Florida Pony Survives Deformities Thanks to Rescue Voluneers

She's a pony who truly lives up to her name. She's survived health problems that have felled much larger and younger horses and a failed first adoption.

Ten-year-old Classy is ready for a new home, according to Beauty's Haven Farm & Equine Rescue, her current home in Florida.

When Classy came to the rescue in March of 2007, she presented with a very odd-sounding noise. She suffered from a condition in horses known as roaring. The strange noise she made had caused her prior owners to conclude she suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This was not her problem, however.

The Beauty's Haven staff checked into the mare's medical history and found that she had contracted the flu in 2002 and suffered from a condition caused by a deformity in her throat. When she underwent endoscopy in 2003, the veterinarian diagnosed her with roaring on the right side. The following year, a repeat procedure showed that she suffered from it on the left side as well. Dual roaring is a very rare condition in horses.

Although the rescue's holistic vet treated Classy, she quickly got worse. Volunteers raised funds to send her to the University of Florida for surgery at the end of March of 2007. Tests revealed that the flaps in her trachea opened only five percent of what they should have. Suffering from oxygen deprivation, she was diagnosed as having bilateral hemiplegia.

Surgeons operated on Classy for a complete tracheosotmy. Although this brought immediate relief as far as allowing her to breathe sufficiently, they discovered a second problem. According to Beauty's Haven staff, the mare presented with a mass between her heart and the pericardial membrane in her left ventricle. Vets speculated the problem was the result of oxygen deprivation over time and that it might eventually resolve itself.

Back at Beauty's Haven to recuperate, the pony grew stronger each day. The staff marveled at her will to live and her obvious increasing happiness. Although it was unpleasant for her, she learned to tolerate having her throat washed courtesy of a nasal tube, having the site of her wound cleaned and getting injections twice a day.