My Best Friend
Stephanie Harper

Everyone should have a best friend.  Someone who is there for you through all the good times and the bad times.  Someone you can always count on.  My name is Stephanie Harper.  I am 14 years old and live in Mapleton, Utah. I’d like to introduce you to a very good friend of mine and why she means so much to me.

My best friend is my 11 year old, palomino foxtrotter named Delilah.  Delilah and I came to know each other about a year and a half ago.  My horse trainer, Tami Tanner at  “Hoofbeats to Healing, a Therapeutic Horseback Riding Center”, from  Palmyra, Utah,  found her for us.  She came into my life just when I needed a friend the most.  Delilah has helped me know who I am and what I want to become.  She has always been there for me.  She has been there for me when I’ve needed a shoulder to cry on and she has been there to show me what it’s like to be a winner in the show ring!   She has carried me through some trials.  And carried me through trails of the most beautiful scenery, sharing with me the magnificent countryside found in the mountains of Utah.  She is the most beautiful and amazing friend anyone could ever have.

Last month, July 5th, Delilah had a very unfortunate accident.  She was in her corral with her other pasture mates and as horses do sometimes they were pushing each other around.  Delilah reared up and her right front leg came down on top of the green horse panels where the two sections of panels connect.  There was just enough room for her leg to get caught above the hoof.  Her leg slid down and was stuck where the first set of pins connected the panels together.  We were not home when it happened and we figured she was struggling to free herself for around three hours.   When we found her she had flipped her self over on her back and was just hanging there.  We thought she was dead.   We had to get a saw and cut the pins to free her.  She was able to get up and stand but you could tell she was in shock and in pain.  With all her thrashing around she was pretty cut up.  We immediately called a Vet to come over and check her out.   We were told to give her pain medication, soak her foot in cold water several times a day and try to keep her quiet.  He also told us that with the circulation to her hoof cut off for so long there could be some serious damage.  If the tissue dies from the lack of circulation, her hoof could come off. We were told it’s a long and painful process for a horse to re-grow a hoof and if her hoof came off we might want to think about putting Delilah down.  It was kind of a wait and see game.  It would take about 5-7 days to tell how much damage was really done.

I can’t tell you how upset I was!   The thought of loosing Delilah was devastating to me!  I did not want to live without her!  She has always been there for me and I wanted her to know I was not going to give up on her.  I told her over and over not to give up….she had to fight this.  She could do it and she had to live!  Call me crazy, but I think she really understood what I was trying to tell her.

As the week progressed the damage began to show.  By day 7 it was recommended we take her to a specialist in South Jordan, Utah at South Valley Large Animal Clinic.  The doctors there were treating her very good but not giving her much hope.  They seriously wanted us to think about putting her down, especially after her hoof came off on Day 18.   She was in pain, not putting any weight on her bad leg and of course the fear was the other leg would go lame trying to hold all the weight of her body.   I begged my parents to not give up on her.  I knew Delilah, I knew she was a fighter and even though she had some pain she was telling me she wanted to live!

Thank goodness my parents decided to call and get a second opinion.  My mom called another Vet in Park City.  The Vet there said the Dr. who would be the best is a Dr. from Kentucky, Dr. Ric Redden, who is one of the leading Doctors in the business when it comes to the Equine foot. He is one of the few Doctors in the world who has developed a procedure to save horses who have lost their hoof.   It just so happened that Dr. Redden was in town and treating a horse that just had an amputation done by him.  It turned out to be, believe it or not, that horse was in the stall right next to Delilah!  We contacted Dr. Redden that night and he agreed to take a look at Delilah. He gave us some options as to what we could do to save her. He told us you don’t have to put her down. Of course it was not going to be cheap!   My parents knew what Delilah meant to me.  Giving up on Delilah now would be like giving up on me.  I am so glad we did not give up!  This was such good news!

Dr. Redden told us if the blood supply was still good to the laminae they could do what they call a “pin cast”.  This is where ¼ inch suture pins will be placed in the distal cannon bone and a cast applied with pro soft pads. This allows her to put her weight on the pins and help allow the hoof to heal and grow.  She will need to be in the cast about 5 weeks or as long as the pins hold up.   With the help from the staff at South Valley, the following day the pin cast was done successfully.   Delilah handled the surgery like a trooper.  She did not give the Doctors a bit of trouble. We walked Delilah back to her stall in her new cast and the first thing she wanted to do was eat!  You could see it in her eyes.  She was grateful we were able to do what we did for her. 

Dr. Redden re checked Delilah a week later, before he went home to Kentucky.  X-rays showed the pins were holding up good and you could actually see new hoof growth occurring!  I was so excited, all I could do was hug Delilah and Dr. Redden and say thank you!   What a miracle it was we found him when we did!  

What is also exciting is now there is hope for others, in Utah and the surrounding area, for possible treatment in situations like ours.  The Doctors at South Valley are now confident they can offer this kind of treatment at their facility.  A special thank you to Dr. Redden for sharing his expertise with them so they can use that knowledge to now help others out here in the West.  And thank you to South Valley Large Animal Clinic for providing the facility to do this kind of procedure!  Without them Delilah would not be here today!

Of course treatment like this is not without cost.  I guess you just need to decide how much your horse is worth to you.  Delilah was certainly not an expensive horse compared to some in the horse world, but to me she is priceless.    I am grateful to parents and Doctors and friends who have donated time and money to help save Delilah.  Who have cared enough to see how much she has meant to me and to do all they could do to save her.  She is not out of the woods yet.  There are still risks and things that could go wrong. It is going to be a long hard winter for her.   All we can do is hope and pray for the best.  Today, almost two weeks after surgery her pain level is down, her eyes are bright and she is alert and happier.  She has even tried to make an escape out her stall door!  She just wants to go home!   We hope to be able to do that soon!

The bills have been adding up fast.  Many have called and asked if they could donate funds or what they can do to help.  For that we are very grateful.  Thank you so much!   If you would like to keep in touch via email on Delilah’s progress, you can contact me at delilahsnews@aol.com.  I would be happy to let you know about her progress by adding you to my email updates list. We are all anxiously awaiting to see how this all turns out!

Delilah is my BEST FRIEND. We are BEST FRIENDS FOREVER! Even if I never ride her again we would still be BEST FRIENDS! I love my horse and want to do anything I can to help her live because that is what she is telling me she wants to do is live! And I don’t want to have to live without her!

Thanks for listening. Continue to Pray for Delilah!  Many Thanks!

Update August 13