Trainer Jeff Burley, who works for Tom and Leslie Lange, and his partner, Nick Suft’s lives were turned upside down by the storms and flooding in Colorado last month. Two of their own foals were trapped by the flood waters and the contaminated water made both young horses sick. Unfortunately, one of the foals, Sebastian lost his fight. But the other foal, Goofi is recovering from his severe injuries. Jeff and Nick sent us a letter to thank everyone who helped by donating money to help pay for their vet bills. Many of these people gave anonymous donations. Please see their letter below.
***WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGE***
Thank you letter from Jeff Burley and Nick Suft:
Please accept this open and heartfelt thank you to everyone that donated to help pay the medical bills of Sebastian, a stud colt by Hot Ones Only, and, Goofi, a gelding by Helluva Chex while they were receiving medical treatment at Countryside Veterinary Clinic in Greeley, Colorado.
Although the staff at Countryside threw the book at Sebastian, the amount of contaminated water he inhaled was too much for the five month-old colt to overcome. Unfortunately, he passed away eight days later. The necropsy revealed that only ten percent of his left lung was viable. He also had a large cyst on his right lung which was only twenty percent viable. He will be missed!
Goofi (pictured left) was pulled from the water with a body temperature of 90.2 degrees and received a puncture wound behind his front left elbow. Due to the contaminated water, he had an infection that caused muscle and tissue to die at a rapid rate. Within a weeks time, the veterinarians at Countryside were able to get it under control, and he now has a tremendous amount of healing to do. You would never know that he has a huge hole on his left side and mid-line as he has not let this damper his spirit!
On October 9th, he was released to go home where we will maintain the wound and reevaluate skin grafts in two to three weeks. He has a long road to recover with many more visits to see Dr. Josh Zachariah and Dr. Shawn Bott at Countryside. We are optimistic that he will make a full recovery and one day he will be in the show pen!
We can not put into words the impact the donations have made as we continue to recover from the losses of the flood. We will forever be thankful for the gracious contributions towards the vet bills!
Thank you again,
AQHA Professional Horseman Jeff Burley and Nick Suft
