Silver Bits Tornado Relief

October Update!

2008-10-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

As life has truly been moving forward, there hasn't been a whole lot to report! All the horses are doing well - sound and hearty and will be moving home soon!

Both Dixie and Brody's wounds are healed and both are sound!

Harringtons' house is getting closer to ready and the barn is going up.....Huntleys' house is framed, the barn is in place and the fencing is getting put up. The horses should be home by Thanksgiving!

Thank you again to one and all for all the support and love! Check back occasionally and we will share when the 'children' go home and keep everyone posted!

Nicky's New Pony!

2008-09-25T16:50:00.001-07:00

Apollo, coming to us from California, is a huge success!

Harringtons' new house is dropped in place!

2008-09-25T16:48:00.001-07:00

MAGGOTS!

2008-09-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

Ugh! Imagine Steph's 'surprise' when cleaning the hold in Dixie's chin....to see a lot of movement within! Full of maggots....how revolting! After 40 minutes with tweezers (poor Dixie), some water therapy and iodine later, they are mostly gone. So, now it is to work with SWAT and preventative measures to keep the flies away! Unfortunately her fly mask irritates the wound, but we have several different varieties to try, so hopefully we will find one that will fit. Today it is cool, gloomy and wet, so at least the flies won't be the irritant they have been!

Poor Dixie, poor Stephanie!

Dixie gets checked over at the vet school!

2008-09-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

Finally gaining weight, but that chin still wasn't healing; time to take action! The proudflesh seemed to have gone down, but her chin just stayed 'nasty' however many times we cleaned it! Obviously uncomfortable, it was time to see how we could make her more comfortable.

Lori and I took her to ISU Monday evening...and lo and behold, we were called Tuesday with the news that Dixie had a broken jaw on one side and bone chips. Poor thing! The jaw wasn't as much of an issue as it sounds because it was only on one side and the other side had kept it stable. The jaw was mending, but it was the bone chips in her chin that were causing the continued infection and stopping the healing! Thanks to a 'local', they took out all the chips and hopefully poor Dixie will be feeling a lot happier soon! While there, they are also going to do a 'total check', just in case we missed something else!

Poor Dixie!

WELCOME APOLLO!

2008-08-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome to 23 year old Apollo! Newest addition to the SBPC family and hopefully a pony for Nicky! Nicky will be joining our club this next year and his hopes of getting 'his' pony had been severely delayed by the tornado. Thank you to Mikki Hobart whose friend David brought Apollo all the way from California! Apollo was a hard working lesson horse who has earned semi-retirement with a small beginner rider!
All continues to go well. Dixie is going to ISU next week for a 'check up' and to see if they can find what is causing the continued 'mess' on her chin - maybe there is a bone chip in there? It just stays 'nasty' and full of puss....not very pleasant to look at and neither she nor I enjoy the daily cleaning much!
All the others are doing well. The new horses are already part of the family - Herbie is in training as he is just too strong for Ashley, but hopefully a month or two of that will put him straight!
Thank you as always for your thoughts and prayers....

Horse update!

2008-07-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

The visible injuries are improving daily. Dixie now has her leg unwrapped and the swelling is minimal! We have some worries with Brody; think that there might be a mis-alignment or some skeletal damage in there as he is having some issues.....time for the chiropractor or physical therapist!
Patches, Michael's pony, who avoided the tornado thanks to his sleepover at the Bryson barn is now adding to the 'trouble' since renewed lameness had us taking him to the vet for X-rays...sure enough, his coffin bone is rotated and we don't have a lot of room before the bone reaches the sole. So now we are onto the world of special shoeing and even more care for the 'one who made it through'. Poor Michael! Not the lucky one any more.
But it is still all postive moving forward at Silver Bits! A super camp and a 'regular' schedule on the books for the Fall!

Camp makes us feel that we are 'back'!

2008-07-30T12:13:00.001-07:00

Our summer camp was a huge success! Breanna, Ashley and Lizzie all enjoyed participating on their new ponies and with all their new stuff too! How neat to see them will complete kits and happy to be a part of the team again! This was Michael's first camp and he and Patches did great!
Thank you to everyone 'out there' for helping to make this possible!

Ashley now has a new pony!

2008-07-15T06:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Fox River Valley Pony Club and Jennifer Rousseau, Herbie the Haflinger arrived at my barn last night - and made one little girl VERY happy! Isn't he AWESOME!!! Check out our photo page for more pictures; Bridget checking him out first, followed by his REAL rider, Ashley! Out of the nightmare comes these wonderful moments.

Brody 6 weeks on; unbelievable!

