Sassy and Laurietta's Story - Tragedy or Miracle - 4th Twin Pregnancy in Horses Part 4

Part One starts here

By 12:30 PST some postings on the thread on Mare Stare about the mare(horse) in the midst of her fourth delivery of twin foals (horses) had gotten ugly. There were at least 3 people openly attacking the horse owner while others came to Laurietta's defense and her right to make her own decisions for her horse. After several warnings moderators locked the thread and then deleted it. The parties responsible for trash talking about the horse owner were banned from the site. A new thread about the mare (horse) foaling twins was started with warnings to keep things positive or leave.

On another well trafficked horse site, the vultures circled their prey, then swooped in a feeding frenzy attacking the overwhelmed horse owner. One woman went so far as to send Laurietta an email and even to call her on the phone attacking Laurietta while the woman was in the midst of fighting to save the life of her mare (horse). Although no one on the horse thread openly took responsibilities for these actions, word for word the email and phone call mirrored a particular outspoken individual's posts from the locked thread at Mare Stare and those written on the other horse thread.

Watching on the Internet, onlookers speculated on the sights and horse before them. Some individuals on other horse sites posted like they had an inside track to the gospel truth, when in fact their "information" was purely conjecture. No one really knew for sure the details about the horse or foaling. All anyone knew was what they could see with their own eyes. The lighting was poor, the stall crowded and the mare (horse) turned facing towards the web cam.

Along the way viewers thought they saw things but couldn't be sure. Did Laurietta take something and put it in the corner? Maybe, maybe not. Was the dedicated team taking a break or giving up on the horse? Were the lights that crossed the stall really a truck and trailer preparing to take Sassy (horse) to OSU? The questions were as varied as the possibilities. No one knew, it was all speculation.

Many of the Internet participants had no idea how critical the sight they were witnessing really was. Those of us who did know on Mare Stare kept our speculations to ourselves. The focus was on sending as much positive energy and prayer as possible to help save this valiant mare (horse). Many held out hope that the foals(baby horses) would survive as well.

Finally, approximately three hours into this drama, something looked like it was pulled from the mare (horse) and placed on the ground behind her. The speculation immediately began again as the workers returned to the backside of the mare (horse), doing what looked like checking her internally again. Many watchers tried to figure out what was happening with the object on the ground but their vision was blocked by the position of mare and the people in the stall. However, at one point a portion of the object was visible. It was definitely a foal (baby horse). No one was tending to the foal (horse) and before long it was obvious why. A wheel barrow was brought into the stall and a very large limp foal was placed into it and removed from the stall. The foal (baby horse) was dead.

Soon the people in the stall were cleaning out the soiled bedding and putting down fresh straw. It was over. The people who had followed this mare faithfully on the Mare Stare site were going to have to wait for answers. There was more speculation, even some that there had never been twins at all because of the huge size of the dead foal (horse). Probably a lot of tears were shed for what could have been. Me, I was too numb to cry. For 3 hours I had re experienced the feelings of helplessness that had overwhelmed me last May as my own mare (horse) had labored with twins. All of the terror and desperation I'd watched on my computer I knew intimately. Now knowing they had only been able to save the mare (horse), I could only imagine their grief.

While the "Mare Starers (as they call themselves) tried to make sense of the event, they decided to set up a fund to help Laurietta pay for Sassy's (the horse) vet bills. The people back at Laurietta's barn took care of Sassy (the horse), having no idea what was being done in the heroic horse's name.

Meanwhile the other thread boiled over with rage attacking the horse owner and even Mare Stare spewing their contempt about something they never really understood. Even after the fact, continuing their rant, they kept the anger alive posting that Laurietta had had the gall to ask for help with the horse's vet bills

I can only imagine they did this to keep others on their horse thread angered and away from Mare Stare to avoid exposure for their own heartless behavior.(the email sent to Laurietta is posted openly on Mare Stare) By convincing their peers what a terrible, greedy, heartless person the horse owner was and how unreliable a source Mare Stare was, they wouldn't have to fear being exposed. From what I can tell, they didn't ever make an honest attempt to understand the situation. Instead they exploited it to build their own status among their horse community.

To be continued............

Part 5

For a upward lift on the subject of twins in Arabian horses read
Rare Twin Horses Born in Graham

Arabian horse Arabian horses horses horse twin foals twin horses