Rest in Peace, Kelly's Raven Moon

Half-past midnight on Friday morning, and I'm sleepless.  Just can't shut my mind down enough to sleep, for some reason.  The snow plows just made their first south run down 28th Street, but I was awake well before that.  Some type of precipitation was falling about 10:15 tonight, but I couldn't tell if it was rain, slush, or snow falling.  The pavements were wet in the parking lot...  At 11, one could tell there was a trace of snow on the ground, and now the parking lot is white. I'd say less than half an inch has fallen, so I feel like the plows were not yet necessary.  Oh well.  Enough grumbling.
   No one had a winning lottery ticket last night, so the estimate for Saturday night's drawing is now $700 million - and lottery officials have said that if people start buying tickets like crazy, the jackpot total could reach $1 billion by the time of the draw.  I have purchased three more chances, while Beatrice bought two.  What one could do with that much money....  the thoughts are staggering.
   This past summer, during the 90th Annual Chincoteague Pony Penning, there was one sad event.  Soul Surfer, the chestnut yearling son of Surfer Dude and Surf Queen, was discovered to be in very poor condition.  Three weeks before, he had been fat, sassy and had a gleaming coat.  He was separated from the herd, and taken to a private barn for medical attention.  The colt was diagnosed with intestinal cancer, and as his condition worsened, with no recovery possible, he was put to sleep.  The fact that the island had lost his father, Surfer Dude, at the age of 23, five months earlier, made the loss harder.  This past year, Surfer Dude sired four foals - all of them Buy-Back ponies.  There were three fillies and one colt - two blacks, a chestnut, and Gingersnap (who looks like a bay at this point in time).  The eldest of the foals was the colt, pure black, who was born the morning of the Spring Round-Up - he couldn't keep up with the pace of the round-up, and was taken back to the Pens on the lap of a Fireman, who was sitting on the tailgate of a truck.  The colt's dam followed.  Next born was Surfer Princess, a chestnut filly - and full sister to Soul Surfer and Surfer's Riptide.  I'm not sure who came next, but the black filly, the daughter of Got Milk, and Gingersnap seem to be about the same age.  The black filly has a white face and two blue eyes.  She was named CLG Surfer Blue Moon.  The last foal sold at the Auction was # 61, an all black colt.  He was purchased as a Buy-Back, and was named Kelly's Raven Moon.  There were eleven Buy-back foals in 2015.  Now there are nine.
   We lost a gorgeous Buy-Back pinto filly to a horrendous accident in September.  She was grazing under a few trees, when a large limb fell.  It fell across her neck, just above her withers.  She died instantly.   It was a terrible loss.  The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, the Pony Committee, and the fans of the ponies are still recovering from the loss of Dreamer's Faith.
  And it was just announced that we have lost another Buy-Back weanling.  Kelly's Raven Moon, the all black last-born son of Surfer Dude, has passed away.  It was noticed by members of the Pony Committee that Raven was not eating, and was not presenting his normal personality.  The attending Vet was called, and Raven was trailered to a private barn for testing and care.  He presented symptoms of colic and became extremely dehydrated.  His suffering became acute, and he was put to sleep.  The CVFC had the colt's body sent to another veterinarian to do the necropsy - not that Dr Cameron wouldn't do it - he was just too busy, with his partner on vacation.  It turned out that a congenital defect, Mecklen Diverticulitis, was the cause of Raven's death.  Normally, about four weeks before birth, a small pouch caused by the umbilical cord on the edge of the small intestine closes, or seals, itself off.  Raven's did not do this.  The remains of his umbilical cord continued to grow around his small intestines - and eventually cut any passage of food or liquid through his system.  
    I am so very sorry for the people who purchased both Dreamer's Faith and Kelly's Raven Moon.  No one could have foreseen their deaths....   It's just a very, very sad and somber time.