Bessie was on the the Solihull News today as we were asking for donations. It was great to get such a chance to fundraise and ask for help. Bess has been doing well this week but it may be that she will stay at the clinic for at least another four weeks. This will be expensive but will be the best thing for her recovery as there are vets on site so they can monitor her recovery. We hope to visit her this Saturday and check up on her. On Saturday afternoon we hope to be holding a car wash at the field so please contact us if you can help or you want your car washing.

The clinic rang us today to tell us that Bess' operation was successful. Bess woke up well from the anasthetic and seemed to be much more comfortable on her bad leg. We are all delighted at this news although it does mean that we will now have to start paying the vets bills!!!!!! We will recieve the bills from the clinic shortly and our vets will soon work out their costs so we should start to get more of an idea of how expensive the whole thing should be. Many thanks for all the fund raising that is going on as it has helped so much.

Bess' operation is now set to go ahead on Thursday. This will be a very important day as there are lots of risks involved with operating on horses and there is a very real chance that she may not recover from the anesthetic. Hopefully we will see her soon but are unlikely to be able to visit her tomorrow as she will be recovering so today was the last time she will see us for a couple of days. We wish her well with the operation and hope that everyone will keep thinking of her tomorrow.

Bess was unable to see visitors over the bank holiday weekend and so was delighted to see people today. She really wanted people to give her a scratch as with no other horse to scratch shoulders with she cant get those hard to reach places along her back! She enjoyed nearly a whole packet of polos and seemed happy but a little upset about being left behind when we were leaving.

Today we were delighted to receive two donations towards the costs of vet bills. The first was from a regular helper and was for £100 and the second, from an animal lover who would like to remain anonymous, was for £800!!!
We are so grateful for everyone's support and have been overwhelmed by the response and good will that has been shown towards Bess during her time of need!

An easter egg hunt was held at the field today and it was great fun for all involved. There was also a Cake sale and altogether £75 was collected by the end of the day. £18 was added by Antonia who had completed a sponsored Run to raise money for Bess! Many thanks to all who were involved as it was a great success and invited many children to enjoy the freedom of the field and to see the horses.

One of the churches that already gives support to our young people by hosting a Homework Club also gave us a hand with fundraising as they allowed a collection to be taken at the back of church during their Good Friday and Easter Day service . This raised £110 which is great and we are so pleased and very greatfull to all who gave money as well as the concern that people had for Bess' welfare.
Tomorrow we hope to be hosting an easter egg hunt at the home Field so please let us know if you are able to attend by ringing 07984896147. This will be held at 12.00 and will cost £2.50 to enter so please join us to help raise money for Bess!

First thing Saturday the fund raising had already started as we held a cake sale to raise some money. Thanks go to everyone who made cakes and also to everyone who bought them. After a busy Saturday everyone was missing Bess so some of us decided to pay her a visit. It was a long drive there but when we arrived Bess was very pleased to see us. She was much more comfortable than she has previously been and was able to move around her stable by putting a little weight on her bad leg. She had a good groom and some polos so was very pleased. She was a little sad to see us go but seemed happy enough in her stable.

Bess and friends

Bess is much happier and is able to put weight on her bad foot so it is not hurting her as much.

After consulting with the vet it was decided to travel Bess in a horse ambulance which is specially designed for transporting sick horses. She had some more morphine and got in the trailer willingly and traveled comfortably to the clinic. At the clinic she was relaxed and comfortable and she seemed at home. They took more x-rays and decided that they would be able to operate early next week. The aim of the operation would not to be to get bess ridable again but to make her comfortable and hopefully pain free so she could live out the rest of her life with us. This was great news but also very worrying as the cost of the operation would be very high and we would have to pay it off in a short period of time. At the stbles we decided we would try to raise as much money as we could from family and friends for next Wednesday the 15th of April as this is when the second installment for the operation should be paid. We have been advised by our vet that the operation and all the after care could mount up to around £6,000 even though we were originally told £3,000. The Church of the Ascension allowed a special collection to be taken at their good Friday service and will take one again on Sunday and the Birmingham Post has been contacted and way come and write an article on Bess and ask for money to be given. Please could all our riders help in any way they can as we are desperate to get as much money as son as possible or the clinic will not continue treatment

Bess' leg was put in a temporary splint so she was able to walk into the horse trailer to get to the stable. This was very painful despite all the pain killers and was sweating from nose to tail and had stopped eating. After a late phone call to the vet she came out to give her Morphine which is a very strong pain killer. Bess responded well and at baout one thirty in the morning became much more relaxed and started to eat and drink again. We were very relieved. A big thanks goes to all who took it in turns to stay up with Bess through the night as it was very important that she was not left alone and she was grateful of the company.