MANHATTAN, KS - A frisky foal frolics in a rural northeast Kansas pasture. She has a fascinating past, trying beginning and fantastic future. And she has her mom's eyes and spirit.
Eleana's Marvel seems like every other foal. She's playful, energetic and curious. But there is nothing typical about this American Mustang or her arrival - on this continent or on this earth.
Marvel's mom was a majestic Kiger Mustang named Eleana. Kiger Mustangs were first discovered in the Kiger Gorge in Oregon in 1977 during a Bureau of Land Management roundup. Officials noticed that the 27 "Spanish looking" horses were strikingly similar in color and conformation and carried primitive markings. What's unique about Kigers is that a high percentage of Spanish markers remain in their blood; there was little mixed breeding due to the herd's rugged and remote location and because the herd escaped detection for so long.
Randy and Kristi Billinger were captivated with the breed's history, and in 2000 decided to buy two Kiger Mustangs, Eleana, age 7, and her foal, Segura. Soon, the horses were on the way from their home in Oregon to their new home in Wellsville, Kan.
"Eleana was the first Kiger Mustang in Kansas," Randy said. "The people we got her from kept telling us to remember she was a wild horse." Within weeks, Randy was riding her.
At age 11, Eleana was heavy in foal with her third baby. Because she had a history of delivering early, Randy moved her from the pasture into a 20x20-foot foaling stall in the barn. He had installed cameras so they could watch her. On April 21, at 2 a.m., something happened.
"We heard this loud commotion, and I checked the monitor," he said. "I saw her lying out there and my heart dropped."
Randy rushed outside and was horrified to find Eleana's leg pinned beneath the heavy-duty stall door. He pushed. He pulled. He shoved. With all his might, and with Eleana's pained cries urging him, he tried to free her. He couldn't. He grabbed a shovel and was finally able to pry her loose.
Their local veterinarian splinted her leg and advised Randy to take Eleana to Kansas State University's Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital immediately. At K-State, the radiographs showed catastrophic damage. Her knee was crushed. A horse carries 60 percent of its body weight on its front legs. Eleana, who normally weighed about 1,000 pounds, was carrying an extra 100 to 150 pounds because of the baby.
Dr. Carolyn Arnold, assistant professor of equine surgery, examined Eleana and discussed their options with Randy and Kristi. "When you can't reconstruct, one option is to destroy the horse. Or, you can cast the leg long enough for her to have the baby, then put the mare down. Or, you can perform a salvage procedure called arthrodesis," Arnold said. (It is the surgical fusion of a joint using plates and screws to enable the horse to bear weight on its boney column.) "We presented Randy and Kristi with the scenarios, the risks, the benefits and the costs and let them decide."
"We decided to have the surgery," Randy said. Putting Eleana down was simply out of the question. "We had to do everything for her we could," Kristi said. "We had to try."
The clinicians faced a medical mountain: a radical surgical procedure, a pregnant mare under extreme stress, and a questionable breeding date. Because surgery puts the baby at risk, surgeons worked with internal medicine clinicians to monitor the baby.
Doctors elected not to induce delivery at that time because unlike humans, horses have an 11-month gestation period and foals need 320 days to be viable. The survival rate is slim for foals that are induced. Arnold said much is required of a foal at birth. They must be able to get up, walk and nurse. Foals are also prone to a predatory attack when lying down.
On April 22, Eleana underwent surgery. To minimize her time under anesthesia for the baby's sake, everything had to be in place. "This was a massive effort," Arnold said. "Everything was ready to go as soon as she hit the table. It took three hours to reconstruct her knee." The procedure was flawless.
"She was a tough, tough mare," Arnold said. Kristi recalls Eleana's strength. "She did not lie down once in seven days after her surgery," she said. "That showed her stamina and will."
During that time, stress was taking its toll. Eleana was exhausted. Her heart rate was elevated and was no longer controlled by her medication. It would decrease when Randy and Kristi visited. Randy, a geologist for the Kansas Department of Transportation in Topeka, and Kristi, assistant manager for proposal services at the University of Kansas research center, Lawrence, drove four hours roundtrip to see Eleana nearly every day.
On May 3, twelve days following the accident, Eleana had her baby. "It was a perfectly natural delivery," said Dr. Beth Davis, assistant professor of equine internal medicine.
The joy of Marvel's birth was overshadowed by the medical teeter-totter they were on. The foal was critical, but in the first couple of days following Marvel's birth, Eleana was improving.
The foal was too weak to nurse, so the doctors filled pales with milk and taught Marvel to drink. Meanwhile, Eleana's condition started deteriorating. "She would not take her concentration off Marvel - not even to eat," Dr. Davis said. "She had a fierce maternal instinct. Because she was a Mustang from the wild, she had instincts that your average backyard horse doesn't have. She was going to do everything she could to get her foal through this crisis."
On May 13, they said their goodbyes. "We took the braids out of her hair, took a lot of pictures and shed a lot of tears," Kristi said. "You don't know how bad we wanted to bring her home," she said of the heart wrenching reality playing out before them.
They did bring Eleana home -- for her burial. Randy faced the grim task of preparing her grave. He called a neighbor to borrow a bobcat while driving to Manhattan. When they returned home with Eleana, their friend had already prepared her grave. In a solemn ceremony, they laid Eleana to rest with her head on a special shirt of Randy's and covered her eyes.
Eleana's loss was devastating. But Randy and Kristi had to focus on Marvel. Slowly, Marvel was gaining strength and doing well. On May 20, one week to the day of laying Eleana to rest, Marvel, 17 days old, came home. "We were thrilled to be able to walk her out of the hospital and take her home," Randy said. "She's here because of the doctors at K-State."
For the next two-and-a-half weeks, Randy and Kristi slept on an air mattress in the bed of Randy's truck parked in the barn. It made those routine nightly feedings much easier. "We had to get up and feed her every two hours and give her medicine," Kristi said. "Marvel was an orphan and needed a lot of care."
Perplexed how to care for her during their work day, their neighbors, a school teacher and her two children, announced they had the solution. They came over three times a day, every day, all summer, to care for Marvel.
While horses are not her specialty, Amber said there will always be something special about Marvel, Eleana and the Billingers. "That case specifically shows me how precious the human-animal bond is no matter the size of the animal."