2008-07-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

Now that the healing has begun, it is unbelievable how quickly these major wounds are becoming minor!!! Check out his buddies too; just a 'little' bigger!! Of course, we all know who is boss!

Huntley's 'house' 30 days on...

2008-07-06T17:43:00.000-07:00

Still rubble to clean up!

Corner of the surviving basement and rubble of the house behind.
Hill behind the house; used to be trees!

The barn........

What a difference 30 days make!

2008-07-06T17:37:00.000-07:00

No bone showing on the foreleg, healing wounds! We discovered a 'hole' inside her mouth, which would be why she wasn't eating! She is eating now and we are crossing fingers that the pounds go back on.

What a difference though!

SBPC Proudly Parades - we are back!

2008-07-01T08:41:00.001-07:00

It was a great day for us! Back on ponies and as a team after the madness of the last month! Next parade we hope to have all our kids mounted again! The parade theme was Hometown Heroes. On the helmets it says 'Thank You Volunteers' and each rider is carrying a sandbag (filled with mailing peanuts...not sand!!). Amazing that the tornado is already old news isn't it?! For more pictures of the kids parading, visit our photos link from the homepage!

The Latest!!

2008-06-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Timber Ridge Pony Club who sponsored our 'tornado' kids' camp fees this last weekend! Lizzie, Breanna and Ashley joined 2 other SBPC-ers and several TRPC kids at a FUN weekend away; to include a little schooling show! Lizzie's first show was with her new pony! Breanna and Ashley borrowed camp ponies and then, thanks to everyone's Pony Club spirit, were able to borrow Pony Clubber's ponies/horses for their clinic with Gegi Winslett!
Brody and Dixie are both 'coming along'. Dixie's big wound is healing so nicely (watch for pictures, coming soon), it is flat and finally getting to be a nice pink color, and her foreleg seems to be scarring over and maybe we won't have to shave bone after all! We are still having eating issues, so today the vet visits to sedate and check her mouth. We have some proudflesh under her chin and that is yet another little issue to deal with.......
This weekend we proudly parade at the Sturgis Falls Parade and this year, I can honestly say, I am prouder of our little team than ever before!
The gifts and donations keep coming and we are filled with gratitude! We have been in touch with the Iowa Equine Rescue & Awareness League, who will happily share much needed items after the flood before we get a sale together, so you aren't just helping us, you are helping many, many horse people in Iowa!
Thank you!

Bridget

Lizzie Meets Butterscotch!

2008-06-19T06:04:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Sandy Mercier, her girls and Hunter Oaks Riding Center! Lizzie now has a pony......

First the tornado...now the flood!

2008-06-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

Does it ever end? Now we worry about our neighbor club to the South, Timber Ridge Pony Club as the water moves south and Cedar Rapids is taken over by Mother Nature. Although all our Pony Club families at Silver Bits are safe and sound after this second round of weather, we have already heard of three area barns that were 4ft+ under flood water. Thanks to the support and donations from around the country, we have already been in contact with 2 barns, and have halters and lead ropes on their way today!

Kudos to the people of Cedar Falls; the new story that many haven't heard was how it was the volunteers and their sandbagging who created a second levee that the water did not go over.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all who are fighting this current round of 'the impossible'.

Kids in CA raise money for Silver Bits!

2008-06-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

See the SMILES! Thank you...

2008-06-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

Brody's wound is healing!

2008-06-11T07:04:00.001-07:00

Update on Brody!

2008-06-10T13:55:00.001-07:00

Our little 10hh trooper is doing well! Here is the latest update....

Brody is apparently feeling a lot better too. Today he had both front feet through the window in his stall irritated about not being allowed out in the pasture! Lindsay has tried to allow him to graze outside on his own, problem is he does more tearing around that grazing. He has been adopted by Jordan's old arab mare and they spend most of the day hanging out in the arena. His wound seems to be healing nicely. Chris Litchy removed the stitches and cut a new hole to allow for proper draining. After some ugly infection and a smell that can only be imagined, it is now healing up and he is obviously 'feeling his oats'!

Dixie - thinner, but recovering nicely!

2008-06-09T06:52:00.000-07:00

2008-06-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

It keeps coming; thank you so much!

We had a bit of an escape with Polocrosse Rally this weekend, with Breanna competing as our Stable Manager and thanks to her and the team's hard work, they won horse management as well as overall in their riding division; which means that she now has a very cool brush and saddle pad to start her new collection! It was nice to be able to get at least one kid 'away' and back to normal!!

We can't tell you how much we appreciate both items and financial donations (whether gift certificates or checks), the support from the horse community has been wonderful. One day, when we get through all this, we will look forward to being able to pass it forward.

Thank you!

The Harrington's House.

2008-06-08T01:36:00.000-07:00

Harrington Cat Found!

