On March 8th, at 6:30 A.M, the world welcomed a new angel. Roughly 120 pounds, Chase the Clouds Away (Chase) came into to this world with nothing but a high head. Being the cutest colt out there, Chase has huge slots to fill. The stallion that helped foal Chase, the 1996 Kentucky winner Grindstone. You could say that we all have hopes of making it that far with this little guys.Foaled out of the sweetest mare out there Plan A Game (Sofia). Chase was born with her personality. He’s all love, no fight. All he wants is to be right up in your face getting loves. In might be an understatement to say that he’s loved, and this diagnosis only brought him closer with already growing human relationships.

On March 10, Chase was officially diagnosed with Dummy Foal Syndrome. Dummy Foal is when a foul goes through dramatic changes in his first couple days of life. Resulting in tiredness, and loss of knowledge to be able to do simple things that a baby should be able to do such as nursing from his mom. While treatment is available, it’s not the cheapest. The diagnosis was that indeed during foaling Chase didn’t get enough oxygen into his brain, resulting in Dummy Foal. His  antibody levels (IgG) were routinely checked, since a low level of antibodies would make him very prone to infections. If warranted, other tests such as radiographs, ultrasonography or spinal fluid analysis can be put into play. These tests are performed in order to identify other organ involvement (pneumonia). Since dummy foal doesn’t just affect the brain, it can also affect organs such as the kidneys, and lungs. “Luckily for Chase, we got him treatment soon enough where the brain didn’t leak more information throughout his body to cause certain problems with other organs.” States source Fylnne Robert

This can last anywhere from 2-15 days. Luckily for Chase it was only a long seven. When the Fouls are diagnosed there is always an 80% chance that the Foul will pull through the syndrome without any permanent damage to the brain. No matter how bad the baby Syndrome might be, the pull through rate still remains at 80. The reason that I feel strongly towards this topic, is because this Syndrome has had a personal impact of myself. There might be treatments that are of course taken into play, but there is not prevention that can be given to the main before foaling time. Not only does this lower the babies emotional state, but it also puts the Foal in extreme pain, and no 48 hour day old Foal needs to go through what Chase did, and I strongly believe that. I not only spent nights upon nights up there with him, but I also pulled by end of the rope when it came to feeding and giving antibiotics. There’s somethings in this life that mean the world to you, and in this life mine is Chase.