ride they were expecting turned into an urgent rescue mission. Photo credit Dr. Martha Briley The pros’ advice for your hay, pastures & fencing … pgs. 10-21 Check out gorgeous horse farms for sale …pgs. 22-25 Charges against cop who rammed, killed horse dropped … pg. 4 … and much more!