2008-06-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Some good news! The Harrington family found one of their beloved family cats - hale and hearty and very happy to be with family again!
What a great 'find'!

Latest News!

2008-06-05T06:49:00.000-07:00

Boxes and donations are coming in; thank you so much! We will be posting a list of the kind people and clubs who have opened their hearts to us - we truly appreciate you. Tuesday night we are hosting a pizza party and will be having a 'gift' opening for the kids! Lots of pictures will be taken; watch for them!
The horses are hanging in there. Dixie 'surprised' us with a burst abcess under her chin last night - pretty gross, but seems not to be bothering her now it has burst; it certainly explains why she was uncomfortable eating! Hopefully now she will eat and start gaining back all that weight she has lost.
The first $1,000.00 vet bill came in, but fortunately we have raised that, thanks to many donations and one very generous one that was a 'pass forward' from a wonderful person who had received many donations after a barn fire and this was 'left over'. Now we know what to do should we be lucky enough to have more than we need....it will be passed forward to others suffering these kind of stressful times.
As always, thank you for the support!

Bridget

Shipments are arriving, Ponies doing well!

2008-06-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone; we were delivered hay and supplies from Des Moines yesterday; thank you to Ryan, Kristen and everyone else from the barn! The bute, the wraps, the vetrap...the saddle pads, the boots...all will be very useful!
I know that more boxes are on the way, and it is going to be great to see these kids' faces light up again!
Dixie is doing well. She has a stall that overlooks the other ponies now and she is being very social; perked up a lot with company! The wounds look awful, but they are getting better daily. We are spraying and 'picking' out the dead stuff on her quarters and are playing some wait and see with her foreleg. We will probably have to have some bone shaved off (it is exposed), but the wound is clean and beginning to heal.
Brody is doing a lot better now his wound has been reopened and flushed. Thank you to the folks from Wisconsin who sent the huge supply of SWAT; it will be well used for both ponies, and Gunnar, the 2-year old, who still has a lot of cuts and puncture wounds that we want to keep the flies off!
The families are hanging in there, dealing with insurance adjustors and other 'fun' stuff! They both have temporary housing now, so no more hotels!
As always, thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

Bridget

Sending Help

2008-06-02T08:46:00.001-07:00

Please ship packages and mail contributions to:

Silver Bits Pony Club
c/o Bridget Bryson, DC
32110 Westbrook Street
Cedar Falls, IA 50613

Any contributions will be used exclusively for the equestrian needs of the families displaced and losing animals in the tornado. Even if we can't use the item, we can hold a tack sale and use the proceeds to put the kids back on their horses and on the road to clinics and a successful Pony Club season.

Many Thanks!
Bridget Bryson

06 03 08

2008-06-02T08:39:00.001-07:00

2 kids lost their ponies and 1 family pony is badly injured. They lost house and all....nothing but rubble. Another family lost everything and both family horses were killed and 1 pony is badly injured. Their other pony just happened to be staying at my house for the weekend, so he is fine...just displaced!

They both lost trailers (one we still can't find! It is listed as 'missing' and they are battling with insurance right now).

So, we now have 3 kids without horses, although I think that I have a line on a 'free to a good home' pony that I am working on, so I might be down to 2!! We have a 'Pony Club' pony that the kids share, so he will be used a lot and I am just keeping eyes and ears open to see what we can find them; at least for the summer!

BB

06 02 08 1:56 am

2008-06-02T08:38:00.001-07:00

06/02/08 1:56 AM
Two families lost absolutely everything....they just burned the rubble today and are getting ready to start rebuilding as soon as the insurance is squared away.
BB

Silver Bits Pony Club Tornado losses

2008-06-02T08:28:00.000-07:00

It is amazing, the wealth of support from PC families!! Right now, not so much....if you think of something, just ask!
It has been a horrible, horrible time. We live a mile south of the one house that was hit; saw, heard and felt the tornado, but were spared. It was just the most amazingly terrible thing and then to find out that our PC families were affected in this way. Driving around Sunday trying to get to them with the horse trailer to pick up the ponies, arguing with the police to let us in and then seeing the dead horses and having to chainsaw the barn away to get the live ones out......unimaginable. My husband literally had a chainsaw TWO INCHES in front of one pony's face as he worked to get them free. Nightmare. Loading the survivors was a task in itself...all the mud and the blood. It is going to take a long time to get past all that for all of us, but those poor families...just devastating.
Anyway, my goal is that they can know that their horses are kept and fed and that they can rebuild their houses and barns and be ready to go. We never insure our horse stuff for close to its' value, and I want them to start equal - if not ahead - when that happy move in day happens!

Bridget